Watch: India’s Most Boring Cars
1. Force One
When Force motors got Amitabh Bachchan to endorse this car, they probably spent more money on endorsements than on the R&D of the vehicle.
Even Mr Bachchan’s charisma couldn’t do much to make us see the point in buying what was essentially a Ford Endeavour platform with staid body cladding and a design that made the Qualis and Sumo seem like works of art.
The Force One is also underpowered. To the good folks at Force Motors, you named it Force One guys, that’s 3/4ths of Air Force One – if not President Obama, you should definitely have had some respect for Harrison Ford.
2. Maruti Celerio
Now because my Editor – News, who also drives a 2011 Honda City, has a Maruti Celerio, we’re just going to go ahead and quote him.
I bought the Celerio (Auto) because I was sick of using the manual shift in traffic. The Celerio is so ugly, it’s actually beautiful.
— HR Venkatesh, Editor – News, The Quint
But in the age where another car in its segment – the Chevrolet Beat, is a Transformer, the Celerio is a lost cause in terms of its looks.
3. Toyota Liva
It’s essentially the Etios without the boot – the difference between booking a sedan and a mini on any of the cab booking apps.
The car is just unimaginative. Even the interior has a centre-aligned instrument cluster that has no resonance inside the cabin of the car.
The Liva is a design disaster and the garish colours it dons on Indian roads are quite jarring.
Lord save those who bought one.
4. Mahindra Verito
Ahhh the Logan.
No wait, Jimmy Shergill called it Verito in that bad TV commercial after Renault pulled out of the deal with Mahindra.
The Verito comes straight out of the sketch book of my 4 -year-old nephew, who is basically all set to become a designer at Mahindra. Apart from that, the Verito is one sturdy car to have on Indian roads. Boring yes, but very sturdy.
We asked a few Meru cab guys. They’re the ones with most of them in the country and they agree.
5. Chevy Enjoy
Chevy, the maker of awesome trucks in the USA, lost all brownie points when they made the Chevrolet Enjoy for the Indian market.
One look at it and you can imagine a blown up breadbox trying desperately to weave through traffic in India. What a sorry sight.
It’s very boring to look at and the irony is that Chevrolet named it ‘Enjoy’.
6. Renault Lodgy
Renault is known for bringing curves back in vogue.
And it has some design marvels in its kitty as far as India goes – just look at the Fluence or the Duster and even the new Kwid. The Lodgy, however sticks out like a sore... well, sore bore.
You ask yourself every time you look at this car – what is this? Straight lining gone round? Or round design gone straight?
Even Ranbir Kapoor is going to have a hard time selling the Lodgy. Good luck for the quarterly sales target meetings.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)