Haute Voiture - Designing An Electric Luxury Car

Degree project
HAUTE VOITURE :
THE GENESIS OF A
SUPERLUXURY CAR
Sponsor : Aspen Bower, Kharagpur
Volume : 1 of 1
student : DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL
programme : Master of Design (M. Des)
guide : Vipul Vinzuda
2018
industrial design faculty
(transportation & automobile design)
DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 1

THIRTEEN
The Evaluation Jury recommends DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL for the
Degree of the National Institute of Design

IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN (TRANSPORTATION & AUTOMOBILE DESIGN)
herewith, for the project titled "HAUTE VOITURE : THE GENESIS OF A SUPERLUXURY CAR"
on fulfilling the further requirements by*
Chairman
Members :
Jury Grade :
*Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements :
Activity Chairperson, Education
THIRTEEN
Fonts used:
Bitter
Bernadette
Copyright © 2018
Playfair Display
Student document publication,
meant for private circulation only.
All rights reserved.
Master of Design, Transportation and Automobile Design, 2015

National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, INDIA
No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying,
xerography and video recording without written permission from the
publisher, Deepak Srinivas Mondal and National Institute of Design,
Ahmedabad.
All illustrations and photographs in this document are under the copyright
of respective people and organizations.
Edited and designed by:
Name: Deepak Srinivas Mondal / DSM

Email: [email protected]
Processed at:
National Institute of Design.
P.G. Campus, GH - 0,
Gandhinagar,
Gujarat, INDIA
THIRTEEN
ORIGINALITY STATEMENT COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it I hereby grant the National Institute of Design the right to
contains no full or substantial copy of previously published archive and to make available my graduation project/thesis/
material, or it does not even contain substantial proportions of dissertation in whole or in part in the Institutes’s Knowledge
material which have been accepted for the award of any other management Centre in all forms of media, now or hereafter
degree or final graduation of any other educational institution, known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. I have
except where due acknowledgment is made in this graduation either used no substantial portions of copyright material in
project. Moreover I also declare that none of the concepts are my document or I have obtained permission to use copyright
borrowed or copied without due acknowledgment. I further material.
declare that the intellectual content of this graduation project
is the product of my own work, except to the extent that Student Name in Full: DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL
assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or
in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. Signature:
This graduation project (or part of it) was not and will not be
submitted as assessed work in any other academic course. Date:
Student Name in Full: DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL
Signature:
Date:

About the acknowledgments
evolution of the luxury car
Institute about nid
14
about tad
aspen bower
Core
20
project brief
philosophy
methodology
understanding buying
patterns
Research why a luxury car

what is a luxury car
competition review
34
why an electric car
the tesla story
faraday future and lucid
motors
Target
the traditionalists
electric eco system User
Contents
64
who is this car for
the young turks
the czars
the stars
THIRTEEN
THIRTEEN
convergences
Target
...where the shoe pinches
demographics User
interviews
Study
Specs positioning
benchmarking
78
106
ergonomics & packaging
challenges
production
death of minimalism
first phase Ideation
122
second phase
third phase
Proto- fourth phase
typing trial mock-up

clay modeling
204 conclusion
working for a startup
further feelings
bibliography
DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 THIRTEEN

THIRTEEN
9
Viss G Shyham
Mom
Sid Racemo
Dad
THIRTEEN
edgments
Acknowl-
This project would not have been complete
without the help and guidance of my guide Mr.
Vipul Vinzuda.
It would also have been incomplete without

the guidance of my co-guide and coordinator
of the department Mr. Balaji Rengarajan.
I thank Aspen Bower and the great team work-

ing incessantly for giving me this great oppor-
tunity to not only work on an amazing project
but also to discover a bit more about myself in
that process.
I extend my thanks to my dear friends Elvis

Palipat Raju, Gautam Merwan, Shyamprasad,
Reshma Teelar and Sidharth Vakkaleri in
pushing me and propelling me towards com-
pleting this project. Their constant support
and advice has been invaluable.
I also take this opportunity to thank Gajju Bhai,

Kishore Bhai and Ranjeet Bhai and all the mess
workers and staff of the Gandhinagar campus
for feeding us and taking care of us, beyond
the call of duty, tirelessly, day in and day out.
I am indebted to the critique provided by Mr.

Raman Singh, Mr. and Mr. for providing the
necessary nudges required to refine the de-
sign.
Lastly, and most importantly, I thank my

parents from the bottom of my heart, for their
constant vigilance and concern which kept me
on my toes and led to the completion of this
project.
And I would also thank myself for delivering

what I could, to the best of my abilities and just
hanging on when the going got tough.

THIRTEEN
The luxury car has gone through a tremendous
metamorphosis. From the Cords and Packards
of the 1920s to the modern day Rolls Royce,
the changes have been gradual but immense.
The left side of this document documents this
evolution through illustrations done by the
author. Details of the illustrated car has been
mentioned on them.
Evolution of the
Luxury Car
About the
Institute
THIRTEEN
THIRTEEN
National Institute of Design is a premier This has been firmly entrenched into the
design institute located across three, now heads of the young designers, insomuch
four, campuses across India. The Gandhinagar as to be able to appreciate and practice it
campus is the post-graduation campus where versus a superficial understanding of it.
in Masters courses are conducted across seven Ethnography is a strong point when it comes
departments, one of which is Transportation to design education because to be able to
and Automobile Design, and has been a dream really understand what problems people
which has come true. The experience of have will help designers solve those problems
studying here has not just been life changing, and anticipate potential haggles in their
it has been joyful and has turned a lot of prospective propositions.
negativity into positivity. Despite having, like
every other human institution, its fair share of It also teaches you patience and perseverance,
niggles and problems, it has bestowed a firm two key ingredients required to do anything in
sense of optimism, due largely to the people life.
who inhabit the four walls of this college.
The most important “resource” that makes
The very first foundation course starts with this more than worth it is the huge peer group
unwinding whatever extra baggage that that comes with the territory. It is vibrant,
came along from the Bachelors course and fresh and full of life and ideas about changing
from previous work experience. It sets the the world. And, for once, some of them will
precedent and the tone for the next couple of proceed to do just that. It is easy to talk about
years. It helps expand the horizons of thought the infrastructure but it is difficult to capture
and the limitations of imagination. What what we do with it. But in that remains what
comes in as raw material is processed into it is to gain knowledge and wisdom and
something more tangible and usable by the experience, and ultimately we are the sum of
end of the course. It is difficult to capture what our experiences.
the catalyst is for said changes. There are a
plethora of factors which either construct or
deconstruct a narrative and build foundations.
But the atmosphere of hands on learning
is a great motivator towards doing things,
experimenting with ideas and being in touch
with one’s creativity in whatever medium
one chooses to is a great motivator towards
discovering the inner designer.
Design is about empathy.
About NID
THIRTEEN
Transportation and Automobile Design is an
eleven year young course being taught at NID,
in Gandhinagar since the inception of the
campus. It is a branch of Industrial Design. It
is aimed at imparting design education in the
development of automobiles and the ways that
we interact with them.
Specifically to India, as a developing country,

it has a lot of challenges where in traffic is
becoming a huge problem which is affecting
lives seriously. Automotive design can be a
serious game-changer in this regard. Pollution
can be seriously curbed by this industry. Better
design can make many lives better. India is
the third largest car market, only poised to
grow exponentially and that means we, as car
designers, are bound to create a big impact on
the landscape, on what surrounds us, on what
moves us.
The course is designed to help students

understand the challenges that a automotive/
transportation designer faces when out in the
open and means and methods to solve those
problems. It aims to help the students feel
the problems in as much fidelity as possible
and come up with solutions depending
upon the environment and the situation. It
imparts hands-on knowledge so the students
are adept at prototyping and visualizing
and communicating the ideas. It helps them
understand how a system functions and what
are the means and methods to design a system
which will be used by multitudes in a way that
makes their lives better.
About TAD
Oars dried in the bright sun,
Basking, as the sea-birds cackled,
Eager to mouth a few morsels
Of fish, in the fishnet, shackled.
Sand and water crashed together,

As foot prints lost their existence,
That hard-working men had carelessly
Strewn across the shore, nonchalance.
Rivulets of hope ran through the cove,

Everyday new ebb and tide,
The lives, connected to the seas,
The tales, one mast wide.
The poem depicts the cycle of hardships which the fishermen face every
single day, when the day starts with anticipation and ends with either
victory or the hope of a better tomorrow, which is true about any project.
THIRTEEN
Design
is more
than
per-
fume,
aesthe-
tics and
trends.
~Rich-
ard van
der
Laken Richard van der Laken is the
energetic engine behind both
What Design Can Do and De
Designpolitie, the graphic de-
sign agency he started in 1995
with Pepijn Zurburg.

THIRTEEN
Aspen Bower is a small team of dreamers. experience in itself. But it was made a lot
Aspen Bower is an interesting name for a more liberating thanks to the wonderful
start-up. Aspen, is a common name for a team I had behind me, supporting and
certain tree species, which have two peculiar debating the design decisions taken in not
qualities - firstly, they are extremely just this project but also the other projects
aerodynamic, which helps them withstand that I was a part of.
high, cold winds, and secondly, they have
rhizomatic roots which lead to a deep It is a very difficult task to establish
penetration of their roots and spreading an automotive firm with the pursuit of
through root suckers. manufacturing vehicles in an indigenous
Bower is a kind of bird, known for their plant, and it can only be achieved through
extremely sophisticated nature of their extreme amount of dedication and hard
behavior because they have an elaborate work.
mating ritual.
“Aspen Bower is focused on building
The startup is a brainchild of six graduates EVs that help the world to move towards
from the Indian Institute of Technology, sustainable transport.
Kharagpur, bursting at their seams with
ideas and the desire to change the way We at Aspen Bower develop products that
Indians would travel in the future. At the make people lives more sustainable.
very outset the idea was to create electric Integrating electronics and software and
automobiles, thereby putting a very firm making robust products.
step into the positive time axis, and being Hands-on experience in embedded software
able to be a participant in ushering in the and hardware design.”
electric revolution into the Indian arena.
The team is a healthy mix of mechanical
engineers, electrical engineers, electronics
engineers and coders who code. Their
ambition is to see Indian embracing electric
mobility faster, and in a much bigger way.
They realize that it is an uphill task, what
with various challenges and hurdles in the
way, the technology itself being expensive,
as of today, but that has the team excited
and in thralls of taking up a difficult task.
There are various aspects to a startup and

working with a startup is very unique
Aspen Bower
THIRTEEN
The main aim of
the project is to
design a contem-
porary luxury
car for the Indian
Market which will
hit production in
about two years’
time for Aspen
Bower.
The car would be made with super-rich
Indians and their tastes in mind and would
be the first project that Aspen Bower would
produce.
Project Brief
THIRTEEN
The main idea behind the project was that by an electric motor. The luxury segment is
the luxury car market in India is a grow- always a hot bed for new ideas because peo-
ing segment, which has seen sales explode ple with money and power yearn to manifest
over the last few years. Every manufacturer that through means of the materialistic
worth their salt has made India their next World, which often includes the latest pro-
port of call and expended a fair amount of gression in technology or design.
capital to expand their bases and make their
presence felt in the subcontinent. The rich cherish history, heritage and ped-
igree which a start-up can ill-afford, but
Something that has been hitherto missing is they also celebrate new ideas simply because
an electric luxury car. Electric is the future, they can luxuriate on the finesse that new
and it is imperative that OEMs take heed of idea can provide. BMW and Audi, but mainly
that and be the first in line to capitalize on Jaguar, have been patient in their response
the opportunity. It is important that the col- to Tesla’s trailblazing ways, and have come
lective memory remembers a particular OEM out with their own interpretation of the
to be the first to crack the code of electric electric luxury car. But how many of them
mobility in India, much like Honda Motor- will cement their names in the wall of fame
cycles and Scooters India was able to crack remains to be seen.
the scooter code and make Activa an impen-
etrable brand. Many Jupiters and Maestros Enter an Indian luxury brand with no pri-
have passed through the dealerships but the or experience but a headful of dreams and
Activa has only spread its wings further. an ambition to revolutionize the way we
perceive electric luxury. It is a tall ask, and
Tesla has been the one beacon of hope for the following pages document our journey
potential electric car manufacturers up until through designing something uniquely spe-
now, with every other electric startup either cial and also understanding and discovering
biting the dust or being sick simply because ourselves.
of the challenges that an electric automotive
environment faces. India would be a higher
hill to climb simply because infrastructure
is a bottle-neck any way, notwithstanding
policies and a general disinclination towards
adopting newer technologies which haven’t
been proven in the West.
All of these factors, explored in the follow-

ing pages, precipitated towards conceptual-
izing a luxury car which would be propelled
Prologue
THIRTEEN
This product is
designed for a
person and that
person is the core
center of the
product.
Every design
decision is at
the service of
that person and
is made so that
that person’s
experience of
interacting with
the product
is impacted
positively.
Philosophy
THIRTEEN
There are different methods of solving the
same problem and various routes to arrive at
the same solution. This is the process that has
been adopted for this particular project:
1. Selecting the Segment.

2. Identifying the Target User.
3. Understanding their needs.
4. Studying the Competition.
5. Drawing Inferences and Insight.
6. Deploying insights into Ideas.
1. Selecting the segment.
When it comes to an automobile, the first

and foremost objective parameter that
is fixed is the segment in which the car
shall present itself. This lends a lot of
characteristics to the car. This decides the
price point and all the comforts and the
technology that it is going to be fitted with.
It decides the ballpark dimensions of the car,
which is often benchmarked with everything
else in the segment. One question that is
settled in this space is the motive power
of the vehicle - whether it is an electric
vehicle or a gasoline driven. This also helps
immensely in identifying who the target
customer is which leads one, organically, to
the next step.
2. Identifying the Target Customer.
The target customer is an elusive set. Big

budget projects undertaken by the largest
car companies struggle to whittle down who
exactly they should be aiming their products
at. Products can be aimed at anyone, but it
is imperative to understand that anyone,
without which the product is never going to
meet their needs. Many products which come that tries to satiate a need which does
out are either trying to satisfy needs which not really exist, it is a classic case of the
don’t really exist (and the marketing fails to company - including the marketing team
create the want) or are catering to too many - deciding to work on a whim. There is a
people and hence have watered the core severe disconnect between perception and
competencies down to please one and all. reality and this can happen when companies
Both are pitfalls. When a product is created either do not spend enough money on
Methodology
Locking a segment
Finalizing the brief

‘17
Registration
Sep
Identifying the TG
Studying the TG
Ideation - Sketching
Ideation - Prototyping
Clay Modeling
‘17
Documentation
Oct
‘17 TG = Target Group

Nov
‘17
Dec
‘18
Jan
‘18
Feb
Timeline
THIRTEEN
research or enough care. Preliminary 4. Studying the competition.
research of any sort requires a lot of will as
this becomes the foundation of the product While understanding the customers’ need
and in turn the company. When one skimps is of paramount importance, half the work
on this stage of the project, one jeopardizes has already been done by people who have
the fate of the entire company. Larger firms populated the said segment with their
spend billions of rupees in research, but own offerings. The competition provides
sometimes not enough care, which leads important data points and the reviews and
to a disconnect between what the market sales provide important subjective opinions
requires and what the marketing division of the said date points. Every product is a
says it does. Market research is as much an compromise, it is important to understand
art as it is a science. Trend studies can yield what is compromised how much so as to
their own results but a successful product work in the best way for the customer. It
often requires much more than just that. is very educative to see what established
companies and companies who have just
Another component of understanding the sprung up attack these compromises.
target customer is to not cater to a lot of
differing groups. It really helps the case 5. Drawing Inferences and Insight.
when there is homogeneity in the latitude
of target customers. Otherwise the vehicle Upon studying what the customer wants and
ends up becoming a master of none. what has already been provided to them, it
Customers usually do not take to master of is important to synthesize and crystallize
none products because they sense the innate that information into what would make the
confusion in its design very subconsciously, most sensible product. In the end it is all
and sometimes it is so evident, despite or about sense making. The person buying the
because of confused marketing, that it product has to be able to make sense of it
is apparent from the very get go. So it is and the product has to be able to make sense
crucial to know who it is for, and who it is to the customer.
not for.
6. Deploying Insights into Ideas.
3. Understanding their needs.
The ideas that are birthed from the insights
Once the target customer is locked in one need to be represented, brainstormed
has to delve deep into their heads. Through upon, refined and produced so as to reach
secondary and primary research one has to the end of the design process thereby
become the doctor who understands where begetting a prototype which encapsulates
it is hurting to be able to medicate the pain the various aspects of the research in terms
away. As a designer, one has to practice what of the insights gained. It is the physical
is often tossed around cavalierly - empathy. manifestation of the results of the research,
Empathizing with someone requires one after which it goes through another cycle
to put oneself into the shoes of the person of feedback where in actual potential
one is empathizing with. While the word is customers would weigh in on their opinion
bandied around wily nilly across the design- about the said design and how much of it
sphere, it is sometimes hard to believe that makes sense to them.
people have really understood what they
were dealing with when the product finally
hits the market. There is obvious production
constraints which probably shackle the best
of empathizers who have generated the most
fulfilling of products, but certain design
considerations lay themselves bare as not
having been considered at all. Avoiding that
is of paramount importance.

People
ignore
design
that
ignores
people.
~ Frank
Chimero
Frank Chimero is a designer,
author, and illustrator.
Research
THIRTEEN
Illustration by Karolis Strautniekas
THIRTEEN
Understanding
Since the product would be a super luxury to register a CAGR of ~24% till 2023. Mer-
car, the existing clientele was studied. cedes-Benz India and BMW Group India
recorded their highest-ever annual sales in
Buying Patterns
Sales of luxury cars have grown quickly. 2017 at 15,330 units and 9,800 units respec-
Sales of the three leading companies in the tively. India has the world’s 12th largest
segment increased by nearly 20 percent year High Net worth Individuals (HNI) population
on year to 33,600 units in 2017. “Emerging and has a huge potential for luxury cars.
The attempt of the study was to under- markets in tier-II and tier-III cities have
stand what prompted people to grown rapidly and are showing remarkable With expansion in the education & realty
purchase these luxury cars. growth prospects for the future,” Vikram sectors & increasing wealth of IT profession-
Pawah, President of BMW Group India, said. als, more consumers are aspiring to own
luxury cars. Currently, the affluent class of
Kotak Wealth Management said that house- the country is driving the demand of the lux-
holds worth more than Rs 25 crore will dou- ury cars. The luxury SUV segment is grow-
ble in number by 2020. It said in a report that ing at ~50%, whereas the luxury sedans are
the proportion of individuals surveyed who increasing 25 - 30%.
were below 40 years of age was 60 percent
now, compared to 47 percent last year. Jaguar Land Rover saw a rise of 83% in the
2017-18 cycle backed by new model launch-
Luxury car makers have reported a robust es. It is increasing its sales facility numbers
growth in the first half of 2018 (Jan-June). and expanding its model base in a bid to
While market leader Mercedes-Benz reported capture more market.
a 12.4 per cent growth in its first-half sales
to 8,061 units (7,171 units), its other German Lexus has recently entered the market.
counterpart BMW India group registered a
growth of 13 per cent in the same period to These things point at the obvious - Indians,
5,171 units. or at least the super rich ones, are shelling
out more money to buy these luxury cars,
For BMW, the higher sale in the first half of and super-luxury cars have skyrocketed.
2018 has been predominantly driven by the There is a need to be unique and different
Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) segment which and stand out from the crowd, and show to
has grown over 26 per cent as compared to the world that one can buy whatever one
the same period in 2017. The all-new BMW X3 fancies. And by the look of things, this trend
launched recently has led growth of the seg- is on the upswing. There were the days when
ment with over 60 per cent growth compared Maharajas would use Rolls Royces’ to gather
to January-June 2017. garbage to assuage their egos. These are the
new Maharajas.
The Indian luxury car market is expected
The main reason

behind owning a
luxury car is
prestige.
The second reason

is comfort.

THIRTEEN
Prestige
& Com-
fort
The two keywords which were brainstormed That could be how comfortable it is to
upon were prestige and comfort. What was experience that product.
understood and appreciated was that there
are two primary reasons why an individual Comfort is the other parameter paramount
decides to invest in a luxury car. to deciding upon which car to buy when it is
the target group of super rich people.
The first is prestige.
They desire the luxuries that their wealth
The higher one goes up in the segmentation can afford them and the manifestation
of cars, the more ostentatious the cars of that is in how comfortable a car truly
become, but one thing that obviously ascends is. It is laden with the latest of gadgetries
as well is the price tag. With the price tag which are customized and provide the most
and the logo on the hood comes prestige. comfortable experience.
Dictionary definition of the word brings up
“widespread respect and admiration felt Their living rooms and their offices are
for someone or something on the basis of a curated in such a way that they do not have
perception of their achievements or quality.” to suffer any inconvenience of any kind.
It is perceived by others. Their time is valuable, and so is their health.
Those feelings combine to take the shape of
That is a crucial point because it works a yearning for the comfortable. A car has to
both ways. Any product associated with be comfortable and extremely usable.
someone the society (or even an individual)
looks up to gains prestige, gains respect
because a certain someone is using it, and
when an individual uses a product which is
prestigious, that individual’s perceived value
increases because it is natural to project the
value of a product on to the user and vice
versa. This works on association. A brand
with victories and laurels is a brand that is
prestigious. A user channels that prestige
through association with that brand.
Likewise, an individual who has achieved a
certain amount of celebrity through his or
her pursuits and perseverance rubs off the
prestige on any brand that he or she chooses
to advocate. It is natural, even for people
who want to stand out, to associate with a
brand which has something to say.

THIRTEEN
Why a
The following reasons lead to the idea that a 3. Technological Prowess
luxury car would make the most sense when
it comes to a foray into the Indian automo- This is an indirect return of playing the luxury
luxury car?
tive scene. car card because a luxury car creates an expec-
tation of being doused in technology. That
1. Creating a Brand expectation leads to the development and im-
To create a brand, usually a there are two ap- plementation of cutting edge features which
Why decide to proaches. A top down approach and a bottom also enable frequent updates which are other-
manufacture a luxury car? up approach. In the top-down approach, the wise not afforded to cars and exist only in the
brand establishes its identity by launching a realms of gadgets. This turns the automobile
product at the top-most segment and creates a into a gadget-mobile.
perception of quality and a sense of trust.
In the bottom up approach, the product is

launched at the lower end of the market and
gradually newer products are launched which
are positioned higher in the market spectrum.
The benefit of a bottom up approach is that

the product would have lesser complications,
would have lesser expectations in terms of
features and functions and creature comforts,
and hence would be far less expensive to make
and sell and would also engage fewer vendors
and workers, procuring and managing which
in itself is a Herculean task.
Luxury has a lot to do with perception

The challenge with a top down approach is
the need for exclusive parts and innovative
technology which come at a price. This would
also entail a much larger number of workers
and vendors and would in turn be dispropor-
tionately more expensive. That’s the risk that
any brand runs when it is venturing into new
waters with this strategy.
Ancient Roman architechture forms the basis of their civilization
2. Getting Funds
Not just in terms of funds from a venture

capitalist, or an angel investor, but also raw
cash which one would get once the sales start
simply because the margins on a luxury car
are much higher than the wafer thin ones on a
lower segment car. By making and selling lux-
ury cars, one is playing the high-risk, high-re-
turn game.

THIRTEEN
What is a
A luxury car is an automobile which goes
well beyond transporting the occupants
from one place to another. It does it while
Luxury Car?
cushioning them from the external. It does
it in comfort, ensconcing them in different
kinds of modern amenities and technology.
A closer look at how one defines what It is a vehicle with higher quality
constitutes a luxury car. equipment, better performance, more
precise construction, comfort, better design,
technologically innovative, or features that
convey an image, brand, status, or prestige,
or any other ‘discretionary’ feature or
combination of them.
It is also very subjective as different people

perceive luxury differently.
The need to differentiate happened because

cars were not a luxury anymore. The
aspirational value of an automobile had
begun eroding and the marketing divisions
of these automobile manufacturers had to
create a halo around something that could
be difficult to attain and hence become
aspirational. This meant an increase in price
tag because that was the only barrier that
could stop a certain number of people from
buying it and in turn let a certain number to
be able to.
Customers wanted increased comfort and

increased safety as the number of motor
vehicle related deaths spiraled. They wanted
something that would distinguish them from
A yacht is a an apt parable to the richness
the hoi polloi and make them feel a sense of

pride and achievement because they were
able to purchase something few others could.
The need and the innovations fell in place

and thus was born the luxury car. This was a
conduit for bringing in the latest innovation
and thereby revolutionizing the entire
industry step by step.
Luxury has a lot to do with perception
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

THIRTEEN
Competition
sheer, peerless luxury. It is a brand which Bentley Flying Spur
has nothing left to prove. Having raced in
all forms of motor-sport (except Formula), Volkswagen AG bought the rights of the
Review
and having seen off rival companies in Bentley brand back in 1998 from BMW, and
sheer longevity (Packard, Hispano Suiza and since then has developed another option
Cord being swept away into the chapters of for people who are looking at a Rolls Royce.
oblivion), Rolls Royce has managed to keep Practically, these two brands stand on
A closer look at the its old heart beating ever stronger. The Ghost their own when considered in the social
other cars in the segment. is a classical expression of that. Every inch hierarchy of automobile brands. Bentley has
of the car politely whispers “quality”. There had a hallowed history through race wins
is a sense of grandeur in every detail of this and many stories of heroics. It has been
magnificent beast. perceived as a sporty super luxury brand
Rolls Royce Ghost | Rollsroyce.com which would have very powerful engines
and luxury interiors with a bent towards
driving pleasure. James Bond, at least in his
Ian Fleming guise, would drive around in
Bentleys.
The Flying Spur is a bit of an underdog in

that respect. It started life as a two door
Continental GT which beget a four door
brother to satiate the customers who
weren’t too pleased with the rear seats of
the 2+2 coupe. Initially “under” the Arnage
in the Bentley range, and now the Mulsanne,
this has been a bit of a dark horse. And given
that it is based on the Audi A8 chassis and
shares some of the engines and electricals
with it and is also not very inspired to drive,
it has become a bit long in the tooth, at least
in its present guise. It is up for a overhaul
though, and the new one might be closer to
what the original Bentleys used to stand for.
It is imperative to look at what the True, there are a few bits & bobs from The external design is a little louder than the
competition is doing, not just to know what BMW, but that’s not a bad thing at all. The corresponding Rolls, with the w12 version
to do better but also to know what not to do. interiors are crafted in enough leather and getting black wheels as stock, a blackened
wood to satiate most people. People looking grille and other “sporty” bits. The twin
Rolls Royce Ghost towards buying into legacy and heritage lights have been a hallmark for Bentley now.
would definitely not look elsewhere when The proportions are classic luxury car, with
The first and foremost competition is the RR it comes to a Rolls. With BMW’s infusion a long hood, chiseled with a V shape leading
Ghost, which is almost the default choice of technology and engineering, now it is into the grille, with the rear being a bit more
when people are shopping in this segment. modern as well. minimalist, with two rounded rectangle
Based upon the BMW 7 series platform, lamps across a horizontal crease.
but elongated and widened, powered by a The exterior design of the car is understated
selection of very potent set of petrol motors and yet very bold. The front is adorned by
and plastering the innards with luxurious the neo-Roman architectural grille, crowned Bentley Flying Spur | Bentley.com
details, this car is a sign that one has arrived by the Spirit of Ecstacy. This is also very
in life. Since the inception of the brand, rectangular in its approach and the whole
more than a century back, Rolls Royce has car feels like it has been milled from one
been a name synonymous with super luxury. slab of aluminum. The sides are flat slabs
Indian kings would flaunt a bevy of them of arrogance with a line at the underside
and there is considerable amount of folklore flowing into the rear. The two tones visually
associated with this mighty brand. Till this separate the inner and outer entities of the
date some of the vintage RRs adorn many car and form an interesting styling choice.
a private car collection in tony Delhi and The car sits on massive alloy wheels and the
Mumbai, an eclectic mix of raw power and proportions are classic super luxury car.

THIRTEEN
The rear has the trademark Rangie sloping The trick worked, the Cayenne is the most
windshield which meets the two tail lamps popular Porsche on sale and the Macan is
which are at the extreme ends of the vehicle a close second and then this is this. The
to give a wider look, which bleed into the Panamaera has dropped its oddball looks for
sides. A line from the element at the front a far more resolved look in this generation.
Range Rover Vogue/Autobiography continues right up to the rear and meets the The exterior is distinctly Porsche, albeit
tail lamp to complete the look.
The Land Rover Range Rover (at least till Mercedes Benz Maybach | mbusa.com
they officially spin it off into a sub-brand) Porsche Panamera
is the epitome of luxury when it comes
to SUVs. The reason this is a competition Heavily criticized for its polarizing looks
is because in modern Indian cities, this in its first iteration, the anti-purist four
happens to be the most immediate choice, door, four seat Porsche has grown a lot more
simply because of the condition of the handsome in life and has gained a lot of
streets. This has been covered in depth later. admirers in that process.
The Land Rover brand is another of the Porsche as a brand is possibly one of the
brand royalty, what with having served in most enduring, endearing and alluring.
both wars and provided countless medical Known to be the absolute pinnacle of driving
services to many, many people across pleasure that can be had out of four wheels,
missions around the world. When one buys with its peculiar boxer engines behind the
a Range Rover, one buys into that, or so one rear axle, Porsche has managed to win many
would want to believe. races and many hearts in the process. slightly warped, but in a good way. The
front is a super wide, super low hood, with
The exterior design is built around solidity. no “grille” like other Porsches. The air
Porsche Panamera | Porsche.com
It feels like it is as invincible as a tank. dam down below is complemented by two
Rectangularity obviously features heavily smaller ones which house the fog lamps.
here, what with it being the apex of The headlights are typical Porsche affairs
SUVness and luxury. A darkened, massive with the now omniscient four LED look. The
“Rangie” grille with two slim headlights headlamps sit on taut haunches (which have
form the visual face of the car, with a sleek creases now!) which lead into the shoulder.
horizontal air dam underneath forming a The side is a bare surface with a slight
strong chin. The sides are deliberately flat, crown, broken by the trails of the side vent.
broken by the bare minimum of lines and a A light light-catcher is cut through by the
detailing aft of the front wheels furthering rear wheels, which later forms the bump in
the architectural feel of the automotive. the bumper. The taillights sit at the end of a
Wheel arches flare out ever so much to give long, sloping fastback, forming a horizontal
a very dominant presence, with the blacked slat, further visually widening the already
out top half forming a sinister and sexy wide car, above which sit the party-trick,
contrast to the bright body colored bottom. electric 3 part spoiler. The car is a lot more
Some of them have a brightened ceiling That has also led to a huge fan club of homogeneous than the last iteration and
as well furthering the glamour quotient. purists who, while not being even customers truly feels like a Porsche now.
perhaps, have an opinion on what the
Range Rover | RangeRover.com brand should and shouldn’t do - possibly Mercedes Benz S Class Maybach
the highest form of adulation that there is
for a brand to have. This leads to a sticky Mercedes Benz needs no introduction. It has
situation where it is difficult for a brand been the last word on luxury this side of a
to maneuver into fresh ground as purists Rolls Royce. Their cars have been legendary
would be baying for blood. Porsche took in various aspects of history, from race wins
a big risk in launching the Cayenne, the to feats to being Hitler’s chariot to being
Panamera and then the Macan by angering Princess Diana’s last ride, history is littered
the fans and throwing a bone at the cynics with Merc references. They are also the
to further gain profitability because clearly reining Formula One champions and have
fleecing customers on a boat load of extra, won the last bunch of years as well. They
unnecessary accessories was not enough to have also applied airbags in cars and a whole
keep the company afloat. host of other safety equipment.

THIRTEEN
Audi A8 | audiusa.com
been eminently successful in various races

and rallies and have been the preferred
choice of vehicles for petrol-heads across the
globe, the brand is one of the most revered
and recognized brands in the world, helped
Which brings us to the S Class Maybach. in no small measure by the kidney grilles
This is the range topping S Class with more and the double barrel, angle eyed, corona
luxury appointments in it than a middle ringed headlights. The 7 Series is the apex
class living room. It is supposed to be a predator in the BMW lineup, more luxurious
private jet on the ground, cocooning the than any other car in the range, with an
passengers away from the grim realities of array of gadgetry from 3D cameras to self-
the outside world. parking and remote driving to whatnot. It
is an absolute tech fest on four wheels with
The exterior design is a lot more brash, with driving dynamics to boot.
a huge Mercedes grille being prominently headlamps, with a minimal surfacing which
visible at front with a three pointed star The exterior design is proudly BMW, with follows through in the entire car. The C
hood ornament to bolster the ego. The lights massive kidney grilles in the present pillar has an interesting execution with a
at the two ends are big and imposing, with generation (G11/G12) of the car, with the piano black material. The sides are softly
organic details inside which are a theme in headlights fusing into them like most sculpted and the rear has very distinct
this generation of Mercs, most beautifully BMWs of this generation. There is a big air vertical lamps which give the car a very
executed in the C Class, perhaps. There is dam which is split in two with a chrome large appearance.
a huge air dam underneath the grille with element and fog lamps at the two ends. The
a wide, gaping mouth dipped liberally in headlights look mean and angry and contain Audi A8
chrome. The banana curve extends from the laser lights. The hood is long and sinewy,
front wheel all the way to the back across with people describing it as an athlete in a The exterior design is becoming busier with
the flattish sides, the car having a long hood business suit. The sides have a strong crease each generation of Audi. There is a gaping
and a swooping roof-line ending in a thick C running across and sculpted profile with a huge grille in the front which is very sharp.
pillar. The taillights are beautifully detailed light catcher and a chrome element which The rectangular headlights are intricately
in terms of elements and the rear is raked comes out of the hockey stick detail called detailed with the LED matrix option
and sculpted beautifully to form a wide and the “air curtain”. The 7 has a more three box, lights, with a heavily chromed up air vent
powerful behind, a view more plebs would be sedan proportion than the competition’s underneath. There’s precious little metal
familiar with. more cab rearward design, as usual with in the front of the car. The sides are solid
BMW. The C pillar melts into the boot which straight surfaces with the new ur-Quattro
has the remnants of a Bangle butt in them, haunch cut outs on the flanges, both front
BMW 7 Series | bmwindia.com
decked with two big tail lamps which are and rear. The light-catcher is distinctly
connected via a chrome bar of tasteful cut. The rear slopes into a long boot with a
proportions. The rear bumper swells out and huge array of dizzying lights set up in a bar
has some interesting detailing and black formation with a chrome bar ending things.
inserts.
Jaguar XJ | jaguarusa.com
Jaguar XJ
Jaguar is now an Indian brand. And it is

usually chosen by people who are bored of
the German trio. The brand has gradually
come out of its Ford days and now enjoys a
great fan following and good sales figures.
Tata has really infused life into the brand
and is a crowning success in the business
BMW 7 Series acumen of Ratan Tata.
Our Prime Minister’s present ride, the 7 The exterior design is getting of age now,
Series is a symbol of power and importance. the car being on sale for a while, but the
fat cat has been given a few nips and tucks
BMW has been synonymous with driving along the way by legendary car designer
dynamics since a very long time. Having Ian Callum. The front has a huge Jaguar
made a bunch of legendary cars which have grille, with two beautiful, cat like eyes as

THIRTEEN
Porsche Cayenne | porsche.com
gets rectangular tail-lamps with no drama.
BMW X5
Mercedes Benz GLS Class The original luxury SUV, in its fourth
generation has come a long way from its
An SUV which has been charting quite a five seater lifestyle vehicle days, springing
few numbers recently is the GLS, in its new two more seats and becoming a bona-
iteration has begun making a lot more sense fide offroader in its own might. The front
versus the previous generations which were now has a big kidney grille, the two lights
more of an X5 aping effort. The exterior getting disconnected in this generation
design is bold and brash, the dimensions from the grilles and more reminiscent to
being enormous and very helpful in creating
an imposing feeling. Huge grille with a mega
BMW X5 | bmwusa.com
three pointed star to make it very obvious as lamps which are sleeker and blackened out.
to what the brand is, with massive chrome The air dam remains pretty large but has
tipped air dams and big, bulbous eyes with been broken up into three parts with the two
the Mercedes detailing of DRLs and projector parts on the sides housing the fog lamps.
lamps. The sides are creased up through two The air vent itself is set high off the ground
creases, one which runs across the wheel giving the whole vehicle a proper SUV front.
The bonnet has power bulged creases which
Mercedes Benz GLS | mbusa.com
run across the long hood. The sides are
typically Porsche in their understatedness
and astutely follow the light-catcher into
the rear. Both wheels get proper haunches,
muscular and dynamic. The C pillar gets
the typical Porsche treatment. The rear has
a light bar akin to most of the range now
and this creates a far from pleasing and
harmonizing feeling compared to the twin Volvo XC90 | volvocars.com
lights in the past.
Audi Q7
A massive juggernaut of a vehicle, this

shares its platform with the Cayenne and the
wells and the other which becomes the Bentayga but is substantially cheaper and
light catcher. The rear wheel is surrounded hence not a direct rival but is quite a popular
by a big haunch which is baked to its full SUV towards the bottom of the segment.
capacity. The B and C pillars are blacked Audi garishness in the front abounds with a
out in an effort to elongate the DLO and huge chrome tipped grille. Sides remain flat,
make it seem slimmer than it is. The rear with bulged up sharp haunches and the rear
is a straight forward styling job with two
enormous tail lamps and a vanilla door with
chrome garnish thrown in for good measure. Audi Q7 | netcarshow.com the last generation 1 series. The hockey stick
details which are called the air curtains fly
Porsche Cayenne through to the back. The wheel arches have
pinched details, and the haunches are more
Porsche’s first stab at mass manufacturing sculpted. The rear haunch breaks out into a
in a very different scale, this beast is a hulk sharply cut feature. The rear tail lamps take
of a vehicle. With generous proportions and from the new BMW design language and
Porsche’s new design theme, it has become are properly 3D. There is a mix and match
a lot more appealing over the years from of elements in the rear fender and that
the days of a rather oddball looking SUV completes a rather sporty look at this end of
thing. The front is a lot more resolved and the segment.
refined and feels like a Porsche with distinct
haunches housing the four LED Porsche

THIRTEEN
The Volvo XC90 is one behemoth of an
car, towering over the hoi polloi with
understated Scandinavian elegance. The
Thor’s hammer is the most striking feature
in the front, in its small radii version with
more right angled edges. There is a big Volvo
grille with its vertical slats. The surfacing
is highly controlled and the small air vents
have been perfectly sculpted into their
nacelles. The wheel arches have a cinched
detail and the sides are Helvetica bold. A
modern iteration of the Christmas tree
adorns the back as the two tail lamps which
are edgier in this interpretation. The rear is
solidly put together and a few chrome bits
and pieces bejewel the otherwise modernly
sculpted rear hatch.
Commonalities
1. Rectangularity
2. Perception of length
3. Limited use of chrome
4. Expansive, simple surfacing
5. Powerful grille
6. Straight lines
7. Complex lighting details

THIRTEEN
Why an
Electric propulsion has been around for The reason the company believes so much
more than a century in automobiles. in electric is because it is high time we,
Unfortunately, the kind of strides that were as Indians, move towards electrification.
Electric Car?
made in the Petroleum based technology India imports 82% of its oil needs, which
were not matched by the development that makes it vulnerable to fluctuations in oil
happened in the electric atmosphere. This prices and diplomatic chicanery. India is the
led to widespread adoption of petroleum
India imports 82%

A closer look at how one defines based automobile propulsion, mostly petrol
what constitutes a luxury car. and diesel and to a smaller extent gas.
The extent to which petroleum based cars

became popular is that cities were planned
of its oil needs.
around the advent of the petrol car. The third largest consumer of crude oil in the
“fill it, shut it, forget it” nature of the cars world, after the United States and China.
helped immensely. The technology allowed The country accounted 4.81% of total world
carmakers to pack in a lot of power in a oil consumption in 2016-17. The estimated
small package and then deliver cars which total consumption of crude oil in India rose
ran on cheaply and abundantly available from 156.10 MMT in 2007-08 to 245.36 MMT
fuel. Customers could not ask for more and in 2016-17 with a CAGR of 4.63%. India is
carmakers more than obliged. highly dependent on import of crude oil.
The petrol and diesel engines went through For a country which prides itself on being an
several iterative developments, and survived economic superpower, these figures paint
through two World Wars and a Great
Petroleum Refinery | BusinessStandard.com
Depression and a worldwide financial crisis.
But petroleum is a natural resource and as
millions of people are being pulled out of
poverty and into a fledging middle class,
developing countries are rapidly amping up
their demand for mobility.
Global Warming itself is a strong sign of

the abuse that humans have meted out to
the Earth and combusting more petroleum
products is only making things worse.
Countries are realizing their folly and are a very difficult picture. The recent rise in
pumping in resources to generate renewable global crude prices was largely behind the
energy, thereby making electricity which surge in domestic prices, but fuel is also
does not directly harm the environment. heavily taxed by India’s state and union
This, coupled with the fact that every unit authorities, accounting for about half the
of electricity is becoming cheaper, has led cost of petrol and 40 percent of the diesel
to a sudden interest into making electric price.
propulsion the de rigueur.
Rising FUel Imports| EconomicTimes.com
It also helps that electric cars have gained

the reputation of being cool and early
adopters and trend-setters would want to
An electric car| Engadget.com
find themselves driving around in these

gadgets of the future.

THIRTEEN
A 2013 study on
activities in July 2018 as the airborne sand
significantly worsened north India’s air
non-smokers has
quality, far outside the winter months that
Eleven out
usually herald the region’s descent into a
found that Indians

months-long toxic haze.
have 30% lower lung

“It’s definitely a new normal -- the of the
twelve most
frequency and intensity of these storms
function compared
is unprecedented,” said Sunita Narain,
polluted
director general of New Delhi’s Centre for
to Europeans.
Science and Environment, who added that
cities on
recent weather is related to desertification,
deforestation and an over-extraction of
a World
Up in Smokes groundwater.
Health
Particulate matter (PM) can be as deadly as In India, extreme weather events can quickly
tobacco smoking or even cancer. And India’s lead to dozens of deaths and cause economic
Organi-
A smogged up Indian Gate| NationalGeographic.com

cities, which routinely rank among the hardship, with the World Bank estimating
world’s most polluted, are choking on them. that environmental degradation costs
zation list
India roughly $80 billion each year. At the
The life expectancy impact of ambient PM2.5 same time, soaring levels of tiny, deadly
were in
is especially large in India which comes to particulate matter have prompted concern
around 1.53 years, according to researchers about a brewing public health emergency
India.
from American Chemical Society. in the politically-gridlocked capital, where
doctors warn of rising lung cancer and heart
Deadly dust storms sweeping over the disease cases.
densely-populated north Indian plains
are part of a “new normal” of disruptive In 2018 alone, there have been 50 severe
weather events worsening the country’s storms across 16 Indian states that have
already-lethal air pollution and causing led to more than 500 deaths, compared
disruption in the $2.3 trillion economy. to 22 storms between 2003 and 2017, and
only nine between 1980 and 2003, the CSE
In recent months, dust clouds and storms said. Nearly 5,000 houses collapsed, while
have killed hundreds of people, destroyed livestock were killed and crops were ruined
thousands of homes and farmers’ crops and across the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
led to flight cancellations. The government Pradesh, Bihar and others, according to a throwing up, hardly able to breathe due to
in New Delhi, a city of more than 20 million report by the CSE. the polluted air that he was inhaling.
people, ordered a halt to construction
The problem has become so severe that
India is one of the research by Unicef shows that air pollution

is having a negative impact on children’s
largest producers brains. Movements like My Right to Breathe

are trying to bring awareness to the fact
of energy from that air pollution has almost made India’s

capital uninhabitable.
renewable sources. Nationwide, more than a million Indians

Burning a paddy field| Cerealmag.com
died from bad air in 2015, according to a

recent Lancet study. If air quality were
India began to acknowledge it was facing an to improve to safe levels (40 micrograms
air pollution crisis in the 1990s, when smog per cubic meter by India’s standards), life
in Delhi became so pervasive that the city’s expectancy would increase in Patna by
chief minister referred to the city as a “gas four years and in Delhi by six, according to
chamber.” An eye-opening and embarrassing another tool.
moment for India came last year when,
as millions of people watched a televised
cricket match, the game was stopped, and
a player from the Sri Lankan team started

THIRTEEN
ergy
Renewable En-
Greener on the Other Side
Renewable energy sources and technologies
have potential to provide solutions to the
long-standing energy problems being faced
by the developing countries. The renewable
energy sources like wind energy, solar
energy, geothermal energy, ocean energy,
biomass energy and fuel cell technology
can be used to overcome energy shortage
in India. To meet the energy requirement
for such a fast growing economy, India will
require an assured supply of 3–4 times more
energy than the total energy consumed
today. The renewable energy is one of the
A smogged up Delhi
options to meet this requirement. Today,
renewable account for about 33% of India’s
primary energy consumptions. India is
increasingly adopting responsible renewable
energy techniques and taking positive steps
towards carbon emissions, cleaning the air
and ensuring a more sustainable future.
Non-fossil fuels -- renewable, nuclear and The draft notes that if India achieves
large hydroelectric power plants -- will its target to install 175 gigawatt (GW,
account for more than half (56.5%) of India’s which consists of 1,000 megawatts) of
installed power capacity within the 10 years renewable energy capacity by 2022 -- as
to 2027, according to a draft of the third it has committed to under the 2015 Paris
National Electricity Plan (NEP3) released in Agreement -- it will not need to install,
December 2016. at least until 2027, any more coal-fired
capacity than the 50 GW currently under
construction.
The Ministry of Power produces a National

Electricity Plan every five years, in which it
reviews the progress made over the previous
five years, and sets out a detailed action plan
for the next 10 with the overarching aim
of achieving universal access to electricity
across India and ensuring that power is
supplied efficiently and at reasonable prices.
The largest solar power plant in the World in India
In February 2017, solar power was auctioned

at a record low of Rs 2.97-Rs 2.979 per
kilowatt-hour (kWh). Soon after, in auctions
for wind power projects in March 2017, the
winning bid quoted an all-time low price of
Rs 3.46/kWh.
India is one of the

largest producers
of energy from
renewable sources.

THIRTEEN
Martin Ebenhard and Marc Tarpenning Tesla’s production strategy includes a
started a car company called Tesla Motors high degree of vertical integration, which
in 2003 and funded it out of their pockets includes component production and
The Tesla Story

till Series A funding when Elon Musk, J. proprietary charging infrastructure. The
B. Straubel, and Ian Wright came into the company operates enormous factories to
picture. After shuffling in the main roles, capture economies of scale.
Elon Musk took over CEO duties and the first
An understanding of how an electric product launched was the all electric Tesla It’s sales strategy is to sell its vehicles
startup became a threat to the Roadster. online and in company-owned showrooms
petroleum based car industry. rather than through a conventional dealer
It was based on a Lotus Elise and was aimed network.
at rich early adopters who would fund the
expansion of the company and help the Tesla’s technology strategy focuses on
company design their next product, the pure-electric propulsion technology, and
Model S. The Tesla Roadster was the first transferring other approaches from the
production automobile to use lithium-ion technology industry to transportation, such
Original Tesla Roadster
battery cells and the first production EV with as online software updates. The company
a range greater than 320 km per charge. allows its technology patents to be used by
anyone in good faith.
Peter Thiel, an early investor and part of
the Silicon Mafia, termed Tesla’s strategy as
“complex coordination”.
“All Our Patent Are
What that means is that a whole roster of
innovative technologies and processes will
Belong To You (sic)”, Elon
come together to create an automobile,
thereby drastically altering the way cars are
Musk.
manufactured.
“Technology leadership is not defined by
The battery and electric drivetrain patents, which history has repeatedly shown
technology for each model would be to be small protection indeed against a
developed and paid for through the sales determined competitor, but rather by the
of earlier models. According to a Musk blog ability of a company to attract and motivate
post, “New technology in any field takes a the world’s most talented engineers. We
few versions to optimize before reaching the believe that applying the open source
mass market, and in this case it is competing philosophy to our patents will strengthen
with 150 years and trillions of dollars spent rather than diminish Tesla’s position in this
on gasoline cars.” regard,” wrote Elon Musk in a blog post.
Unlike other automakers, Tesla does not use

individual large battery cells, but thousands
of small, cylindrical, lithium-ion commodity
cells, called the 2170 and 18650 cells, like
those used in consumer electronics. It uses
a version of these cells that is designed
to be cheaper to manufacture and lighter
than standard cells by removing some
safety features. According to Tesla, these
features are redundant because of the
advanced thermal management system
and an intumescent chemical in the battery
to prevent fires. Panasonic makes these
batteries in Tesla’s Gigafactory.
Tesla Model 3
As of December 2017, the Model S, with

global sales of over 200,000 units, ranked as
the world’s second best selling plug-in.

THIRTEEN
Post the roaring success of the Model S, Tesla eral Motors has even created a task force to
launched their next vehicle, the Model X. The track Tesla’s next moves.
model suffered production delays because
Elon Musk was obsessed with giving it “Fal- And Musk definitely understood that fash-
con” rear doors, which were a nightmare to ion drove interest in cleantech. Rich people
design, engineer and manufacture. Despite especially wanted to appear “green,” even
facing many hurdles, the product finally if it meant driving a boxy Prius or clunky
debuted with that feature and is a testament Honda Insight. Those cars only made drivers
to Musk’s undying ambition and a will to do look cool by association with the famous
anything to pursue an idea. eco-conscious movie stars who owned them
as well.
It has a panoramic windshield. According to So Tesla decided to build cars that made
Tesla founder Elon Musk, it is the safest SUV drivers look cool, period- Leonardo DiCaprio
in terms of frontal and side impact crash, even ditched his Prius for an expensive (and
being more than twice as safe as the next expensive-looking) Tesla Roadster.
closest SUV in rollover tests as well.
Incumbents are conservative because they
In fact, the success of Tesla as a compa- want to do what they know and hold on to
ny can be ascribed to a great degree to it’s what they’ve got. They are risk averse and
idiosyncratic and brilliant CEO. There are their size makes it impossible for them to
few people with the vision and resources as change in a hurry. They’ve largely written
does Musk. He is fashioned in pop culture as the rules and often like to follow them. The
a real life Tony Stark and with good reason. large companies dedicated to fossil fuels and
He tried to save lives of students trapped in cars are prime examples. Tesla, being the
an Indonesian cave and donated the rapidly innovator and disruptor, decided to plunge
manufactured submarine for future use. into electrification and autonomous driving.
Today it stands as a pioneer in both fields,
He is as intrinsically linked to Tesla as Steve beating established luxury automakers in
Jobs is to Apple. These super-CEOs are the the fray to become the next big luxury car
public face of the company and their per- manufacturer.
sonality rubs off on the general conscious as
the personality of the company. It greatly
helps that Tesla positions itself as a technol-
ogy company as that has led to a far more
warmer reception to the company’s products
than would have probably been if it would
have pushed itself as a car-maker, because
car-makers are increasingly being seen as
pollutants, at least in the Western hemi-
sphere. Volkswagen’s dieselgate has further
bolstered the mistrust that petroleum has
garnered in the public eye, global warming
being the other, more important, reason.
Tesla’s technology is so good that other car

companies rely on it: Daimler uses Tesla’s
Model X
battery packs; Mercedes-Benz uses a Tesla

powertrain; Toyota uses a Tesla motor. Gen-
Elon Musk

THIRTEEN
Faraday Future is an American start- ex-employees and government officials who
up technology company focused on the have expressed doubts about the company’s
development of intelligent electric vehicles. finances. Among FF’s financial challenges
Faraday Future
Faraday Future was established in April was providing surety for a $140 million loan
2014. Faraday Future is named for one of when LeEco bought a $250 million piece of
the founding principles of electric motor land in California from Yahoo.
technology known as Faraday’s law of In late 2017, the then CFO Stefan Krause and
and Lucid Motors induction. Faraday’s Law is in turn named

after English scientist Michael Faraday who
discovered electromagnetic induction.
CTO Ulrich Kranz departed Faraday Future,
in a dispute with majority shareholder Jia
Yueting over financing and the impending
What about exhaustion of the cash supply. The two
the companies would then found Evelozcity in late 2017, a
that followed competing electric car maker, and poaching
Tesla’s former Faraday Future employees.
footsteps?
Jia Yueting then took over as CEO of the
company, securing a round of financing,
when the company was facing depleting
their cash supply, and started paying off
debts to suppliers from his stakes in his
company LeEco which has, itself defaulted
on loans and the company now seems to be
in danger of being grounded. The Chinese
conglomerate says Jia used “manipulating”
tactics to persuade the board of directors
who oversaw the deal to advance another
$700 million.
In early 2018, Faraday Future acquired
$1.5 billion in funding from an undisclosed
investor from Hong Kong. The $550
million of that was invested initially with
Faraday Future FF91
the balance coming as the company met

milestones.
According to Faraday Future, “Everything

about our cutting-edge technology was
created to make your life more connected,
The company debuted its first concept

vehicle, the single-seat sports car, FF ZERO1,
at the January 2016 Consumer Electronics
Show but did not announce production
schedules.
In August 2017, the company announced
that it had signed a lease for a former
Pirelli tire plant in Hanford, California.
The company said that it could employ
up to 1,300 people over time and build
Lucid Air
Lucid Air
up to 10,000 cars a year at that location.

The company said that some of Faraday
Future’s revenue stream is expected to come
from alternative, ancillary sources, the
anticipated revenue structure being closer
to that of the smartphone than to that of
standard automobile sales. Faraday has
been the subject of speculation voiced by

THIRTEEN
more engaging, more effortless. We that expertise is being applied both to its
Lucid Air
designed our A.I. and user interaction to new sedan, and to racing, as it will be the
be as intuitive and convenient as possible, sole battery-pack supplier for Formula E,
giving you back more of your invaluable in its fifth and sixth seasons. It has been
time.” working on its dual-motor all-wheel-drive
The first pre-production FF 91 model from system long enough to already be on the a natural-language voice system developed
Faraday Future has rolled off the line at the third generation of its inverter design—the in-house. The system will employ highly
company’s facility in Hanford, California in electronic element that converts the battery customizable displays combined with
August 2018. Owing to financial troubles, pack’s DC power to three-phase AC for the machine-learning strategies to identify
the future of Faraday seems shaky. The propulsion motors. It’s testing its drivetrain tasks you’d routinely do and then make
company is actively hiring with ads like and batteries in Edna, a test mule built up suggestions—for example, giving traffic
this one, which say that Faraday Future from a Euro-spec Mercedes-Benz Metris van. advice if it knows that you typically leave
is working on “exciting new possibilities The battery packs, inverters, motor systems, work earlier on a particular day. The vehicle
in mobility,” and that it is “producing and body structure have all been developed will also be capable of autonomous driving
user-centric, technology-first vehicles to entirely in-house, while other aspects of from launch, with all cars getting an array
establish new paradigms in human-vehicle the sedan have meant forging new supplier that combines ultrasonic sensors, short- and
interaction. relationships. long-range radar sensors, surround radar,
short- and long-range camera sensing, and
“The advent of Their own design is made mostly of

aluminum with some limited use of high-
lidar. It’s designed, Lucid claims, for Level 4
autonomous-driving capability.
the Uber and Lyft strength steel. Back in 2016, Lucid claimed
its battery chemistry will be the “secret
model is going to sauce” that enables efficient packaging,

stable temperatures, and consistent
demand an electric performance. It planned to build its own

battery packs with small-format cylindrical
car which can be cells from a supplier. While developers at

other automakers typically have one team
rapidly charged working on power electronics and another

on thermal effects, Rawlinson said, Lucid
and is tolerant of has them working together to develop an

integrated system.
rapid, repeated [fast

charging].”
— Peter Rawlinson,
Lucid Motors
Co-founded in 2007 by Sam Weng, senior Lucid secured a fund of $1 billion from Saudi
director at Oracle, with financing from Arabia in September 2018. The investment
Tsing Capital, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, will finance Lucid Motor’s 2020 commercial
Venrock, and LeEco, Lucid Motors started launch of its first electric vehicle, the Lucid
life as Atieva, a company with poached Air.
talents from Tesla and other established car Under the agreement, Lucid will use
companies. the funding to complete engineering
Peter Rawlinson, Lucid chief technology development and testing of the Lucid
officer, conceived Lucid’s sedan as one that Air; construct its factory in Casa Grande,
at last embraces the spatial and packaging Arizona; begin the global rollout of its retail
freedom afforded by an all-electric strategy starting in North America; and
powertrain. enter production for the Lucid Air. Their
future at least looks brighter after this deal.
Atieva had been around since 2007, but until
the past 18 months or so, it was focused The shape of the sedan was finessed by an
almost entirely on the development of expert hired from the Red Bull Formula 1
battery power-pack technology. Much of racing team. The Lucid sedan will come with

THIRTEEN
There was a time when established car future electric cars will probably look a lot
The
manufacturers were scoffing at electric cars like its future gas-powered offerings. Why?
and carmakers, and especially derived joy Because very soon, he thinks EVs will be as
out of deriding Tesla and Elon Musk. Not mainstream as hybrids are today. “I think
Traditionalists
anymore. It is suicidal for the traditional in the next years, electric mobility will
car companies to think of a future without become standard; it will become normal,”
electric propulsion in this day and age. van Hooydonk told Auto Express. “It will
Petrol’s days seem numbered and the become just one of those powertrains that
The established companies have woken internal combustion engine is probably on you can choose. And that will probably lead
up to the electric threat, but slowly. its last legs. To depict to their customers to the customers not necessarily wanting a
that they are cognizant of reality, they have design differentiation. With the original i3,
made some strides in electric propulsion. we wanted to give our customers the feeling
that they are stepping into the future. But in
the future we will offer our customers the
choice; they can be very secret about the fact
that their BMW is electric, or they will be
able to be overt about it.”
By the time this car arrives in 2021, Frölich

says BMW will have a new battery cell with
a high energy density, which should keep
the weight of the batteries in check. In
addition to the batteries, BMW will handle
development of the electric motors and their
control systems for the iNext.
BMW’s Tesla-fighter, the i4, isn’t expected

to go on sale until 2021. But this at least
gives us an idea about how it will look. BMW
has said previously that it hopes to have 25
electrified vehicles, including 12 EVs, in its
lineup by 2025.
BMW iVision Dynamics
Porsche
Porsche’s board has officially given the

greenlight to bring an all-electric CUV
version of the Taycan to production based
on the Mission E Cross Turismo concept
unveiled in early 2018.
Porsche is on a mission to build a big, badass
BMW all-electric car, but the project is no longer
called the Mission E. Today Porsche CEO
The i8 and the i3 were BMW’s proper foray Oliver Blume announced that the car would
into the world of electric propulsion. Both be called the “Taycan.”
started life as a lab for experimenting
various aspects of mass manufacturing The name, announced during 70th
electric cars with a myriad of technological anniversary celebrations for the automaker,
experiments being tested through these apparently means “lively young horse.”
production cars. The philosophy behind the It’s a reference to the prancing pony in the
Porsche CrossTurismo
cars was starkly different, one was a halo center of Porsche’s shield.
car - distinctly sporty and insanely styled -
the other was a city runner with expressive The Taycan will ride on a custom-built plat-
design and innovative material usage. form called J1 with a big space in the floor
Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW’s head for its hulking lithium-ion battery. The Tay-
of design, said the German automaker’s can will come with multiple variants.

THIRTEEN
Jaguar iPace
than €10 billion ($11.63 billion at current

exchange rates) in the expansion of our EQ
model portfolio and more than €1 billion
in global battery production.” In place of
a conventional grille, the EQC has a large
Jaguar black-panel surface. An LED light strip
connects the headlights. A similar design
The real MVP amongst the traditional element is echoed in the rear.
carmakers is Jaguar because they had teh
forethought to come out with the iPace way Other design features at the front include
before the rest of the industry could catch the air inlet with two chrome louvers in
up. The iPace is a brilliant automobile which the lower area of the front apron and the
makes no bones about the fact that it is a simulated side air inlets in high-gloss black.
pure electric while also not shortchanging The vehicle is the first electric vehicle to be
the customer for having bought it. built from the ground up and the first part
of its new EQ electric brand.
A refined electric crossover that’s a capable
off-road vehicle may be a surprise, but an It’s ‘the Mercedes of electric vehicles,’ said
electric powertrain’s faculty for dishing out CEO Dieter Zetsche.
wallops of power has been established by
Tesla and others. Like the ground-breaking An electric version of Mercedes’ A-class
Model S, the I-Pace puts a heavy, rigid sedan could go on sale in the U.S. in the
battery pack low and below the cabin for a second half of 2020. An electric version
near 50-50 front-back weight distribution. of the GLB will launch in late 2020 and an
Combined with strong regenerative braking electric version of the S class could roll out
that dramatically slows down the car when in 2020.
you lift the foot off the accelerator.
The electric cars are straddling different Mercedes Benz

segments. The 2019 I-Pace is a JLR off-
roader, while Porsche’s Taycan will look a While Mercedes-Benz teased a range of
little like an electrified Taycan sedan. Ford around 300 miles with the concept version,
is talking about its long-range EV having the production EQC will potentially travel
“Mustang-like” performance. There could be less than that on a full charge. Two electric
10 or more electric crossovers arriving in the motors generate a combined 402 hp,
next three years, and dozens by about 2025. enabling a 0-to-60 mph sprint in a zippy
4.9 seconds. To reduce power consumption,
“Now that we put this out there, other the front electric motor is optimized for
designers will realize that their EVs don’t efficiency in the low to medium load range,
have to look like anything that’s come while the rear e-motor adds sportiness.
before,” Wayne Burgess says. “I expect
designers from other companies to similarly “With the EQC … we are flipping the switch,”
take things in a different direction with Mercedes-Benz Cars boss Dieter Zetsche
respect to their companies. I think that said in a statement. “Electric drive is a
we’ve unlocked a door with the I-Pace.” major component in the mobility of the
future. We are therefore investing more

THIRTEEN
in the case of BMW, not really pulling out all
stops and experimenting with carbon fibre
tubs and electric propulsion, definitely not
in any way as bold as Tesla, being a startup
and being some magnitude of scales leaner
than the big companies could. Jaguar wins
the production vehicle title in this round,
simply by putting out a fabulously designed
and put together car, while everyone else
catches up with mass market SUVs and
sedans eventually.
Electric mobility has a very exciting future

because every car maker, from Toyota
(which established the feasibility of electric
with its infamous Prius and later the Mirai)
and Kia (which is bringing out the Nero EV to
thunderous response from journalists).
Technology itself has drastic changes

waiting to happen. The production iNext
will have an electric motor at each axle for
all-wheel drive, which should allow Frölich
to define the dynamics of the car with
BMW iNext
absolute precision. He brought up the new

i3s, which has a traction control system that
can react 100 times faster than the systems
in internal-combustion BMW cars. The iNext
will benefit from similar technology.
that customers can’t seem to have enough As BMW’s Frolich puts it, “There will be
of them. It feels like they are being extra stunning driving dynamics”.
cautious in dipping their toes into the
electric pool, starting out by hybridizing
existing platforms (the A3, the B-Class
and the Minis) which themselves were
niche products and then extending the
hybridization to more mass-manufacture
Audi PB18 ETron

Audi Q8
cars like the 3 Series and C Class and except
Audi
The “e-tron” badge is nothing new. We’ve
“Now that we put

seen it on a few of Audi’s plug-in hybrid
offerings, as well as a couple of high-profile
this out there, other

concepts. However, unlike past e-tron
offerings, this mainstream looking sport-
designers will re-

utility vehicle is a true electric—i.e., no
internal combustion engine to boost range
alize that their EVs

or add power when needed.
Porsche Taycan
don’t have to look

Something to be carefully observed in
the midst of all this is the sheer fear and
like anything that’s

trepidation that the petrol carmakers feel
towards making an electric, so much so
come before” Wayne

that they have to simultaneously bring
out all electric SUVs versus any other body
Burgess says about

style simply because SUVs are so popular
DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 the iPace. 73

THIRTEEN
The Government has flip flopped from being same amount of power in the day as in the
very serious about converting the Indian night is still a design problem that people
automobile scene into all-electric, to being are grappling with. Solar power is abundant
Electric Eco
non committal about it. That has not helped in the day, but storing that power for night
the cause. But the last commitment was of use, when most of these electric vehicles will
becoming an all electric car nation by 2030. plug in, is still a bottleneck.
System
That in itself is a very lofty goal considering
the number of cars that are already on the The next requirement is obviously of
streets and the number of them that would charging ports liberally spread across the
be bought in the next few years which are face of the city because charge anxiety
What is the scenario in India with entirely fueled by petroleum. The industry is a very present problem. Our mobile
respect to adoption of electric vehicles? is reactive in the sense that whenever the phones have made us acutely aware of how
Government brings a directive out, they vulnerable and dependent we are to the
respond. Few of them are proactive, even plug. Portable chargers are an option out for
when it comes to passenger safety, and the cellphone users, but unfortunately the
to expect the companies to rise up to the same cannot be said about cars. As long as
electric challenge without bureaucratic there aren’t enough charging ports across a
pressure is perhaps wishful thinking. And metropolis, people are not going to jump the
challenge it is. gun and buy an electric vehicle.
The electrification process requires

infrastructure, which is not the strong
point of most Indian cities. The first step
in the infrastructure is a grid which can
support thousands (if not millions) of cars
plugging in at different times of the day.
Our gradual (but aggressive) shift to non-
Aether S340
conventional sources of energy is a great
move, environmentally, but in terms of
having a stable grid which can provide the
Charging ports have two issues. The first is

that charging itself takes close to an hour
for a decent range of mileage, and that too
in special, high-voltage chargers which are
expensive and which the city has to invest
into to add to the public infrastructure. Even
if a company decides to try a business model
of selling electricity, that cost is a sunk cost.
Home charging takes considerably longer
Tata Motors EVision
and that can only happen either through the

night or at office. That has its own issues.
Another problem with chargers is the
availability of a charger when there are
limited slots. In the nascent stage of electric
cars, it is understandable to have 3-4 sockets
at a port, but eventually there would a
requirement of hundreds. This has to be
taken into cognizance if any such design has
to happen.
A 15 minute wait at a petrol station in a busy

intersection of any Indian city will give a
very decent idea of the kind of rush that can
be expected eventually. To not look at that
and try to push this agenda across would

THIRTEEN
be suicidal for any city. There is already
enough traffic jams to worry about, let alone
rationing of motive power.
The movement also requires educating

people in the ways electric cars work. There
is some kind of information around but
that is not the complete picture and it is
important that people are aware that this is
a viable option when it becomes one.
Honda Motor’s Indian arm, Honda Cars India

is planning to roll out an electric vehicle
in the Indian market by 2023. It may be
noted that the carmaker has been leaning
on petrol-powered cars for quite a long time dashboard with in-built navigation, Ather
now. The company might launch the vehicle app, to manage vehicle diagnostics, view
between 2023-24 in the Indian market, ride patterns, and tips to improve ride
reported Economic Times citing sources performance, remotely.
aware of the plans.
In July 2018, Ather Energy last raised $19
Tork Motors was supposed to launch their million in funding from Hero MotoCorp,
T6X by 2018, but they have said, “Right now taking its total funding to $59 million,
we are working on T6X to make it ready for according to CrunchBase. The startup
production and sale. It’s a very long process. also counts Tiger Global Management and
We have to undergo many tests to ensure Flipkart founder’s Sachin Bansal and Binny
safety and quality.” The electric motorcycle; Bansal, among its investors.
Tata Tigor Electric

according to the company, is capable of
running up to 100 km on a single charge at Ultraviolette Automotive
speeds of 85 kmph. Bengaluru-based electric mobility startup
Ultraviolette Automotive was founded by
In 2013, the government of India launched Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan
the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan in 2015. It aims to create sustainable urban
(NEMMP) 2020. The initiative is aimed transportation driven by clean energy. It
at promoting national fuel security by is focused on building electric vehicles to
promoting hybrid and electric vehicles in enable a clean transportation ecosystem. The TVS Motor Company-backed Ultraviolette
the country. The government is looking startup plans to launch its first two-wheeler Automotive has a team of 45 members
to achieve 6-7 million hybrid and electric by the end of 2019. from aviation, automotive, and consumer
vehicle sales year on year, starting 2020. electronics background and are focused
Under the NEMMP 2020, the government of on developing electric motorcycles
India launched the scheme Faster Adoption embedded with smart features like onboard
and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric diagnostics, preventive maintenance, over
Vehicles (FAME India), with an initial the air upgrades, and ride customization.
allotment of ₹75 crore in the Union Budget
2015-16. Ampere Vehicles
Coimbatore-based Ampere Vehicles was
Ather Energy founded by Hemalatha Annamalai in
Bengaluru-based electric vehicle startup 2008. The company manufactures and also
Ather Energy was founded by two IIT Madras designs, develops and markets electric
alumni Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain in vehicles including cycles, scooters, and three
2013. The startup focuses on designing and wheelers.
selling premium electric scooter for the
Indian market. Earlier in August 2018, it was reported that
Greaves Cotton is set to acquire a 67% stake
The startup launched its first smart electric in the electric vehicle startup for ₹77 crore.
Tork T6X
scooter in February 2016. These scooters

come with smart features like an interactive Previously in April 2016, Ampere Vehicles

Two Motors will be getting ₹480 crore from
Twenty Two Motors Flow

Taiwan-based vehicle manufacturer Kymco,
for a 25% stake in the electric vehicle
startup.
last raised an undisclosed amount of funds Okinawa Autotech

from Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Gurugram-based electric two-wheeler
Infosys and Chairman of Axilor Ventures. startup Okinawa Autotech was founded by
Jeetender Sharma and Rupali Sharma in
Emflux Motors 2015. The startup aims to build a cleaner
Bengaluru-based electric vehicle startup and greener future by building affordable In May 2017, ION Energy raised an
Emflux Motors was founded by IIT Delhi and eco-friendly e-scooters for the Indian undisclosed amount of funds from Haptik
graduate Varun Mittal, along with Ankit market. Okinawa provides a range of electric Co-Founders Aakrit Vaish and Swapan
Khatry and Vinay Raj Somashekar in 2016. scooters, namely Ridge+, Ridge, and Praise, Rajdev, and Sushill Jiwarajka, Founder of
The startup is looking to create an ecosystem based on the needs of its customers. Nippon Batteries, according to Crunchbase.
of 10 million electric two-wheelers in India Cell Propulsion
by 2027. Emflux is looking to capture the Powered by green technology, Okinawa Bengaluru-based electric mobility startup
electric vehicle market with its smart and has its manufacturing facility in Bhiwadi, Cell Propulsion was founded by Nakul Kukar
premium electric motorcycle Emflux One. Rajasthan, with more than 200 dealers in its and Paras Kaushal in 2016. The startup
network. The startup has also partnered with provides futuristic technology for building
Emflux has raised more than $500,000 in Pizza Hut, Vogo, Fae Bikes, and KDM Group. autonomous electric vehicles.
funding across all rounds, according to
Crunchbase. It also counts Samar Singla, Co- ION Energy Its application agnostic innovation platform
Founder of Jugnoo, among its investors. Mumbai-based energy storage startup ION Simba, enables quick and easy system
Energy was founded by former Haptik integration and reduces robotics project
Strom Motors employee Akhil Aryan in 2017. The startup development time. It also offers other
Mumbai-based smart mobility startup Strom has developed its flagship battery, coupled hardware solutions like energy storage,
Motors was founded by Pratik Gupta, Jean- with its proprietary battery management charging stations, and electric drives.
Luc Abaziou, and Dr Gimer Blankenship system and other energy efficient
in 2011. The startup aims to create clean technologies, to accelerate the adoption of In January 2018, Cell Propulsion raised ₹70
and smart mobility solutions through electric vehicles and boosting the ecosystem. lakh in funding.
sustainable automobile technology.
During Inspire 2018, the EESL (Energy
In line with the goal of a cleaner future, Efficiency Services Ltd ) and GAIL (India) Ltd
Strom Motors unveiled its flagship product signed MoU to develop natural gas-based
Strom-R3, an intelligent electric car. cogeneration and trigeneration projects
Strom-R3 is a fully electric car, which has all in Commercial & Industrial Sectors. This
the luxuries of a premium car, including air agreement is set to benefit industries such
conditioning, to suit the needs of its users. as hotels, hospitals, airports, commercial
malls, commercial/ government buildings,
In September 2018, Strom Motors raised an integrated residential complexes,
undisclosed amount of seed funding from educational institutions, data centre, among
Indian Angel Network. others, with the advantages of combined
heat & power technology.
Twenty Two Motors
Gurugram-based smart electric scooter
startup Twenty Two Motors was founded
by Parveen Kharb, along with IIT Delhi
graduate Vijay Chandrawat in 2016. The
startup works with latest technologies like
artificial intelligence, lithium-ion storage,
internet of things, and advanced electric
powertrains to power the smarter and
cleaner vehicles of tomorrow. Its flagship
scooter Flow is designed for the Indian
Emflux One
market, providing all the premium features.
Last month, it was reported that Twenty

The proper study
of mankind is the
science of design.
~ Herbert Simon
Target
User
THIRTEEN
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THIRTEEN
To design a car, the most important aspect The deliverable, then, was the creation of
to be understood is who this car is being a clay model which would communicate
manufactured for. That holds true for any both a sense of gravity and a perception of
product. This decision is usually taken by the proportions and surfacing and detail. This
Who is this
marketing department of the company. In would be displayed to buyers who would be
the purview of this project, this decision was able to customize it and turn each model
taken by the founders of the startup. As the into a unique creation, something few other
car for?
product was decided to be a super luxury car, brands can truly claim to do.
the clientele was proposed to be an elite set
of people who already own several luxury
cars and have a particular set of needs.
What about the companies that
followed Tesla’s footsteps? The target group comprises of individuals
who:
1. Belong to the 1000 richest people of the

country list.
2. Already own several petrol/diesel/hybrid
luxury cars.
3. Are looking at options other than the
Adi Godrej
obvious choices.
4. Are tech-savvy.
5. And care about making a statement.
These were the basic parameters depending

upon which the selection would happen, and
then it would be studied what specifications
are required.
Mukesh Ambani and Shah Rukh Khan
The main focus is

on the top 1000
richest people in the
country.
The first roadblock was the fact that these
people are not easily accessible. Despite
trying to connect through sources, it was
nigh impossible to actually reach them
and be able to have a meeting. But because
the target customer is in the public eye, a
considerable amount of literature exists
on these people and their habits to form an
outside ring view and eventually distill a
Priyanka Chopra
sense of taste.
The research took the direction of
understanding the requirements through
primarily secondary research, and creating a
prototype which would then be experienced
by potential customers so that they can chip
in their valuable feedback and receive a
made-to-measure automobile at the end of
the process.

THIRTEEN
The Young
Turks Binny Bansal, founder Flipkart Sachin Bansal, founder Flipkart
Start Up founders
who are potential customers. The city’s entrepreneurial hub Koramangala, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, also a
and in particular its third block, has become strategic investor in the electric vehicle
a coveted neighborhood, with a bevy of company Ather Energy, is India’s first
self-made billionaires owning homes there. celebrity owner of the recently launched
With the newly acquired home, Trisha and Ather 450 electric scooter. Bangalore-based
Binny Bansal will count Infosys co-founders electric mobility start-up Ather Energy
Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan began delivering the 1st batch of Ather 450
along with Dr Devi Shetty and Rajeev electric scooters.
Chandrasekhar among their neighbours.
Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal
have invested $1 million (about Rs 6.1 crore)
in Ather, an electric vehicle start-up focused
on designing high-speed electric two-
wheelers for the Indian market.
Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder Ola
Bhavish Aggarwal is the founder & CEO

of India’s most popular Cab Aggregator
OlaCabs. Ola co-founder and entrepreneur
Bhavish Aggarwal found a spot in TIME’s Rahul Sharma, founder Micromax
2018 list of ‘100 Most Influential People In
The World’.
“We are glad to present ‘My Ride. My Cause.,’ Rahul Sharma is an Indian businessman,
a special and national-scale activity to founder of YU Televentures and the co-
crowdsource bolster for basic social causes. Vijay Shekar Sharma, Founder Paytm founder of Micromax Informatics.
As a homegrown and driving versatility
stage, Ola is focused on empowering “I own a Bentley Supersports, a BMW X6, a
comprehensive prosperity and thriving of Hailing from a the small town in Aligarh, Mercedes GL450 and the baby of the family is
the nation,” said Bhavish Aggarwal. Vijay Shekhar Sharma founded one of a Rolls Royce Ghost Series 2, my most recent
the most successful money transfer apps acquisition. For as long as I can remember,
used in India -- Paytm -- and in this post- I have been a hardcore F1 fan and love to
demonetised India, with the app getting a splurge on luxury automobiles. Nothing
sudden gigantic push in terms of number of compares to the adrenaline rush of speed.
users, Sharma is all set to upgrade his Delhi My cars reflect that part of my persona. I am
stay. Vijay Shekhar Sharma is entering the quite fond of riding bikes, but that’s more
elitist location in Delhi, the Lutyens’, from a thing of the past now. The first car that I
the already uptown Greater Kailash. bought was a Daewoo Matiz in 2000. I still
The property Sharma is to purchase in have it and we use it sometimes to ferry
Central Delhi’s Golf Links, a posh Lutyens employees around.”
area surrounded by areas like India Gate,
Supreme Court, High Court to name a few,
is worth Rs 82 crore. With a net worth of 1.3
billion, Vijay Shekhar Sharma is now India’s
youngest billionaire.

THIRTEEN
Rajeev Bahl, Founder Snapdeal Naveen Tewari, Founder InMobi Deepinder Goyal, Founder Zomato
The founder-CEO of Snapdeal, India’s largest “Happiness is something that gives you Whether it’s slashing a large chunk of his
online marketplace with estimated revenues energy and keeps you going. There is a employee force, writing open letters to his
of $1 billion in 2013, has always been a food purpose to it. For my mother, raising her staff or taking a stand against HSBC, Zomato
lover. children gave her happiness. For me, it is co-founder Deepinder Goyal knows how to
“I live and travel to eat. Actually, I travel work. stay in the limelight. The CEO of Zomato
all the time just to eat,” says the 31-year-old I have some 12-15 pairs of shoes. I do have does not get perturbed easily and, in the
Bahl. Luckily for him, his wife Yashna shares some gadgets too. I use them for a while and chaos that suffuses the startup world, his
his passion for food. “Wherever we go, we then forget about them. My whole house is composure has proved handy. His calm
pig out,” says Bahl. “It’s noholds-barred. We automated for light, music etc. My greatest is particularly tested when rivals try to
end up ordering more than we can eat, but achievement is taking a tech company from poach his colleagues. Goyal, it transpires,
we don’t waste food,” he adds. India, global. At some level, being able to get is fiercely protective about his team—and,
many other entrepreneurs to say that they at the same time, confident about retaining
can also do something, even if it happened them. He even challenges other companies
unknowingly,” says Naveen Tewari, the by ‘inviting’ them to organize career fairs in
founder of InMobi. the Zomato office. “For me, it’s the people I
care for… I can’t let them go from Zomato,”
he says, adding that it’s not about salaries
at all; it’s a shared vision for the company
which will keep the team together.
Pranay Chulet, Founder Quikr
Dhiraj Rajaram, Founder MuSIgma

Despite being a unicorn (most recently
valued at $1.47 billion), Quikr will always
be one of India’s quintessential startups- Dhiraj Rajaram is the Founder-CEO of
-entering the market as the country’s business analytics giant Mu Sigma - one
first online classifieds platform in 2008. of the fastest growing companies in the
Since then, it has expanded rapidly and sector. He is a big bike and movie enthusiast.
now boasts more than 30 million monthly However, at times he doesn’t mind getting
unique visitors. While making a film in his hands into cooking Italian cuisines.
the US, Pranay Chulet recruited the cast Despite this exotic taste, his favourite food is
on Craiglist. But while hunting for a cast the staple South Indian meal of curd rice and
to shoot scenes in Delhi, he realised there pickle.
wasn’t any Craiglist-like platform in India.
Thus was born Quikr in 2008. His tastes are also seen in his work. The
interiors of his office in Bangalore’s
Whitefield area have walls with
mathematical symbols and verses from
poems by Robert Frost.

THIRTEEN
The Czars
Industry titans Ratan Tata, Tata Sons Gautam Singhania, Raymonds
which are potential customers.
The doyen of the Indian industrial world, Renowned in the automotive world for his
Ratan Tata is one of the most respected and love of cars and all things fast, the head of
admired persons in the country. He is known the Raymonds group is an avid car collector
for his love for cars as much as he is known and thrill seeker. He is the founder of the
for his philanthropy and his dedication Supercar Club of India, and is a drifting
towards creating quality products for the champion. He also has a three-masted
Indian middle class. He has captained the Arabian sailing dhow, three speedboats
Tata group of companies for more than two named after Bond films and a Challenger
decades and is a leading light in the Indian 504 business jet. He regularly races on
business-verse. He has a big collection of cars different tracks across the world.
and has unique entities like the Lamborghini
LM002.
Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries
One of the richest men in the World, Mukesh

Ambani is known to be a car connoiseur. He
has a collection of over 260 cars, making Yohan Poonawalla, Serum Institute
his collection the largest in the country and
one of the largest in the world. He owns
cars across all luxury brands and is usually The strain runs in the family for sure, but
seen being piloted around in a Rolls Royce for Yohan Poonawalla, his passion for cars is
Phantom. He has several other Rolls Royces an all-consuming affair. He lives it, breathes
and Bentleys. it and even in his daily life is surrounded by
the objects of his passion. The Poonawala
collection of cars is quite famous across the
motorworld. “The love of cars runs in the
family, courtesy my father and my uncle,
but the first car I remember is the old Chevy.
It was quite dilapidated at the time and used
to sit at the stud farm. I used to sit in it and
Anil Ambani, Reliance ADAG play,” he reminisces.
Also one of the richest men on Earth, Anil

Ambani is the head of Reliance ADAG, and
also shares a penchant for luxury cars with
his brother. He has a plethora of cars ranging
from Rolls Royces to Lamborghinis to Range
Rovers.

THIRTEEN
Gautam Adani, Adani Group Kumar Mangalam Birla, AB Group
Adani group is today a key player in Kumar Mangalam is an Indian industrialist

businesses ranging from coal mining and and also the Chairman of the Aditya Birla
trading, exploration for gas and oil to ports Group, a multi-industrial company that has
and power generation. Adani group is one outlets in nearly 42 countries worldwide. In
Shiv Nadar, HCL of the biggest port operators in the country. India, this is the 3rd largest business group.
Gautam Adani, at the helm of the successful
He started out in the business field with conglomerate, is known for his risk appetite
Microcorp, a small group that sold tele and his eye for businesses that he takes
digital calculators. After that, he moved to new heights and turn into profitable
on to founding HCL in 1976, today worth undertakings. He owns several luxury and
billions. Nadar’s very generous nature sports cars.
extended to his employees as well, where top
performing executives were rewarded with
perks like Mercedes-Benz cars. Shiv Nadar
owns a bluish grey Rolls Royce Phantom and
a Mercedes 500 SEL car.
Rajiv Bajaj, Bajaj Auto
A Tesla on two-wheels from the Bajaj camp

is for sure to come when the time is right,
maybe in 2020, said Rajiv Bajaj, Managing
Director, Bajaj Auto. He plans of launching
quadricycles Qute in over 15 countries at a
price of $2000, after testing the vehicle they
made from scratch in India, in the Turkey
market.
Dilip Shanghvi, Sun Pharma
As a first generation industrialist, his is

the story of a hard worker rising to the
very zenith of his game. He started the first
pharmaceutical R&D center in India and
has steered his firm to the number 5 spot in Pawan Munjal, Hero Moto Corp
pharma companies in the world. He owns
a few luxury cars including a Rolls Royce
Phantom, but is one of the richest men in the “A lot of hard work and a little bit of luck,
World, so the sky is barely the limit. I guess, can create magic.” believes Pawan
Munjal, head of Hero Moto Corp, the world’s
largest two wheeler manufacturer. He
is amongst the top richest people in the
country and is in the auto sector.

THIRTEEN
The Stars
The potential celebrities
that are part of the target group. Shah Rukh Khan, Actor Amitabh Bachchan, Actor
He has several cars and an immense clout A serious car aficionado, the megastar is
and an Indian luxury car would make a lot of the owner of a bevy of beauties including
sense for him. a Lamborghini LM002 and a Rolls Royce
Phantom apart from a couple of Range
Rovers and a slew of Mercedes Benzs and
BMWs.
Priyanka Chopra, Actor
As a global phenomenon, she is poised

to create a huge impact as she is a big
influencer and has a great taste in cars.
Having her as a customer would immensely
benefit the company and so the attempt
would be to understand what she likes in
cars and how we can tailor the experience to
her needs. She is the first Indian actress to
own a custom made Rolls Royce Ghost, apart
Dulquer Salmaan, Actor
from other luxury cars and a private jet.
Both father, Kollywood superstar
Mammooty, and son, actor Dulquer Salmaan,
are famous for their love of cars with
several cars lining up in their garages with a
special number plate “369”.
Virat Kohli, Cricketer
As the reining numero uno cricketer

and a man of many cars, Virat Kohli is
another potential client. He is Audi’s brand
ambassador and that has led to a very Audi-
heavy garage, but an Indian luxury car
would be a very compelling choice for the
Indian skipper.

Target
User
Study
THIRTEEN
Illustration by Aitch
THIRTEEN
Target User
Study
Peeking into the extraordinary
lives of the uber rich
There are many aspects to deciphering what

really tickles the fantasies of a given Target
Group. Amongst many approaches to under-
stand said aspects, a key one is to study what
they do when they don’t work.
This not only helps in assimilating their

tastes, it also helps create an environment
where they can feel at home, comfortable,
relaxed. It should be a prized possession, a
matter of pride and joy, and hence it is im-
perative to encompass elements from things
that interest and intrigue them.
The number of people to be studied is huge

and hence a concept of “convergence” was
invented, which basically means that vari-
ous aspects would be compiled together and
commonalities will be highlighted and taken
forward for reference.
The various topics of convergences

included:
1. Cars that they previously/present-

ly own
2. Place of residence
3. Industry they are attached to
4. Purpose of owning a car
5. Products/ Gadgets that they pur-
chase
6. Places that they go for vacations
7. Taste in Arts
8. Culture and Community
9. Aspiration

THIRTEEN
1. Cars that they previously/presently
own
Conver-
gences
A brief look into the bevy of cars that the
target group owns and it is clear that there
is pretty much no car that the entire group
cannot afford.
Towards the higher end of the spectrum

are people who own more than a hundred
different cars, with Mukesh Ambani topping
the list (and also featuring in the list of
World’s largest car collectors) with 168
cars. Few others in the list come even close
with the average being around 20 cars,
which have been declared through proper
channels. Upon closer inspection, the
general trend that emerges is a fascination
for SUVs, mainly the Mercedes Benz GLS,
the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport,
the BMW X5 and the Audi Q7. Amongst
the sedans, it is the Mercedes Benz S-Class
Maybach that has the upper hand with the
BMW 7 Series a distant second. What this
trend exposes is that there is a penchant
for SUVs and that doesn’t just belong to
the more affordable side of the automotive 2. Place of residence
spectrum.
Most businesspeople tend to gravitate
The increase in a vehicle’s height is directly towards three main cities : Bengaluru,
proportional to its ability to seduce the Mumbai and NCR. That’s primarily because
customer or so the trends would have us these are the main business centers and it
believe. As discussed in the point below, this makes immense sense to live close to the
is probably due to two reasons: place of work. The roads in all three cities
a. The roads are in such bad shape, especially are in poor state with chaotic traffic and an
during monsoons, that it is imperative that abject disinterest in following any kind of
one is in a vehicle with a greater ground traffic rules. This further pushes people to
clearance versus a low slung limousine live closer to their offices. This also leads
which might get beached at the nearest to designing a car which takes into account
speedbreaker. the surroundings, especially, in these three
b. The height gives a feeling of domination, a cities, and to a lesser extent the other major
sense of command which sedans can’t quite business centers.
match, and hence the traffic is more visible
and people simply give way when push Celebrities also reside in Mumbai to the
comes to shove. largest extent, with a spattering in some
of the other metropolises. Where they
The inference that can be drawn out from stay has a big impact on the design of the
this is that the vehicle needs substantial car, because despite having decided upon
ground clearance. Once the customer the segment of the car, the design has to
experiences the vehicle, he/she has to be further tweaked in to incorporate the
come away with a sense of altitude that the surroundings the car is mostly going to find
competition cannot give. This also feeds itself in.
into the styling of the car where a more
masculine appearance will embolden the Indian cities are multicultural and diverse,
fascia of the car and make it more appealing and it is important to understand certain
to their subconscious. This way it can deal commonalities to absorb into the design.
with bad roads and make way for itself when
it is sauntering through the traffic.

THIRTEEN
It is a
symbol of
pride, it is
a symbol of
A contemporary phone design

Mumbai
a vanguard,
Mumbai
an industry
4. Purpose of owning a car titan.
It is difficult to understand why
someone owns a particular car without
A steel plant
having a proper interview, and at this

point it is fair to label this particular
exercise as an assumption and a
conjecture.
Leaving the obvious stated that it is

a means of transportation, it is also
3. The industry that they are in a representative of their personality
and an extension of their self. This
Businesspeople come from is very evident by the fact that even
different industries and the hunch though there are cars which are not
was that their respective industries as expensive as their regular steed
might affect their lifestyles and and work just as fine, the target group
their tastes. decides to spend multiple times the
A lot of the target group deals in amount of money in a automobile
multiple industries and hence which satisfies more than just
this hunch was built on tremulous cosseting them in a luxurious ride from
grounds. Steel magnates, one point to another. It is a symbol
automobile industrialists, of pride, it is a symbol of a vanguard,
telecom czars, stock marketeers, an industry titan who can afford
pharmaceutical pillars, petroleum to own the best that capitalism can
princes, retail kings and real estate
builders made up most of the list.
Since a number of the richest
few come from the automotive
industry and a sizable few are
car aficionados themselves, it is
imperative that their tastes be
included into the final ideations.
The general perception of luxury

THIRTEEN
Experiments in form/material
provide, that technological development choice but the demand has slumped over the
can manufacture and that permeates with years. The thing with the iPhone is that it
the tastes that they choose to identify is not just limited to rich people. Vertu is a
themselves with. There are many on the list brand that only rich people can afford and
who are car nuts, who consciously make that speaks of a certain aesthetic.
purchase decisions, who care what they
drive and are driven in, but there are many Bose and Braun are two brand which
more who do not luxuriate on every little are hallmarks of great design which has
specification and detail of an automobile. transcended into pop culture. Bose is known
Perhaps someone else makes that decision for their surreal sound quality and Braun
for them. Perhaps, like many other things is known to put function and form at the
in their lives, it is outsourced. It becomes heart of their design. Both have penetrated that they deeply care for the customizability
difficult to read much from such choices through the weave of time and are classics. of the experience and it makes every sense
except broad strokes and hence limited for them to expect the same from their
importance can be ascribed to this exercise. Personalization of the product is higher chosen set of wheels. The automobile
on the agenda of these super rich people. shouldn’t just limit itself to a unique shade
It is a symbol of status, it is a testament of Handmade, “designer” items make more of color on the exterior, it has to walk an
their success and it is a declaration that they sense to them because of the uniqueness extra mile of tasteful exclusivity to really
have arrived in life. Beyond that, the scope that they yearn for from every experience. meet the expectations of the clientele. This
of this study does not cover. They are the people who create trends, who becomes one of the key USPs of the design,
steer the entire society towards a particular because this is where a Rolls Royce or a
direction because they directly or indirectly Bentley just does not cut it any more, while
employ a good chunk of the total employed creating a separate car for every customer
people of the country. is something a couple of companies in the
This is the space where boutiques and world can actually afford to do. This is a
ateliers really work, which afford the super sweet spot, ready to be explored and given a
rich the comfort of a made to measure new dimension to.
article which is designer specifically for
them. A great deal of joy is derived out of
having their names engraved on various
purchases. Apart from the gold-plated this
to the diamond-encrusted that, what is more
important is the feeling that they derive
from the whole experience. And hence
comfort and a sense of pampering is built
into every aspect of their interaction within
Braun
a said experience. These are people who can

send a private jet to pick up an antique vase,
after all. The main takeaway from this is
5. Products/ Gadgets that they purchase

A key point to be acknowledged here is that
This is a controversial topic because the function and form are not enough anymore
spectrum of products is very wide, and it is in so much as it is understood in common
eminently more difficult to discern between parlance. What is added in this mix is the
emotions and logics here. But the point to need to push it beyond what has been done
ponder on here is the general idea that a before, a focus on creating something exqui-
product represents and the propensity of site and, very importantly, peerless.
finding that product in the target group.
...focus on creating
An obvious starting point is the iPhone. It
is to be accepted at this point that these
something exquisite
people are so stupidly rich that they can
literally buy anything under the sun. Private
and, very impor-

jets, yachts or even an island is not out of
the itenary. But when it comes to phones, a
tantly, peerless.
surprising number of them tend to gravitate
towards the iPhone. Blackberry was once a

THIRTEEN
6. Places that they go for vacations
It is a hypothesis that the places the target

group goes on a vacation on says something
about their choices and tastes and also has
an impact on their person, where in certain
buying decisions are influenced by those
events.
This has limited significance in the present

project and hence shall not be delved in in
depth.
The major haunts are Mykonos, Maldives,

the Carribeans, the Mediterranean Islands
like Santorini and Corsica and the south
of France. Europe features prominently
Venice
in most travel itineraries and Europe
brings in its influence through the various
manifestations of its culture, whether it is
the arts or crafts or food or architecture.
There is a certain sheen to Western Europe, It is important to grasp the solidity of
solidity of the
which may be eroding as days progress, the architecture, the sensitivity of the
but it is something that cannot be ignored. art, the sensuality of the sculpture, the
architecture, the
An oversimplification of this trend is that surreptitiousness of the poetry, the
European design is something Indians sensibility of the city planning and the soul
sensitivity of the art,

naturally gravitate towards without a of the cuisine.
lot of incentives. Call it the post-Colonial
the sensuality of the

hangover if one wants to, because God 7. Taste in Arts
knows that a lot of authors have made their
sculpture
careers out of ploughing through that very This does not limit itself to paintings,
feeling and examining it in great detail. sculptures and installations. It is the general
disposition towards the artistic expressions,
be in music, or movies or literature. Theatre
also features prominently in this list as
NCR and Mumbai - apart from the other
metropolises - are very strong drama
centers. The importance of art, especially at
these stratospheric social levels is higher,
simply because they can afford to patronize
and lionize the output. They would want to
associated with artistic pursuits because at
that level art becomes a factor of expressing
their beliefs and artists enjoy the patronage.
Tyeb Mehta, Bhupen Khakkar, Ganesh Pyne,

Anjolie Ela Menon, Jogen Choudhury, Paresh
Maiti are some of the exalted names in the
districts of painting. Subodh Gupta, Ravinder The light shed by understanding
Reddy and Anish Kapoor are profilic, high contemporary music and cinema, and in
profile artists whose main medium is extension the art scene, is to put a finger
installations and their work has travelled on the pulse of modern Indian society,
across the seven seas. Anish Kapoor’s Cloud particularly in the exalted spheres of the
Gate is a famous permanant attraction in super rich. There are particular trends and
Chicago. Amongst authors, Salman Rushdie, patterns that emerge, which are a reflection
Amitav Ghosh, R. K. Narayan, Jhumpa Lahiri, of the socio-political changes that the
Anita Desai, V. S. Naipaul are considered the society is undergoing.
Paris
barometer in literary metier.

THIRTEEN
THIRTEEN
Aston Martin DB5
8. Culture and Community of expression more than a means of
independence, also because they have
Our “culture” conditions us in many ways. traditionally relied more on their own legs
Our habits, which our parents instill into and distances have either been short or
us early on, come to define our experiences public transport has been robust enough for
and our experiences come to define us. the lack of an abject need of a personal car.
In that sense, we anchor our identities The ones who believe in limiting their spread
into our cultures. Culturally one is like when on the street tend towards smaller,
this. Culturally one does certain things in more frugal cars, but even the smallest of
certain ways. Culturally it is difficult to hatchbacks has to say something. It can’t
assimilate an idea from an alien culture. be enough to just transport them in relative
With automobiles, such strong cultural comfort. A sportscar doesn’t just have to
association hasn’t happened from the past be fast and hug the curves, it has to be
yet. mesmerizing to look at as well. Form is given
a lot of meaning and the average customer
Citroen 2CV
America has a very strong cultural understands that, appreciates that. It
association with the car in that it gives probably comes from being immersed in an
them independence. America has been built environment surrounded by good design and
on the bedrock of freedom and democracy
and independence. It is the land of the free Ford Mustang
and home of the brave. That percolates
into every aspect of American “culture”.
Culture influenced
So when they think of cars, it is a basic
need of their life. The cities have been
the cars and

“traditionally” designed in such a way,
over the last hundred years, that the only
cars influenced
means of transport is a personal car. Due
to being petroleum positive and eminently
the culture. It
rich compared to the rest of teh world, the
cars themselves took on a larger size and
is difficult to
shape. Culture influenced the cars and cars
influenced the culture. It is difficult to
dissociate culture
dissociate culture and the automobile when
it comes to America.
Ford F 150 Raptor
Made in America is another huge factor and the automobile

which influences car purchases. A Ford or
a Chevy gets cultural precedence over an when it comes to
equivalent Toyota or Honda. NRIs invest
extra money into buying America-made America.
cars to assimilate better with Black and great art. Money is spent where it should be
White America. Else it is mostly the sense and that is because there is money to begin
making Hondas and Toyotas or the cheap with and the will to spend it, the forethought
Hyundais which gain precedence because to invest in good design, in expressive
of our “cultural” beliefs of frugality and design, in meaningful design. Culturally,
pragmatism over self expression and they “get” good design. Having established
independence. The latter are almost scoffed that, every country that makes cars, makes
at in traditional, conservative India which them differently.
considers it vulgar and lurid to be so openly
idiosyncratic. French cars are different from German
cars, visually and functionally. It needs to
Europe has a very different take, culturally, be acknowledged as to how much culture
on cars. They have never had to fight for has influenced the automobile, because the
independence from a foreign colonizer. The advent of the convertible is due to French
eastern part has not been as economically “culture” but then there are convertibles
sound as the western part and hence their which are sold in India now where
Fiat 500
interpretation of a car is different. temperatures regularly hover close to 50

For west Europeans, the car is a medium degree Celsius in summers.

THIRTEEN
The Japanese have a very different 10. When they were children
interpretation of design culturally. The
World War has had its impact on their Childhood usually casts a long shadow
Honda Civic Type R

collective psyche and they as a culture across one’s life, and a lot many things
have traditionally been austere which was which one finds fascinating, subconsciously
further heightened during the happenings stay that way even through the senior years.
of the war. The swelling of the feeling of So back in the seventies, the hippie culture
patriotism, and the clashing of traditional and Bollywood would have some impact on
and reactionary forces led to this frugal and their tastes.
efficient philosophy of life. There work is
worship, work is family, work is life. There 9. Aspiration
is a constant need of kaizen and those little
but significant improvements in life have Traits that have helped us evolve into
contributed to honing of technology and the beings that we are today are mainly
proportionately the aspirations of Japanese curiosity, ambition and aspiration. We
people, whose dexterity at manufacturing aspire to achieve greater things, things
resounds with the world at large. Their which we consider to be better than what we
design philosophy has also absorbed all presently have or possess. This has propelled
of this and Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans a lot of people towards striving really hard
display that tone of measured, clinical under extreme circumstances. When one is
efficiency. This forms the bedrock of their deeply aware of all the things that can be
philosophy. In terms of aesthetics, manga achieved or done in life, it creates a sense
and origami have had a huge influence on of dissatisfaction with the status quo. Most
their automobiles and that has generated of the target group is driven with a passion
some very interesting and complex shapes. and a hunger for something great. This
emotion can be tapped further by presenting
Things are changing now as culturally something unparalleled by regular
the globe is becoming more homogeneous production cars, something unapologetically
than it ever was and hence there is a lot of luxurious, something that breaks the
cultural overlap. conventional mold of what a luxury car is
supposed to be.
Art should aspire,

yet ugliness be dear;
Toyota Yaris
Beauty, the shaft,

should speed with
wit for feather;
The one thing we culturally associate with
cars is that they are a symbol of affluence.
And love, sweet love,

It is a direct correlation and it is near
universal across India that we look at cars as
should never fall to

a sign of being “well off”.
This factor plays in very well when seen in
sere,
a luxury car’s perspective because it is the
progression of a very natural association.
If I were king.

THIRTEEN
The luxury car is such a segment that it lit- someone who wants to stand out from the
erally alleviates all and any discomfort that crowd. This is the opposite of a problem
a person might possibly face. And yet, there when it comes to carmakers because it is the
...where the
are problems which people face when they thing that matters the most to them that a
are being chauffeured around town. mass manufactured car is being so widely
bought, but it becomes an issue for the cus-
shoe pinches
One problem with some of the luxury cars is tomers who want something more unique
that they are low. In a pursuit to make the and something less ubiquitous.
cars more aerodynamic and sporty, some
companies decide to lower the roof drasti-
What are the problems which cally. This leads to a very cooped up feeling
customers face with existing options? inside the car and it is difficult to get in and
out of, especially older people. This has to be
taken into consideration as the target group
is people in the 45 - 55 years age bracket.
Another niggle is that in the pursuit of sport-

iness, the car is made to be stiffer in the sus-
pension set up. This leads to better handling
and bad backs as the stiffness, especially in
Indian streets is a very uncomfortable mix.
Luxury cars also have very low ground clear-

ance as it is imperative that they are low
slung and have a stable stance. This leads to
a lot of “beached” vehicles on Indian streets,
and usual scraping of the underbody.
Bootspace, is sometimes an issue, as carmak-

ers decide to shave off the weight of a car by
maximizing cabin space but foregoing the
trunk space.
There is this feeling associated with the

luxury cars that if one has money, one can
buy one and it doesn’t remain exclusive or
unique enough to be a true expression for

THIRTEEN
The people mostly fall into these
broad categories:
Demographics 1. Male
Who are these people? 2. Age : 45 - 55 years
3. Celebrities and
Businesspeople
4. Indian Nationals
residing in one of the 8
Customer requirements major metropolis
Is patriotic/nationalistic and
believes in buying Made in India
goods.
Wants to influence others.
Has to stand out of the crowd and
be unique.
Has several cars and this is an
addition.
Tech savvy and values technology.
Values a display of power and
success. Brand USPs
Is an Indian brand.
An environment-friendly, super
luxury alternative.
Unique, highly personalizeable.
Only super luxury electric car.
Technologically advanced.
Opulent design.

THIRTEEN
Interviews
Conversing with the target customers.
The limitation in this project was that

none of the target user was available for
an interview as they are very high profile
people. The idea is to approach them after
the first working prototype is built and then
conversations can begin to take place.
One of the people who responded was
the founder of PayTM, Mr. Vijay Shekhar
Sharma, who provided his valuable
feedback. It included things like what
his preferences are when it comes to
automobiles and a few insights on his
lifestyle. He was noted as the youngest
billionaire in Forbes rich list in 2017. Beyond
this it is classified information which cannot
be shared.
When Tesla began accepting bookings for its
Model 3 sedan in India last April, ownership
of the futuristic car caught the fancy of
India’s new-age technology leaders such as
Vishal Gondal, CEO, GOQii; Paytm founder
Vijay Shekhar Sharma and venture capitalist
Mahesh Murthy.
Other sources of information include the
interviews which the target group has given
to other news outlets and insight has been
gleaned from those sources. .

Simplicity is
the ultimate
sophistica-
tion.
~ Leonardo
da Vinci
Specs
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The cars in segment are primed towards ending up not fulfilling either. The segment
sporty handling or outright luxury, is super luxury and something that is an ab-
with different brands compensating solute given in this segment, ideally, is that
one with the other. There are few cars car should exude luxury from every nut and
which manage to do both and they cost bolt and that has been the pursuit through-
more than double the asking price for the out the process without getting sidetracked
Positioning
ones which don’t. The philosophy of this into making it feel like it can lap the Nur-
particular project was to place it firmly burgring as fast as a cat on a hot tin roof.
in the Luxury category, trying to master
that than being a jack of both trades and
Where is the car
placed in the segment?

THIRTEEN
Dimensioning
How does the car
stack up to the competition?
The cars in the

segment are
very similar
in dimensions
and this
standardization
of size is very
conducive towards
designing a vehicle
for this segment
as it is easier
to understand
what is being
conventionally
expected out of this
vehicle.
An important
factor of
consideration in
this case is that the
project car is an
electric car while
most of the stack
is petrol or diesel
driven excepting
the Tesla Model S. v

THIRTEEN
The Rolls Royce Ghost
was an obvious bench-
ed Fastback
Long hood-
mark as the best car The Range Rover Velar was an inspiration
in the segment at the in terms of surfacing. The Velar has a very
moment, which caters fresh take on the classic Land Rover propor-
to a similar target tion and silhouette, which looks dazzlingly
Benchmarking
group as this project beautiful and has won numerous design and
intends to cater to. automotive awards worldwide. The surfac-
The proportions were ing is extremely clean with very few crease
very educative in lines and much more fluidity. It feels like
Which are the existing cars that we terms of what to do the entire body has been lacquered with
intend to take inspiration from? and what not to. honey and is glistening away in sunlight,
truly capturing the essence of luxury. It also
manages to liven up the generous propor-
tions and makes it feel taut and well built
versus being large and lumpy.
The Audi A7 was instrumental in

understanding the execution of a
luxury fastback done right. Fast-
backs are fast becoming popular
in the automotive universe (right
from the Tata Tigor up to the
Rolls Royce Sweptail and Wraith)
and it is imperative to get the
proportions right without which
it might end up looking very, very
wrong, akin to some of the SUV
coupes of the world. The Audi has
been styled with aplomb also be-
cause it has the length to execute
the “landing” of the roof on top
of the boot, meeting the rear at
the tail and looking very graceful
while doing it.

THIRTEEN
Packaging
& Ergonomics This was a very critical area and the engi-
neering team helped out in formulating this
as packaging is the most important part of
How are things any vehicle. The fact that it is an electric
arranged on top of the chassis. vehicle changes things considerably.

THIRTEEN
The biggest challenge undertaken during to understand where to squeeze extra space
this project was obviously the fact that this from because space was a very important
was the first production model the company aspect of the car. It required understanding
was going to develop. Having no prior ex- how to better package the car because there
perience as a manufacturer from the com- were few electric cars in the World and there
panies end and having no prior experience were none that could be taken as a reference
Challenges
of designing the car, this was a Herculean as they were not available in the country.
challenge which excited everyone involved It is extremely difficult to imagine spaces
and scared us, in equal measures. without having an actual volume present
to be fiddled with. The sheer
What are the challenges that have tactility of an exercise is crucial
to be met during the design process? in giving the feeling of having
experienced something. Compa-
nies usually bring in benchmark-
ing cars and rip it apart, part by
part, and understand the tech-
nology and the way things have
been designed and packaged ev-
ery time a new project has been
sanctioned and unfortunately
such luxuries were ill afforded in
this case.
Another limitation is the lack of
resources because there isn’t a
ready made conveyor belt of de-
partments gathering, processing
and supplying information and
then working on it, with proto-
typing taking a lot of time. In an
established firm, the challenges
would be very different. Last-
ly, to know how the customer
responds to something is also a
challenge because one requires a
group of test samples to deploy a
concept and take feedback which
was not available in this case.
Right at the very outset, the other challenges This has led to a few learned assumptions
was to be able to understand what the target to be made. That has had its impact on the
group wants. Honing in on a target group design itself.
itself was something that involved a lot of
number crunching and strateze-zing and
once the target group was locked in, to un-
derstand their wants and desires it required
substantial research. Thankfully the target
group was a well documented set and hence
the tastes and tribulations were that much
more accessible even if the people them-
selves were not.
To be able to create a production car, a lot of

considerations have to be taken in even at
the very outset of the process. The problem
was, there was no process as a precedent and
hence the work was a lot more hands on and
iterative. It required understanding the er-
gonomics of a lot of cars, luxury or otherwise

What
Next?
THIRTEEN
There are various constraints when a pro-
duction model is being designed and man-
ufactured. The main issues that crop up are
basic manufacturability because there is a
limitation of surfaces and clearances and ra-
dii which the machine can and cannot make.
Production
To keep those things in mind is a challenge
which had to be constantly battled through
out the project especially because with the
engineering team because the engineering
What are the various facets of team tries to reduce as much weight as can
production involved in this project? be possible while that may be detrimental to
usability.
There are certain creases and elements

which could not be manufactured as de-
picted later in the sketches which had to be
chopped off. Elements of asymmetry were
not allowed beyond the idea phase because
that would require two different dies and
that would skyrocket the cost, especially
for a low volumes car. Customizability had
to be limited to a certain number of options
because bespoke customization costed an
astronomical amount and that had to be
curtailed to a certain extent while pushing
for the best that could be created for any car
out there. It was a challenge to understand
which components would be the more ex-
pensive material while which would not be
depending upon A materials, B materials and
C materials.
Engineering challenges abound this project

due to the sheer size of the car. Every extra
inch adds a lot of stress on the chassis. The
batteries had to be packaged, the interior
spacing had to be maximized.

Ideation
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Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s House
in the South of France, for example, and in Hyundai underwent a sea change in their
aristocratic palaces across Europe. But more design philosophy under Peter Schreyer
designers are hoping the trend catches on with the advent of their Fluidic Design
in the American homes of today. Maximalist language which has morphed into the
The Death of
style may be overwhelming to some - Fluidic 2.0 philosophy and is increasingly
especially minimalists and others who becoming more complex. Toyota has
hate clutter - but it does have its benefits. changed from a carmaker who made staid
Minimalism
Decorating without paying heed to the looking, harmless family cars, to extremely
restrictions of minimalism makes it easier radical, and controversial, vehicles,
for residents to express their eclectic styles prompting acclaimed designer Daniel Simon
and experiences. to call it out as “visual pollution”. Honda
Why is Minimalism and Nissan have been churning out concepts
dying a very slow death? This phenomena has invaded car design. more edgier than then previous, with cuts
Through the 80s and 90s, car design started and creases asunder.
chasing something simpler, cleaner and
more robust looking. Swiss and Norwegian The reason is probably the lower attention
German architects first used the term minimalism had been seeping into the car span of people. As a whole generation
‘Existenzminimum’—referring to low- styling well. But it took its full shape a suffers from ADHD, and as everyone is
cost social housing—in the mid-1920s. The decade later with the new look Jaguars by increasingly getting married to their
term ‘minimal art’ first appeared circa Ian Callum and the Range Rovers of Gerry screens, it is difficult to keep people
1965. Journalists writing about interior McGovern and then the Thor hammer interested in something. How to do you cope
design began mentioning minimalism headlamp-ed Volvos of Thomas Ingenlath up with a customer who is being inundated
in the mid-1980s. Since so many design and Peter Horbury. Surfaces became easier with information from every outlet
movements are reactions to what has come to discern, with continuity and flow and possible? Billboards, the television screen,
before, the logical heir to minimalism’s were easier to remember and reminisce. phones, laptops, the radio, print media -
(supposedly) vacant throne might seem to Chris Bangle threw a brick through this there are advertisements everywhere. And
be its direct opposite, maximalism. Business fortress of minimalism with his iconic a competitor is bringing out a new concept
Insider blames Trump, the NYT says that “flame surfacing” which was a very sharp every few weeks. How does a particular
minimalism is just boring, and Lonny figures departure for BMW and took people some styling withstand this onslaught? How do
that, since the stuff of life is colorful, we time to decipher and digest. But it was you make yourself relevant? Memorable?
might as well just embrace it and go for more of an anomaly than a trend, at least What is the guarantee that the customer
broke. for a while, when Audi’s and Volkswagen’s will even remember that a particular model
under the tutelage of Walter de Silva started exists in the market when they are out
And now it appears that many Americans chasing straighter lines and sharper creases. for a purchase? This pressure leads to a
are also on the verge of ditching minimalism The whole Volkswagen group became a requirement for “fast fashion”, in styling,
in favor of an aesthetic that incorporates template of sharpness, with finally even which basically Zara mastered in the fashion
some of those same over-the-top design Porsche sporting a few creases. industry where it runs six fashion season
elements. For the last several years, Mercedes came in with “sensual surfacing” cycles versus a traditional brand’s three.
minimalism (“less is more”) has been the which was beautiful, languid surfaces This manifests in a fresh new “collection”
dominant trend in designing the interiors melting into each other. every other month.
of homes across America and the rest of
the western world. Decor brands both high All that is changing now. BMW’s latest 3 Car makers have chanced upon this idea
and low - from Ikea and West Elm to Crate series has an outgrowth of surfaces under and they have responded in making key
& Barrel and Room & Board - have stocked the headlights, Audi has the ur-Quattro design changes - like shifting the shut-line
their stores with simply designed, modern haunches with additional creases on all of the hood away from the grille - so that a
furniture in the hopes of appealing to the its cars, Mercedes is adorning the simple different styling can be created every year.
masses. Lifestyle gurus like Marie Kondo surfacing with a plethora of textures and This has created a vast canvas for designers
became famous by spreading the gospel of materials and even the new Phantom is to experiment with the detailing of the
throwing away everything except the things busier than the old one. Volkswagen is car as the proportions and the surfacing
that you really needed. ut in the wake of moving into complicated surfaces, the between the wheels remains the same for
that, a new movement is on the rise that French are turning up to eleven. Citroen and three years (before a mid-life refresh). The
marks a return to more classical, ornate Peugeot have been quite experimental in front detailing and the rear detailing are the
styles. Dubbed “maximalism,” it calls for their surfacing and finishes, but this decade main victims of this fast cycle, with subtle
bold colors, sometimes clashing patterns has seen a hitherto unforeseen amount of (and sometimes not so subtle) changes
and textures, and, in some cases, lots and fireworks, especially from the DS sub-brand. happening every model year. Minimalism,
lots of stuff. The maximalist style been well- There are a million surfaces in some of the unfortunately, has been relegated to
represented throughout history, in chateaus concepts. Pinterest.

The
Advent of
the Counter
Culture
THIRTEEN
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Haute Couture is defined as “is the creation
of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute
couture is high-end fashion that is con-
Marquetry
Owt Voitooruh structed by hand from start to finish, made
Haute Voiture
from high-quality, expensive, often unusual
fabric and sewn with extreme attention to
detail and finished by the most experienced
and capable sewers - often using time-con-
What does it really mean? suming, hand-executed techniques.”
The same philosophy is now being applied to
Ceramic
an automobile - a voiture, and hence the coin-
ing of the term Haute Voiture. The pursuit is
to tailor make the car to the customer’s exact
requirements with a very high degree of
customizability. What this entails is a very
flexible canvas upon which the customer’s
Embroidery
needs can be painted upon.
The shoulder of the car is adorned with a

long surface upon which one can bestow any
material from the choicest of fabrics with
impeccable embroidery to ceramics with
brilliant paintings to wooden paneling with
marquetry to 3D printed elements. They
3D Printing
would come in an assortment of colors, tex-
tures and finishes. This creates a potential of
almost infinite possibilities, creating a truly
unique array of artwork.
This panel can be changed every for or six
months in tandem with the changing fash-
ion season, thus bringing in a feeling of
both permanence and of change. One stays
at the cutting edge of fashion, becoming a
trend-setter.
The car further has an light strip running

across its length, near the very bottom,
becoming a form of puddle light when the
car comes to a halt, and emanates the same
color of light that the occupant passenger’s
clothes are colored of. A green dress would
beget a green light, a red dress, a red light. It
is customizable as well. This truly becomes
an extension of yourself.
The wood options on the bonnet and the boot

further add possibilities of customization.
Apart from these there is the possibility of
several color combinations for the exterior.
Tailor made, at an atelier

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The beginning of a long journey
First
Phase
Exploring different
proportions and ideas.

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Second
Phase
Fixing proportions and
`exploring surfacing and
themes.

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Mood-
board

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Third
Phase
Ideating on
surfacing.

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Fourth
Phase
Finalizing details.

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The car had to look absolutely

stunning in a crowded street of
luxury cars in Lutyens Delhi or a
Indiranagar in Bangalore or a Juhu
in Mumbai.

THIRTEEN
Pedigniet hillaceaqueTheoditibusam neceptati
“embrace” seen estisi vendae dolorepudant eario. Et odit,
in a head on detail,
blanderorem conectatur, seditiust
in a narrower faccatur The final
embodiment. omnia
de-dere estrunt inctotatiam quas dolo-
am eario ipis aliti nus
signdeni
has volupisqui
a much moredolore rum ate occum qui od qui niminisque plibus
wider embrace.

THIRTEEN

Sportier characteristics were con-
sciously not chosen because one
didn’t want to impress upon expec-
tations of things which we were
careful not to imbibe the car with.
THIRTEEN

These renders depict the direction that was being
taken at this juncture. This is very close to the
eventual design.
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Finalization of a particular DRG was
a very time taking process as this the
part of the car which forms the main
brand identity and people recognize a
car mostly by how the “face” looks.

Headlight elements were ideated
upon, with different arrangements
of LEDs and projectors and lasers
which would complement the
overall aesthetics.
Different elements were
experimented with, the textures
were tried on, but eventually it was
settled upon a very simple, solid
surface.
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The front of the car has the rectangularity
and blockiness that a superluxury car
ought to have. The reason for not straying
away from conventionalities at large
has been mentioned previously as the
customer is new to the brand and certain
conventionalities puts them at ease in terms
of expectations. A new, drastically different
The main theme was opulence. There take on a luxury car for a startup would be
was found a direct correlation between innovative, but also very risky and such
rectangularity and luxury. There was found gambles were meant for another day.
a direct correlation between largess and
luxury. The headlights pierce through that
rectangular face and create tension in the
The main keywords were Sophistication, surface, and they are held in place by the
Elegance, Stability and Comfort. The embrace - a opened up upside-down arch,
exterior design had to communicate these which is both architectural and organic,
values. There had to be a degree of arrogance balancing modernity with the classical.
in the demeanor. Haute Couture had to The embrace is also pushed towards having
be factored in heavily. All of these ideas squarer, smaller radii and slower curves so
coalesced into a single word - debonair. that a feeling of composure and stability is
favoured over dynamism and speed.
One thing was very clear during the design

phase - comfort was always chosen over
pace, gravity over momentum. The forehead
of the down the road graphic is a bold
protrusion, which announces the arrival
of the car, unapologetic in its presence and
utterly confident. It gradually tucks in into
the embrace giving the feeling of confidence
debonair
and calm composure.
The coin slots which form the fog laps

further broaden the car making it feel
wider and the sophisticated movement of
light over the smaller surfaces creates the
sense of sculpture. Wood, as a trim option,
on the hood heightens the feeling of luxury
reminiscent of a yacht deck, on top of finely
devised creases which abstract the idea of
a yacht moving through water, which ends
exactly at the precipice of the headlamps.
The long hood further cements the idea of a
very powerful car, an ode to the old internal
combustion engines of yore. Under this car,
though, is the electric motors and a frunk.
The front also tucks in severely at the

sides and forms a sharp creases on the two
sides, giving it a powerful, wide stance
while keeping the surfacing very modern,
and very fresh. The initial idea of keeping
blanked out air dams was discarded as
this made it look more opaque than was
required, while the new design changed the
feeling tremendously, with the fog lamps
acting as anchor points for the eyes.

As we move to the side, there is a proper which bolsters the idea of a solid aluminum
staunch front overhang which becomes block of aristocracy. The rear window is
the wheel arch where in the theme of inset and the surfacing at the C pillar acts
rectangularity is pressed in further, as as literal pillars - it gives the feeling of
opposed to a flat haunch. Towards the side, strong beams which are holding up the roof.
the shoulder is the most prominent part The windshield area is cut out from that
of the design, because it is also the most volume and the large rear glass area ensures
expressive element as the customization passengers can look out into the night sky
is the most expressedly expressed here. It whenever they want without having to
is further bolstered by the surface right resort to fiber optics and chicanery. The
underneath which forms the most outlying inset is set in wood again, which completes
element, aside from the wheels. The shape the feeling of a land yacht, forming a
is heavily influenced by nautical motifs of sculpted deck, which is carried inside as
boats and yachts. The yacht has been an well.
underlying theme since the inception of the
project as this is treated as a land yacht. The light bar projects outwards, like a
balcony upon a vista, and the rear tapers
The element starts behind the headlights sharply into a small light-catcher, which
and moves outwards, ensconcing the tumble- tapers further inwards into a smooth end
home and moving towards the rear into a below.
very narrow and very tightly drawn out
boot. This is further emboldened by the The light-catchers on the two sides flow into
hollowed out cheeks right underneath the the rear and tie in into the shoulder element
“bone”, supplanted by a crown underneath and form a semi continuous curve which
that towards meeting the light-catcher in begins below the front air dams and follows
the bottom. The light catcher itself is a very through up to the top the headlamps, around
sophisticated affair which gradually melds the car. The overall feeling is of utmost
itself into the side, jutting out suddenly, and elegance and there is no crisscrossing of
then disappearing into the sides just in front lines and surfaces and creases. Things are
of the rear wheels only to pop out behind kept very clear, precise, comfortably paced
them. There is an LED strip underneath that and elegant.
and that surface acts as a negative light
catcher which catches any light which falls The entire car sits on proportionately large
on the surface the car is standing upon. wheels which have turbine detail alloy
wheels harking to electric car philosophy
Further towards the back, the rear moves and also being 24 lines abstracted from
very fast into the tail lamp bar, which is the Ashok Chakra. An antenna at the top
a horizontal, slim, sleek, dazzling affair, completes the entire design and ties up the
which cinches the two ends together tightly. particular detail elements in the car.
The rear end itself is a sudden, sharp cliff,
THIRTEEN
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Understanding the movement of the surfaces.

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The final surfacing was arrived at after much con-
sideration and this is the eventual evolution of the
prior months of design process.
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The smallest of elements have been ideated upon.

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The project ended with the
exterior styling and the
startup pivoted onto another
segment and hence the
interiors were never really
focused into.

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Proto-
typing
THIRTEEN
It’s not
about
ideas.
It’s about
mak-
ing ideas
happen.
~ Scott
Belsky

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Initial
Thermocol
Initial prototyping
The sedan was initially made into small ther-

mocol mock-ups and the proportions were
set in. It gave a fleeting understanding of
the proportions of the car. Surfacing was not
given a lot of importance because that would
be executed in clay.

THIRTEEN
The most challenging and time-consuming
part of the process was the clay modelling.
Clay Modelling

It starts out with building the core. The core is
made, out of high density thermocol, in such a
way that there is a clearance of about 2 inches
across all the surfaces of the model to the actual
dimensions of the sclae model car. This helps
later when one is applying clay and then the
process of sculpting can begin. Once the core is
made, the wheels are made so that the model
can be placed upon them along with a base made
out of MDF. This forms the “platform” upon
which the whole model is placed. It is checked if
it is perfectly horizontal, otherwise the entire
car will be made at a slight angle and eventually
the model will be wonky.
Then the core is stuck to the platform and

that forms the base upon which the clay is
applied. Heated, soft clay is applied in thin,
finger burning layers, gradually, till there is
more than a 2 inch thick layer of clay. This is
done with reference to a vertical grid and a
horizontal grid. The vertical grid is on the wall
behind the clay model while the horizontal one
lies underneath. Once that is done, the surfaces
are scraped with a rough tool so that they start
getting into the approximate shape of the
intended surfaces.
Then a finer tool is taken and gradually the

surfaces are sculpted on one side of the car. This
is the point when symmetry comes into play as
the other side has to be replicated. Once this is
finished, finishing tools and slicks are used to
get good surfaces whic are then sent to the paint
shop for an application of a layer of industrial
putty and then eventually paint.
THIRTEEN
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The process took a lot of effort and
time. The beauty of surfacing can
only be understood through a process
of clay modelling. No amount of 3D
modelling can ever give the same
feeling of tactility and gravity that
a clay model can. It is required to be
very patient and it demands a lot of
hard work but in the end the final
product is worth the dedication.

THIRTEEN
IMAGE FROM CERAL MAGAZINE
It was an experience of a lifetime. It made together far more cohesively than a whole
one acutely aware of all the possibilities bunch of people. It is also interesting how
and limitations that a startup is strapped one comes up with unique solutions when
Working for a
with, and all the latitude one has in such there are several constraints and a startup
an environment. Having worked in an MNC really makes one appreciate the beauty
like Honda previously definitely brought and importance of constraints which a
Startup
out the stark contrast between what a classroom learning can not provide. It gives
firmly established firm feels like versus a one the true measure of one’s creativity, if
bunch of people trying to build something there is a measure of it at all because there
from scratch. There were severe limitations is a lot at stake on each individual. This is,
The experience of working with in terms of raw material to experiment hence, a huge learning experience.
people who have never worked before with, but the enthusiasm and the sheer
want of trying to execute something new
was infectious and provided the necessary
drive. It gave one the freedom that
probably a larger firm wouldn’t or couldn’t.
What lacked in terms of experience was
compensated by the desire to change lives,
and the bold new ideas to do it. These became
a very important and educative few months.
The one thing that it managed to instill was a

sense of broadness in terms of approaching a
problem. The problem would be multifaceted
and the solution would also be expectedly so.
As a designer, one has to be able to see the
big picture in order to firefight a particular
locality. The packaging was very important
in terms of design and dimensioning it
brought out a new level of clarity hitherto
unforeseen.
The spirit of team playing is hale and hearty

in a startup but one does end up stepping
on another’s toes sometimes especially
because roles are not set in stone and there is
freedom to venture into different verticals.
It also helps that a small team is able to work
It is not always clear

as to what is around
the corner, but the
enthusiasm and the
optimism help con-
quer most problems.

THIRTEEN
Having worked on this project, a lot of things subsequently pivoted towards making
become abundantly clear. The possibilities cabs for Ola. That has been a huge learning
that a start up has in this environment is experience in itself and finally a deeper
huge. It requires a lot of confidence and interaction with the actual users could come
courage but the results can be quite amazing. to fruition. They are also manufacturing
What remains to be seen is how high they electric conversion kits for cars which want
Conclusion
soar in the sky, but it is an infectiously to transform themselves to electric ones.
enthusiastic space.
To be exposed to such live projects helps
As a designer, it created a lot of confidence immensely in grasping a close encounter
Where does this lead to? in one’s capacity to understand the view of the market and how it moves.
problem and be able establish a means to Ultimately, we are creating products
communicate between oneself and the which are going to be used across a certain
client. The give and take of information is stretch of land, national or otherwise.
absolutely crucial for any kind of enterprise. These products capture the imagination
This leads to clearer ideas and a better of millions and enthrall them and excite
understanding of what is asked for and what them and form posters on the walls of our
is being delivered. Communication is very hearts. It is one’s good fortune to be able
critical. to add one small drop in this vast ocean of
awesomeness.
Another aspect is the capacity to empathize
with both the client and the customer. As
designers we are at a unique vantage point
where we get to interact and understand a
lot of points of view. There would be people
who would efficiently deliver upon their
personal goals but would also happen to
be isolated from the eventual customer.
Designers not just understand what the
client wants to create, but also understands
what the customer truly needs. To be able to
appreciate this idea and deploy oneself in
pursuit of doing a modicum of justice to that
value was the crux of this project and the
projects that followed.
Unfortunately, this model would not hit

production as planned as the company has

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Radical Styling.” Motor Trend, Motor Trend, 17 Oct. With Silicon Valley Spark”. BloombergBusiness-
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under new licensing policy, Economic Times, 18 chived from the original on July 25, 2009. Re-
Jan 2018. trieved August 1, 2009. “Tesla Motors, Inc.” con-
sisted of Eberhard, Tarpenning and Wright, plus
“Energy Statistics 2018” (PDF). http://mospi.nic. an unfunded business plan, and they were looking
in. Retrieved 28 April 2018. for an initial round of funding to create a more
advanced prototype than the AC Propulsion Tzero.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/715241/in- While there was a basic corporation in place, Tesla
dia-consumption-volume-of-petroleum-products/ hadn’t even registered or obtained the trademark
to its name and had no formal offices or assets. To
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ save legal fees, we just copied the SpaceX articles
non-fossil-fuels-will-form-over-half-of-india- of incorporation and bylaws for Tesla and I invest-
s-energy-capacity-in-10-years-says-govt/sto- ed $6.35M (98%) of the initial closing of $6.5M in
ry-GlSqxjZLXCHC1sbhKIydGJ.html Series A funding. Eberhard invested $75k (approx-
imately 1%).
https://www.hindustantimes.com/busi-
ness-news/life-and-money-the-economic-cost-of-
north-india-s-worsening-air-pollution/story-Rkk- https://indianexpress.com/article/india/ola-co-
Kgv22u8JUjzd5QbxUFP.html founder-bhavish-aggarwal-among-times-100-
most-influential-people-in-the-world-5144125/
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tion/221991068_Renewable_energy_in_India_Cur- economictimes.indiatimes.com/
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source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&u
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Catastrophe Than You Can Possibly Imagine”. Ja- http://www.rediff.com/business/report/look-
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Bigger Plans”. WIRED. 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2017- ism-is-dead-long-live-minimalism-251622
01-04
https://www.businessinsider.in/The-Trump-era-
Szymkowski, Sean (2018-02-14). “Faraday Future is-ushering-in-a-more-is-more-design-renais-
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“Nevada treasurer raises questions about Faraday
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King, Danny. “Nevada treasurer raises questions

about Faraday Future”. Autoblog. Retrieved 2016-
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tion of an Electric Car”. GreenCar Magazine. July
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2009. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
THIRTEEN
Websites referred to, through out the project
include:
1. topgear.com
2. autocarindia.com
3. overdrive.com
Bibliography
4. economictimes.com
5. mint.com
6. businessstandard.com
7. electrek.com
Sources of content and images. 8. fullychargedshow.com
9. codesign.com
10. lemanoosh.com
11. pinterest.com
12. rhubarbs.com
13. successstory.com
14. classiccars.com
15. youtube.com
16. architechtureanddesign.com
17. cardesignnews.com
Artists who have been an inspiration

throught this project include:
1. http://strautniekas.com/
2. Sunga Park
3. Inca Pan
Images have been sourced mainly from:
1. cerealmag.com
2. sabyasachi.com

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Degree project

student : DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL

programme : Master of Design (M. Des)

guide : Vipul Vinzuda

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 1

Degree of the National Institute of Design

on fulfilling the further requirements by*

*Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements :

Activity Chairperson, Education

Master of Design, Transportation and Automobile Design, 2015

No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form

Edited and designed by:

Name: Deepak Srinivas Mondal / DSM

Student Name in Full: DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 5

Institute about nid

Research why a luxury car

Proto- fourth phase

typing trial mock-up

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 THIRTEEN

It would also have been incomplete without

I thank Aspen Bower and the great team work-

I extend my thanks to my dear friends Elvis

I also take this opportunity to thank Gajju Bhai,

I am indebted to the critique provided by Mr.

Lastly, and most importantly, I thank my

And I would also thank myself for delivering

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 11

Design is about empathy.

Specifically to India, as a developing country,

The course is designed to help students

Sand and water crashed together,

Rivulets of hope ran through the cove,

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 THIRTEEN

There are various aspects to a startup and

All of these factors, explored in the follow-

1. Selecting the Segment.

1. Selecting the segment.

When it comes to an automobile, the first

2. Identifying the Target Customer.

The target customer is an elusive set. Big

Finalizing the brief

‘17 TG = Target Group

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 33

The main reason

The second reason

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 37

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 39

In the bottom up approach, the product is

The benefit of a bottom up approach is that

Luxury has a lot to do with perception

Not just in terms of funds from a venture

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 41

It is also very subjective as different people

The need to differentiate happened because

Customers wanted increased comfort and

the hoi polloi and make them feel a sense of

The need and the innovations fell in place

DEEPAK SRINIVAS MONDAL / TAD 2015 43