Mahindra & Mahindra

What started as a steel trading company in the pre-independence days in 1945 in Ludhiana by brothers Harikrishnan, Jayakrishnan, and Jagdish Chandra Mahindra along with Malik Ghulam Muhammad as Mahindra and Muhammed soon in 1948 became Mahindra and Mahindra due to partition. The partition invariably made Mohammad emigrate and eventually get citizenship in Pakistan. Very soon the company saw a business opportunity in expanding into manufacturing and selling larger MUVs starting their assemblies under the license of Willy’s Jeep in India. After its venture into the manufacturing Jeeps, they also commenced the manufacturing of light commercial vehicles and agricultural tractors.

You can have a look at the following video to checkout the Automobile Brands made in India by Indians.

Chinkara Motors

Chinkara Motors was named from a local word for an Indian Gazelle, true to its type of cars that it manufactures. A Pvt. Ltd. company based out of Mumbai, Maharashtra mainly manufactures Auto, Marine, ATV, and Aviation. A flavor of Chinkara that the company is famous for os the 2-seat sports car called Chinkara Roadster and Jeepster, a classic 1940s Jeep look-alike. All of these vehicles are developed and manufactured at Alibag near Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Premier

Formerly called Premier Automobiles Ltd. is based out of Mumbai and is a manufacturer of Automobiles. Sir M. Visweswaraya, the modern architect of modern India, has been the key person to have encouraged and inspired in bringing out an Indian based automobile manufacturing unit. Inspired by him, Walchand, who owns the Walchand group established and is now the owner. The first Indian made trucks and cars were rolled out onto the streets of India by this company in 1947.

Force Motors

Officially called by its public name Force Motors Limited, it is an Indian automotive manufacturer, the flagship company of the Dr. Abhay Firodia Group. Till the early 2000s from when it started, it was called Bajaj Tempo Motors, due to the fact that it was a joint venture between Bachraj Trading Ltd. and Germany’s Tempo.
The following are the brands that the company has come up with right from its inception.

• Tempo
• Matador
• Minidor
• Traveller

In the near future, it has tied up with auto majors, such as Daimler, ZF, Bosch, and MAN, and has been the market by moving away from its outdated products.

International Cars and Motors Ltd.

Having its headquarters in Delhi, it is a company owned by the tractor manufacturer, Sonalika Group. The production of automobiles began in 2006 and the brand ever since has been International. As of 2012, it emerged as the fourth highest-selling tractor manufacturer in India. With brand International, it has been manufacturing many automobiles and its recent offering is its Extreme MUV.

TVS

The first venture of the founder of TVS was not the manufacturing of Automobiles. But, it was bus service that the founder TV Sundaram Iyengar started in Madurai in 1911. By his death, they had already operated a number of buses and lorries under the title of Southern Roadways Limited. This was how it all came in the way for the TVS group.

During the Second World War, addressing crucial issues, Sundaram Iyengar came up with Madras Auto Service Ltd and the Sundaram Motors, a division of T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons Ltd. Both served different purposes. Soon, his four sons entered the business to become the four pillars of the company.

What started to fulfill the need of the people of Madurai is now the largest automobile distribution company in India, enjoys a turnover of about US$ 8.5 Billion and has an employee strength of over 60,000.

Ashok Leyland

An India freedom fighter from Punjab, by name Raghunandan Saran, was persuaded pot independence by India’s first Prime Minister, Nehru, to invest in a modern industrial venture. This further inspired him to start Ashok Motors, which was founded in 1948. Initially, it was incorporated only to assemble and manufacture Austin Cars from England. Ashok Motors was named after Raghunandan Saran’s only son, Ashok Saran.

Envisioning the dire need of the day, Raghunandan Saran negotiated with Leyland Motors of England for the assembly of commercial vehicles, which is when Leyland Motors joined hands with Ashok Motors changing the name of the company to Ashok Leyland.

In 1987 partially and in 2007, the Hinduja Group bought out Iveco’s indirect stake in Ashok Leyland. Today the company is a flagship if Hinduja group, a British-based and Indian originated trans-national conglomerate.

Hero Motocorp

A joint venture between Hero Cycles of India and Honda company of Japan came to be known as Hero Honda, which has been in the field of the Automobile industry, manufacturing several bikes. They are all known for their economic pricing and fuel efficiency. The marketing that drove millions into purchasing their bikes was the slogan, Fill it – Shut it – Forget it, which emphasized the company’s fuel-efficient bikes. It eventually became the second-largest two-wheeler manufacturing company.

What came in as a complete Indian company was a surprise for all the Indians when Honda and Hero agreed to part and Hero purchased Honda’s stake. In July 2011 the new brand identity that we see today was developed and the new name that Hero company got is Hero Motocorp Ltd.

Tara International

Tara International is a subsidiary of Bengal Enamal which is located in Mumbai, India. Tara International is the marketer for Tara Green Auto and they are the producers of battery electric vehicles. They include two, three, and four-wheel designs and Tara S. Ganguly is the current Managing Director.
Some of the vehicles are as below:

• DY09A3A
• DY09B2

Hradyesh

Hradyesh Kumar Namdeo

Until now we have only witnessed the automobile industry that is into the manufacturing of vehicles as products. But, if you think you would like a vehicle manufactured like how your house is constructed, then it is Hradyesh, which is an automobile manufacturing company that is specialized in custom made luxury cars. They have their own custom-built brand called “masterpiece edition” car which is known to the world by the name Morris Street that was launched in 2011. This, as claimed by the company is the most expensive luxury car that has been built by an Indian Company.

Vehicle Factory Jabalpur

For security purposes, there are some protocols that have to be followed to supply B Vehicles to the Indian Army. This can only be fulfilled by a noncommercial venture that treats this venture with utmost care. This came as a reason for the Indian Government to start manufacturing cars for the Indian Army under the company by name Vehicle Factory Jabalpur, called in Hindi by the name वाहन निर्माणी जबलपुर. The company is located in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. It functions under the aegis of Ordnance Factories Board which in turn is controlled by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

Baja Auto

When Bajaj was started in 1945, it was named M/S Bachraj Trading Corporation Pvt. Ltd. It had not started manufacturing back then, it was just another company that used to import and sell two-wheelers and three-wheelers in India. By obtaining licenses from Govt. of India and signing contracts to manufacture from Piaggio and Vespa, it started manufacturing two and three-wheelers. In 1960, it became a public company and later in 1986 changes its brand from a scooter manufacturer to a two-wheeler manufacturer.

Hindustan Motors

The strong, bulky, robust car, that nobody till the 90s would have missed is one other than one of the original three Indian companies that were involved in the manufacturing of cars. The name of the car is Ambassador, which is based on the 1956 Morris Oxford Series III. The production of this car began way back in 1957.

The company behind the manufacturing of such a car is one and only Hindustan Motors, an Indian Automotive Manufacturer based in Kolkata, West Bengal, which is a part of Birla Technical Services Industrial Group.

Kerala Automobiles Limited

A public sector company in Kerala is into the manufacturing of automobiles in Trivandrum. It is called by the name Kerala Automobiles Limited (KAL). Three-wheeler manufacturing is the company’s intention of starting the company. In addition to that, this company is ISO 9001:2000 certified.

The products that KAL manufactures are limited to three-wheelers and are:

• Autorickshaw
• Pick-up Van
• Delivery Van
• Auto Chasis
• Hydraulic Tipper

They export these three-wheeler vehicles to places like Egypt.

Apart from this, they also manufacture electric buses for Kerala State Road Transport Corporation.

Tata Motors

It started off with a Joint Venture with Daimler-Benz of Germany, a decade after it started in 1945 as a locomotive manufacturer. This was its first commercial venture. This lead to years of domination in the commercial vehicle market in India.

When in 1991, Tata entered the passenger vehicle market, the first vehicle to be launched is Tata Sierra, a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) based on Tata Mobile Platform. Subsequently there were a series of such vehicles, below are the vehicles to name a few:

• Tata Estate
• Tata Sumo
• Tata Safari