The 1980s remains most important decade in the Indian automotive history and set the foundation of the modern industry. A series of liberal changes were rapidly introduced in the country marking a crucial turning point for the automobile industry.
in 1980s, an array of Japanese brands entered the Indian market with their focus was on Light Motor Vehicle (LMV), two-wheelers and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV).
The dominance of homegrown brands like Tata, Bajaj, Premier, and Ambassador with the influx of global players such as Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi.
The first wave of reforms stood out, loud & bold, to script the India's most successful manufacturing story in automobile sector. The birth of Maruti in in the passenger car segment was backed with a collaboration of Suzuki. The government policy to indigenise 75% of the auto components helped create the new auto component vendor ecosystem, thus the birth of new small & medium scale industry.
The ushering middle class got a gift in the form of two-wheelers and the story was even better. The mood was upbeat in the two-wheeler space where in the alliances with local players were signed!
The TVS group, whose market presence was confined to the mopeds only till then, tied up with Suzuki to launch their motor bikes. TVS Motor Company, then known as TVS-Suzuki, manufactured and sold motorcycles under the Suzuki brand. Some of the popular models during this period included the Suzuki Supra, Suzuki Samurai, Suzuki Shogun, and Suzuki Shaolin.
The Hero group, which was largely into bicycles only, joined hands with Honda to manufacture motorcycles. Hero Honda was formed in 1984 as a joint venture between Hero Cycles of India and Honda of Japan. They launched the Hero Honda CD 100 and later the Hero Honda Sleek, which were known for their fuel efficiency and affordability, becoming popular commuter bikes.
Escorts, the manufacturers of Rajdoot, entered into a joint venture with Yamaha & the legendary Yamaha RX100 was born. Escorts Yamaha primarily focused on two-stroke motorcycles, with the iconic Yamaha RX100 and the powerful RD350 being the most notable models, establishing Yamaha's reputation for performance, speed and style.
And the major player, Bajaj, the sole scooter king, got into a technical agreement with Kawasaki to manufacture bikes. The Bajaj-Kawasaki collaboration produced motorcycles in India, resulting in trending models like the KB100, KB125, and the Eliminator series.
Another major player in the gearless scooter industry, Kinetic Engineering partnered with Honda to launch improvised Kinetic Honda gearless scooters. Kinetic had their iconic Luna which had made a mark in the moped industry. The launch of the Kinetic Honda range of ungeared scooters took the market by storm.
Another brand which cannot go unaddressed is LML Vespa! Lohia Machinery Ltd. (LML) began producing 100cc geared scooters in technical collaboration with Piaggio VE, SpA, Italy, launching its first scooter, a stylish Vespa-inspired model.
While the fight heating up in gear & ungeared markets between brands in two wheeler industry, the Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) too witnessed a major shift in goods transportation vehicle market.
In the LCV segment, major partnerships were signed with local players thus leading to birth of brands & alliances with DCM - Toyota, Eicher - Mitsubishi, Allwyn - Nissan and Swaraj - Mazda. The mood was buoyant and the stage was set for an interesting tug-of-war with an established player like Telco ( Tata Motors).
The decade also witnessed the iconic acquisition of an established brand in Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMV) space, both in passenger & goods vehicle segment Ashok Leyland by Hinduja group in 1987!