, showing
Fiat Topolino and
Fiat 1100 In 1897, the first car ran on an Indian road. Through the 1930s, cars were imports only, and in small numbers. An embryonic automotive industry emerged in India in the 1940s.
Hindustan Motors was launched in 1942 building
Morris products, long-time competitor
Premier in 1944, building
Chrysler Corporation products such as
Dodge and
Plymouth, and beginning in the 1960s,
Fiat products.
Mahindra & Mahindra was established by two brothers in 1945 and began assembly of
Jeep CJ-3A utility vehicles. In the same years,
J. R. D. Tata, the chairman of
Tata Group founded
TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company (now
Tata Motors) in
Jamshedpur. Following
independence in 1947, the Government of India and the
private sector launched efforts to create an automotive-component manufacturing industry to supply to the automobile industry. In 1953, an import substitution programme was launched, and the import of fully built-up cars began to be restricted. The Tariff commission policies by the then
Indian National Congress-led government, including similar restrictions that applied to other industries, came to be known as the
Licence Raj, which proved to be the greatest undoing of the Indian automotive industry, where bureaucratic red tape ended up causing demand to outstrip supply, with month-long, even year-long waiting periods for cars, scooters, and motorcycles. ;Passenger cars •
Hindustan Motors was established in Kolkata in technical collaboration with
Morris Motors to manufacture Morris Oxford models that would later become HM Ambassador. • Addisons, Madras – An
Amalgamations Group company, was the agent for
Nuffield's Morris, Wolseley, and Riley cars, and Chrysler's
Plymouth,
Dodge, and De Soto cars and trucks. The first
Morris Minor assembled in India and the first car assembled in Madras was driven out from Addison's twin-plants on Smith Road by Anantharamakrishnan on 15 November 1950. •
Premier Automobiles Limited, Mumbai – entered into technical collaboration with
Chrysler to manufacture
Dodge,
Plymouth and
Desoto models and with
Fiat to manufacture the 1100D models which would later become
Premier Padmini range. •
Standard Motor Products of India, Madras – entered into technical collaboration from
Standard-
Triumph to manufacture
Standard Vanguard,
Standard 8, 10 and later
Standard Herald. ;Utility and light commercial vehicles •
Vehicle Factory Jabalpur – started manufacturing
Jonga Light Utility Vehicles and Vahan 1 Ton (Nissan 4W73 Carriers) in India, under license from
Nissan of
Japan. They were the main troop carriers of the
Indian Armed Forces and much more powerful than any other vehicle of their class.Also, Nissan Power Wagon was added to their line. •
Mahindra & Mahindra plant established in Mumbai – technical collaboration with
Willys to manufacture CJ Series
Jeep. •
Bajaj Tempo, Pune, now
Force Motors – entered into technical collaboration with
Tempo to manufacture Tempo Hanseat, a three-wheeler and Tempo Viking and Hanomag, later known as Tempo Matador in India. •
Standard Motor Products of India – entered into technical collaboration from
Standard and had licence to manufacture the
Standard Atlas passenger van with panel van and one-tonne pickup variants. ;Medium and heavy commercial vehicles •
Tata Motors established a new plant in
Pune with technical collaboration with
Mercedes-Benz to manufacture medium to heavy commercial vehicles both Bus and Trucks. •
Vehicle Factory Jabalpur started manufacturing
Shaktiman trucks with technical assistance from
MAN SE of Germany. The trucks were the main logistics vehicle of the
Indian Army with several specialist variants. VFJ still is the sole supplier of B vehicles to the Indian Armed Forces. •
Heavy Vehicles Factory was established in 1965 in
Avadi,
Chennai to produce tanks in India. Since its inception, HVF has produced all the tanks of India, including
Vijayanta,
Arjun,
Ajeya,
Bhishma and their variants for the
Indian Army. HVF is the only tank manufacturing facility of India. •
Ashok Leyland was founded in
Chennai with
Leyland Motors to manufacture medium to heavy commercial vehicles both Bus and Trucks. Ashok Motors also discontinued its
Austin venture formed in 1948 to sell
Austin A40 and retooled the factory to make trucks and buses. •
Hindustan Motors – had technical collaboration with
General Motors to manufacture the
Bedford range of medium lorry and bus chassis. •
Premier Automobiles Limited – entered into technical collaboration with
Chrysler to manufacture the
Dodge,
Fargo range of medium lorry, panel vans, mini-bus, and bus chassis. •
Simpsons & Co, Madras – part of
Amalgamations Group (
TAFE Tractors) – had technical collaboration with
Ford to manufacture medium lorry and bus chassis, but did not utilise that option until the 1980s.+ ;Scooters, mopeds and motorcycles Many of the two-wheelers manufacturers were granted licenses in the early 1960s, well after the tariff commission was enabled. •
Ideal Jawa,
Mysore – entered into technical collaboration with
CZ -
Jawa of Czechoslovakia for its
Jawa and
Yezdi range of motorcycles. •
Royal Enfield (India), Madras – had technical collaboration with
Royal Enfield, UK to manufacture the Enfield Bullet range of motorcycles. •
Bajaj Auto, Poona – had technical collaboration with
Piaggio, Italy to manufacture their best-selling
Vespa range of scooters and three-wheelers with commercial options as well. •
TVS Motors, Madurai/Chennai - started individually and later had technical collaboration with
Suzuki Motors, before finally buying them out of the JV. •
Automobile Products of India, Bombay (Better known for API Lambretta) – had a technical collaboration with
Innocenti of Milan, Italy to manufacture their
Lambretta range of mopeds, scooters and three-wheelers. This company was actually the
Rootes Group car plant that was bought over by
M. A. Chidambaram family. •
Mopeds India Limited,
Tirupathi – had technical collaboration with
Motobécane, France to manufacture their best selling
Mobylette mopeds. •
Escorts Group,
New Delhi – had technical collaboration with
CEKOP of Poland to manufacture the
Rajdoot 175 motorcycle whose origin was
DKW RT 125. •
Hero Motors • Kinetic Engineering However, growth was relatively slow in the 1950s and 1960s, due to nationalisation and the
license raj, which hampered the growth of the Indian private sector.
1970 to 1983 , launched in 1983. The beginning of the 1970s did not see growth potential; and most of the collaboration license agreements came to an end, but with the option to continue manufacturing with renewed branding. Cars were still meant for the elite and Jeeps, now owned by
American Motors Corporation, were largely used by government organizations and in some rural regions. By the end of the decade, some developments were made in commercial vehicle segments to facilitate the movement of goods. The two-wheeler segment remained unchanged except for increased sales to the middle class in urban areas. There was an emphasis on having more farm tractors, as India was embarking on a new
Green Revolution; and Russian and Eastern bloc imports were brought in to meet the demand. But after 1970, with restrictions on the import of vehicles set, the automotive industry started to grow; but the growth was mainly driven by tractors, commercial vehicles, and scooters. Cars still remained a major luxury item. In the 1970s,
price controls were finally lifted, inserting a competitive element into the automobile market. However, by the 1980s, the automobile market was still dominated by
Hindustan and
Premier, who sold superannuated products in fairly limited numbers. The rate of car ownership in 1981 was about one in every thousand citizens – understandable when the annual road tax alone cost about half the
average income of an Indian at the time. During the eighties, a few competitors began to arrive on the scene. Of the 30,487 cars built in India in 1980, all but six came from the two main players Hindustan and Premier:
Standard had led a shadow existence in the latter half of the 1970s, producing only a handful of cars to keep their license active.
Slow export growth Exports were slow to grow. Sales of small numbers of vehicles to tertiary markets and neighbouring countries began early, and in 1987 Maruti Suzuki shipped 480 cars to Europe (Hungary). After some growth in the mid-nineties, exports once again began to drop as the outmoded platforms provided to Indian manufacturers by multinationals were not competitive. This was not to last, and today India manufactures low-priced cars for markets across the globe. As of 18 March 2013, global brands such as
Proton Holdings,
PSA Group,
Kia,
Mazda,
Chrysler,
Dodge and
Geely Holding Group were shelving plans for India due to the competitiveness of the market, as well as the global economic crisis.
Emission norms In 2000, in line with international standards to reduce vehicular pollution, the central government unveiled standards titled "India 2000", with later, upgraded guidelines to be known as
Bharat Stage emission standards. These standards are quite similar to the stringent
European emission standards and have been implemented in a phased manner.
Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) was first implemented in 13 cities — Agra, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi (NCR), Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Solapur — in April 2010, and then in the rest of the nation in April 2017. In 2019, in line with international standards to reduce vehicular pollution, the central government of India announced the introduction of
BS-VI norms to control air pollution, taking effect from 1 April 2020.
Local manufacturing push , launched in 2024 India levies an import tax of 125% on foreign imported cars, while the import tax on components such as gearboxes, airbags, drive axles is 10%. The taxes are intended to encourage cars to be manufactured or assembled in India, rather than be imported as completely built units.
Sub-4-metre rule In 2006, the government of India imposed a new tax structure, which massively impacted the segment. It enables vehicles shorter than to qualify for a significantly lower excise duty, which is 8 percent as opposed to 20 percent for longer vehicles.
Tata Motors was the first to exploit the new tax structure, which redesigned the rear portion of the
Indigo sedan, dropping its length to and renamed it as the Indigo CS. The model became significantly cheaper, becoming one of the largest selling three-box cars in the country. Other manufacturers quickly adapted, which led to the release of the shorter
Suzuki Swift Dzire, the
Honda Brio Amaze, and others. ==Manufacturing facilities==