"Every country which has written its name in the pantheon of automobile manufacturing has invariably distinguished itself with sports cars by its own nationals and I thought that India rightly needs to be in this exclusive club" said Dilip Chhabria as he unveiled his first, production-ready sports car. We believe it!
A twisting coastal road on the French Riviera winding out in front of you, a revving V8 engine bellowing behind you, your right foot the conductor of a pantomime opera of sonorous exhaust notes and intoxicating speed – the ultimate automotive dream, right? Let’s face it, for most of us mere mortals, this picture will always remain a dream. For this picture to leave the world of reverie and transform into one of reality, you need a car that is Italian on roads that are French, or maybe even German, funded by money that is usually middle-eastern. But then one man, and we’re not talking about some average auto Joe here, but one of the most iconic automotive designers to ever put pen to paper in India, would disagree with that last bit.
Popularly known as DC, Dilip Chhabria has stunned the world with not just brilliant customization jobs on production vehicles, but also dramatic one-offs which would make anyone who owns them the envy of the entire automotive world. DC, and in particular his design firm, DC Design, has, over the course of the last several years, has developed unparalleled expertise in high-quality tooling and prototyping techniques to bring to life the most spectacular of automotive designs. And the car you see here, the Avanti, is the result of these skills.
Popularly known as DC, Dilip Chhabria has stunned the world with not just brilliant customization jobs on production vehicles, but also dramatic one-offs which would make anyone who owns them the envy of the entire automotive world. DC, and in particular his design firm, DC Design, has, over the course of the last several years, has developed unparalleled expertise in high-quality tooling and prototyping techniques to bring to life the most spectacular of automotive designs. And the car you see here, the Avanti, is the result of these skills.
The name, Avanti, is quite apt too, as not only as it reflects its Indian cultural roots, but in Italian, the language common to all the world-renowned automotive styling houses, means ‘to move forward’. And that’s exactly what DC is doing, moving forward from making mere one-offs, to making a proper production model. Yes, this absolutely stunning looking car, though only in the rolling sculpture stage at the moment, is slated for production. But this is only the half of it. The real shocking bit about the Avanti is that though it will only see a limited production run, like most supercars, it could be yours for a very un-supercar-like price of just Rs 30-lakh!
And don’t for one minute think that this is just a Toyota Corolla underneath with a slapped-on body kit – it’s a true-blue sports car with a two-seats at the front, an engine in the middle and the driven wheels at the back. The chassis itself is a spaceframe construction of square, rectangular and round sections to get the best structural rigidity not just from a concern of passenger safety, but to endow the car with great handling characteristics to match the sporty looks of the body shell as well. And in true sports car fashion, the Avanti will feature unequal length double wishbone suspension at all four corners with coil-over springs, ensuring that the sticky 255/45 section front and the 285/40 section rear tyres, shod on the massive 19-inch wheels, will make the optimal contact with the tarmac at all times.
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