Tag Archives: MimboloveIndia
If your YouTube feed is anything like mine it’s littered with drag race suggestions. Mostly new car head-to-heads from the likes of CarWow, plus some wild modified face-offs courtesy of Hoonigan.
Even bone-stock regular production cars are so fast these days it’s rare to watch any race that takes longer than 13 seconds. So you might assume that watching one where the cars needs twice as long to get down the strip would be deadly dull. But as this race from Autocar India proves, that’s definitely not the case.
The two cars in question are giants from India’s automotive past. One is the Hindustan Ambassador, which incredibly, remained in production from 1958 to 2014, and at one time accounted for two out of every three cars sold in India. The other is the Fiat 1100D, which was built under license in India between 1964 and 2000, again proving just how much the country has changed in the last few years.
The 1980s-spec Ambassador’s mighty 1.8-liter engine thumps out 60 hp, theoretically giving it a big advantage over the Fiat which belongs to presenter Cyrus Dhabhar and, despite a bunch of mods including a hot cam and sports exhaust, squeaks out just 50hp. But factor in the Fiat’s tiny 1951 lbs (885 kg) curb weight and the odds tip back the other way.
Related: Surely A 1967 Ford GT Can’t Keep Up With A 2005 GT?
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Despite a slow start (and a comically long-throw gearchange) the “Ambi” soon overhauls the Fiat in race one, crossing the line in 24.27 seconds to the 1100’s 25.29 best effort.
But with his pride hurt enough to persuade him to get a bit more brutal with his pride and joy, Dhabhar works the Fiat hard and turns race two into a proper nail-biter. And the advantage of watching cars this slow is the tension lasts so much longer. We’ll not spoil the result, but let’s just say it’s a lot more fun than the numbers would have you believe. Who else would like to see more seriously old cars hitting the strip on YouTube?
Jaguar Land Rover will launch its all-electric Jaguar I-Pace crossover in the Indian market early next year, as the country looks to embrace clean-energy vehicles and electric mobility.
This comes straight from JLR India boss Rohit Suri, who told Reuters that his company also wants to launch various plug-in hybrid versions of its models in India in the coming months, including the Land Rover Defender PHEV.
Earlier this week, the new Defender made its official debut in India ahead of November’s Diwali festival, during which Indians are said to often make large purchases.
Read Also: 2021 Jaguar I-Pace Unveiled With More Tech, New Visuals
“We are cautiously optimistic that the product line-up will accentuate the recovery we are witnessing,” said Suri, adding that the I-Pace will debut in India sometime in the first three months of 2021.
The I-Pace received an update earlier this summer and it now boasts an improved interior and a few modest design changes for the exterior.
Meanwhile, India plans to offer $4.6 billion in incentives to companies willing to build advanced battery manufacturing facilities locally. Moreover, it could slash import bills by as much as $40 billion by 2030 if EVs become widely adopted.
This strategy would result in the country retaining a 5% import tax for certain batteries, such as those for electric vehicles, until 2022 – beyond that the tax would increase by 15% in order to encourage local manufacturing.
Tata Group companies like JLR owners Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals and Tata Power will now look to build EVs and EV batteries, set up charging stations and even a battery recycling plant.