- In California, it can be tough being a car enthusiast.
You've got smog checks, carb compliance restrictions
on what modifications you're allowed to perform.
It can be pretty demoralizing
seeing what's allowed in other States, but not mine.
But what if you lived in a place
where you couldn't make any modifications
to your car at all?
Not even paint.
- [Officer} your vehicle paint color is Unauthorized.
Well, that's exactly the kind of law that passed in India.
Two years ago.
Can car people enjoy cars if they can't modify them?
I reached out to some big time car enthusiasts
in India to see how they cope with such a restrictive law.
And what I found actually got me really excited
and surprisingly, even a little jealous.
Why you ask? I'll show you.
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So before we get into India's controversial law
banning car modification.
Let's set the scene for the Indian automotive world.
For those of you that don't know which
unless you're one of our Indian fans is probably all of you.
Now, you can't accurately research a community
from 13 times zones away.
So I called in some auto enthusiasts, just
like me over in India to hear straight from the source.
One of them is Vikas Yogi
a writer for the Hindi automotive site, India car news.
They've been covering the Indian car market for years.
- The whole car scene modification
meaning getting those big cars and sports cars and stuff.
It's been a privileged thing.
So it has always been limited
to people who can afford it and do it.
But for most people
for majority of people, there are economic constraints.
- Car ownership in India is often a necessity
but also carries a high cost.
You need a car to get you to work and back
but you aren't looking to spend more than is necessary.
That sounds like a lot of places, America included
but what hits the Indian market
The hardest is their important duty tax.
In order to sell a car that was not made
in India and manufacturer must pay
up to a hundred percent import duty.
So immediately the price of any car not made
in India doubles.
Because of this, plenty
of manufacturers don't even bother sending their sports cars
to India.
India never got the MR2,
or the S 2000, the Sylvia
the Evo, the WRX, the Camaro, the Corvette, or the charger
just to name a few.
But despite the tax
some global market cars do make it to India.
BMW M2's, Porsche's, GTRs.
And even the 5.0 Mustang are all available at a big premium.
These are called CBU cars or complete built units.
Basically it means the car was completely built
outside of India, but there was a different kind of car.
The CKD or complete knockdown unit.
Apart from being an awesome name for a hardcore band,
complete knockdown unit is a car that is assembled in India.
Even though the components were made elsewhere.
CKD's are subject to a lower tax as low as 15%.
So even though manufacturers have to build an assembly plant
in India to make a CKD car, they can still save money
with these market specific cars.
Cars like the renault fluence, the Jaguar XJ
and the land Rover evoke all have assembly plants in India.
For many automakers, the process of getting even one model
into the Indian market as a CKD or CBU is an ordeal.
And with sporty cars having such tight margins already
it took quite a while for some
of the quicker cars to make it to the Indian market.
For example, in the 2000s India
didn't get the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
but didn't get the Mitsubishi Lancer Sedia.
Which was a slightly de-tuned version of a normal Lancer.
At first, these Indian market offerings were not
at all impressive, but as time went
on more and more fun cars started to pop up.
Especially in the hot hatch segment.
Nowadays, the Fiat Punto Abarth is one of the hottest cars
in the Indian car scene with its two-tone paint.
The scorpion cloud version of the Punto does zero
to 60 in 8.8 seconds
and is built in run Jungian in Maharashtra India.
If I mispronounced that, I'm very sorry.
The BW polo is another go-to hatch in India
and the Skoda Octavia RS two 45 is a rowdy four-door
that's keeping up with the golf GTI looks awesome.
I'd be stoked to drive any of these cars.
The skoda definitely looks really sick.
With dedicated sports cars
tough to find or expensive to import.
This sounds like a super ripe environment
that would get people modifying their cheaper cars.
- So there are people who are looking for a regular car
getting it modified to a proper modification company.
So they, they get a regular car
maybe say a Foxtrot in Polish is pretty popular here.
They'll get a proton polo
because it has it already handled, you know
much better than most cars, most hotspots in India.
- In a very similar fashion
to the United States, different regions
of India develop different automotive preferences
over the past few decades.
The Northern region with close access
to the Himalayas, got super into four by fours.
And off-roading out of necessity.
Cars like the Toyota for tuner and SUV built
on the highlights platform are extremely popular
for being daily drivers with a bit
of four by four wheeling capability.
Contrast that with Southern India,
where they often have better roads.
The scene skewed towards tuning and street racing.
Modified Honda city type twos, and Skoda Octavia's rip
around on these super smooth streets.
Then in major cities like Mumbai and Delhi
where most of India's rich people live,
you have the super car scene and plenty of people
with cash to burn on importing a car.
Porsche's, Ferrari's,
and Mercedes can be seen cruising around
but not just what we
in the US think of us Super cars.
Imports like the Dodge demon are hot ticket items as well.
It's kind of weird to think
of a Dodge as an import.
Importing a car
in any country as a lengthy and expensive process.
And that's no different in India
but apart from the high cost associated with it,
import laws are actually pretty chill compared
to the US.
In America we have a 25 year import rule
that States no vehicle from outside.
The US domestic market can be imported
until the car is 25 years old.
This has put a ticking clock
on many beloved JDM and Euro cars.
I personally got my calendar marked
for 2024 when I can import it in S15.
But surprisingly India doesn't have such a rule.
As long as the car meets emission standards
and is right-hand drive,
there's not much else that stops you
from importing R34's, Holdens and JZ X one hundreds.
- Mostly there are not many borders in India.
Basically we have the traditional way of
of getting the vehicles.
When you have the manufacturer set up in shop here
you can contact them and you know
they'll facilitate this whole thing
- But don't go thinking
that India is chock full of rare imports.
Car nerds are still a very small portion
of the 1.3 billion people that live and work in India.
We who love cars
aren't the majority of consumers in any market.
And as a result
the most popular cars in India are local offerings.
Maruti Suzuki is an Indian branch
of the Suzuki motor company.
And by 1996, they had a 60% share
of the Indian car market.
Today cars like the Maruti Swift Merde Alto
and Marie Bellino are the top selling cars in India.
And India's manufacturing is not just an echo chamber
of India only cars in 2008,
Indian manufacturer
Tata motors bought Jaguar and land Rover Concorde.
And by 2011
India had become the sixth largest car manufacturer
in the world.
India is high import duty
and large market meant it made sense to build
up manufacturing in India.
And once you've got a manufacturing plant
you might as well use it.
Today India makes over $1 billion in revenue
from the U S domestic market in parts and vehicles.
Fords Eco sport is a crossover maiden India design based
on what the Indian market dictated
and is now being sold here in the US.
The auto industry
in India has been growing stronger and stronger.
While most performance cars are still expensive.
Economy boxes with go-cart handling and four
by fours with some off-road chops are easy to find.
And if you want a cool car
but you can't buy one, you can make it yourself.
Or at least you could until two years ago.
In January of 2019,
the Supreme court of India passed a law ruling,
Any modification that takes a car out of OEM spec
AKA stock is considered illegal.
(loud screaming)
So not just engine swapsand turbos.
You want wider tires? Banned.
You want coil overs? Banned.
You want to plastic dip your car?
You mega-banned.
- Oh, police car can stop you for anything.
Even if it's a race trip that you have on your bonnet.
Its not allowed because the modifications of any sort,
basic customization, anything of that sort.
- The Supreme court decided that this law
was made in the name
of quote road safety and the protection of the environment.
Look, I don't want to vilify anyone.
And I know
that they aren't just making this rule just to be jerks
but it feels like the kind of blanket statement that comes
from a lack of understanding of what is being regulated.
Its like when your mom tells you to pause your game and come
down to dinner, and then you tell her
for the 100th time that you can't pause it
because it's a multiplayer game.
And it'll only be another two minutes
because I suck and I'll get killed soon enough.
True story.
That being said, I can understand the reasoning behind it.
With more people in India, buying cars every year.
Mods could have a huge effect on your quality of life.
Imagine if 500 million people installed straight exhaust
in their car.
No thank you. I don't want to live there either.
This no mods law is pretty harsh
on paper, and the actual penalty is enough to
get your car's registration taken away.
But every major hub
of car culture has had an era of outrunning the law.
Think of two gay running, the moonshine runners
low riders, check out the past gas on that by the way.
Car culture has never been slowed down by laws.
And while I'm not condoning any rule breaking
I think it's safe to say
that the Indian car scene will thrive even
with this oversight.
In fact, I ran a quick anonymous poll by the doughnut staff
and more than half of us
wouldn't technically pass an inspection here
if a cop pulled us over.
For shame, co-workers.
I definitely don't have any illegal mods on my car.
No way.
(engine revving)
I can only imagine the car enthusiast of India
the same way.
The more I learned
about an automotive world oceans away, the more I
got to appreciate how much cars give us so much interest.
- We absolutely love pony cars.
Mustang has always had great influence, I think
across the world.
So has an India.
So mustang has been
that one car that everybody wants to own.
It's one car that I want to own.
So when I was driving it in my city, the most amount
of attraction or eyeballs this vehicle got,
I don't think any vehicle has ever received that sort
of appreciation or that sort of, you know, love.
- I know that oftentimes we all get caught
up in our own little bubbles of the car rules.
So it's nice to reach out
and get to chat with people who love the same things we do.
A huge thank you to Vikas Yogi
for coming on the show.
You can read his work on Indiacarnews.com.
There's plenty about the car scene
in India that we couldn't get to
in this episode, we didn't even talk
about the most affordable car ever.
The tata nano.
Or the scandal around the Indian sports car, the DC Avanti.
Maybe we can do those in future episodes.
If you're in India and you've got experience
with this no mods law, let me know in the comments.
I want to hear what it's like to be a car nerd
in your country, please.
And thank you.
If you're looking for a place to chat
with other car enthusiasts around the world
definitely check
out the doughnut underground discord channel.
You get access to it.
If you sign up with a donut underground
along with a bunch of other cool content
I hope I see you there until then be kind
Take care of each other.
See you next time.