A SWIFT switch to design

Posted: Saturday, Jan 14, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST
Updated: Saturday, Jan 14, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST

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: sophisticated look.’’

Rise of luxury cars

Aspiration has fanned demand for luxury cars in India. The demands on design by this set of customers is quite different. ‘‘In the luxury car segment, people are pretty keen on how they want their interiors done, of the way it should look - cool, appealing, utilitarian and comfortable,’’ says Mr Katchalia of Navnit motors, dealers of BMW and Rolls Royce.

Customers of top-end cars look for the feel, comfort and technology in the automobile they are buying. DaimlerChrysler India’s director corporate affairs and finance, Suhas Kadlaskar says, ‘‘In a top-end luxury automobile like the Mercedes, a customer wants the best of everything including design, comfort, safety, latest in technology and delivery in the least possible time. As far as customisation for individual customers is concerned, each of them can select the combination in the car interiors that they want including colours, upholstry etc.’’

Recent years have woken up automobile makers to the realisation that bolder, out-of-the-box designs would gain better customer acceptance than safer designs. Taking cues from customer preferences, hopefully, more and more mainstream cars will go the irrational way.

DESIGN OVER THE DECADES

• 1920s The first cars of the late 19th and early 20th century were more ...

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