Affordable Performance Cars Need To Make A Comeback In India, And Now Is The Right Time

The Indian automobile market was absolutely bustling back in the 2000s. Global manufacturers like BMW, Audi, ?koda, Chevrolet, Nissan, and many more were starting to enter the market, and in a bid to get their name out there, offered cars not only aimed at general consumers, but also affordable sporty variants that were sure to excite enthusiasts, such as the ?koda Octavia VRS, Laura VRS, Mitsubishi Cedia, Mitsubishi Lancer, Ford Mondeo, Fiat Palio 1.6 (India's first hot hatch), Honda City Gen 1, Ford Fiesta, Suzuki Baleno, Chevrolet Cruze, and the leader of the pack, the Honda Accord V6, with a 3.0L V6 developing 220 hp. These cars are still remembered fondly by Indian petrolheads to date, with many pleading carmakers to bring modern versions of them back to the market.

So what happened? Why is it that these cars have become relics of an amusing past? The answer is simple - rising petrol costs and changing consumer trends. As fun as these cars were, they didn't score that well on the practicality front, and with a lot of them having large engines that chucked out a lot of power, poor fuel economy and high maintenance costs deducted points further. So as the young petrolheads of the 2000s got old and started to have families, they had to stray away from these pure driving machines and had to settle for a diesel SUV/MPV. The horror.

Manufacturers realised this too and kept trying to entice enthusiasts, like with Fiat introducing the Punto Abarth, Honda releasing a new 3.5 V6 Accord, Volkswagen releasing the Polo GT, even Toyota offered a TRD Etios Liva, but the writing was on the wall by now. The trend had shifted, and the affordable sporty car segment fizzled out by 2015, coincidentally the same time diesel engines and SUVs were starting to hit it off with consumers. After that, all we got were reskins of regular variants with some stickers and subtle bodywork changes, at most a slightly louder exhaust, like Hyundai's N-line, Maruti's RS, and Tata's JTP lineups. The Baleno RS did offer a unique 1.0L turbo engine, but it still flopped and was discontinued. Only for that engine to make its way to, you guessed it, an SUV.

However, with 2023's new BS6 Phase 2, RDE, and CAFE emission regulations, a lot of carmakers have entirely dropped diesel engines from their lineups, such as ?koda, Honda, Volkswagen, and Maruti Suzuki, due to the increasingly difficult task to tune them to comply with norms. Moreover, with diesel prices almost at par with petrol now, and hybrid-petrol powertrains outpacing diesel fuel efficiency, the need for diesel engines is rapidly diminishing. Small wonder that the few manufacturers still offering diesels like Mahindra and Tata are slowly electrifying their whole lineup.

This seems like a perfect storm of opportunities coming together for the affordable enthusiast car to be revived. For instance, the mid-size sedan segment, historically the most popular body style for enthusiast cars, currently consists of the ?koda Slavia, Volkswagen Virtus, Honda City, and the brand-new Hyundai Verna. None of these cars have diesel options, all of them are locally produced, but most importantly, all of them have exciting petrol engines that can be paired with manual gearboxes. The Slavia and Virtus share a 1.5L engine developing 148hp as well as a 1.0L turbo developing 115hp, the Verna has a new 1.5L turbo churning out a segment-leading 160hp, and the mega-popular 1.5L i-VTEC in the City needs no introduction.

Moreover, all of these companies have a performance brand in overseas markets - ?koda's vRS, Volkswagen's GT or GTi, Honda's Type R, and Hyundai's N. These are names that modern-day Indian petrolheads would kill to have on the back of their cars. Why not drop the suspension, tighten the springs, flare up the fenders, fit a proper throaty exhaust, some carbonfibre bodywork, and sell a sporty variant of these sedans under those famed performance monikers? As mentioned before, they're locally produced, so the cost to the manufacturer won't be major, and in turn, the price jump for the sporty variant won't scare off interested buyers either. Hyundai already sells an N variant of the Verna in global markets under the Sonata name, so what's stopping them from bringing it to India? Buyers wouldn't even think twice before spending extra on a variant that looks as sporty as this.

The near-decade of diesel supremacy is now over. Customers are now getting comfortable with petrols again, and the millennials who grew up in the OG enthusiast car era now have jobs, and given the option, they'd undoubtedly want a car that reminds them of those days. Carmakers need to start taking risks again and cater to this younger, more passionate clientele, because after all, risks are what got them here in the first place.