Building my own indigenous supercar: What the Vaizarani Shul taught me

The Shul was made to global standards, but the harsh reality of turning a beautiful design into a market-ready supercar in India was evident.

BHPian startupdaddy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Continuing the Journey

Let's continue the story from where I left off. After registering the private limited company, I started my journey to understand why India doesn't have a supercar brand. If I wanted to create a supercar brand, I needed to know about the market, the problems, and the process and get some guidance from industry experts. I also needed to understand why well-established Indian car makers don't even try to build a supercar for India.

Meeting Chunky Vazirani

First, I contacted the man behind the beautiful Vazirani Shul, Mr. Chunky Vazirani. I met him and asked about his vision and his work. He shared his journey with me, explaining that the Shul was never part of a grand plan. It was a spontaneous project that came together about three months before the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed. He got an opportunity to present something at the Michelin Tyres stand, so he decided to build a prototype of the Shul, a design he had worked on during his college days in California.

Chunky had to build the entire prototype in just three months, without any existing setup. The prototype was milled from blocks of material called tooling board (those in automotive design will be familiar with this). He used every "jugaad" (innovative fix) possible, including using tarpaulins to build a makeshift paint booth.

In the end, Chunky said something that stuck with me forever: the three months spent building the prototype were so stressful that he never wanted to relive those days. This was a sobering realization—that the Shul was not going to become a reality. Chunky is a brilliant automotive designer, but being an entrepreneur requires walking a path made of fire, and not everyone is willing to take that risk.

My Takeaway

I personally loved the design of the Shul. It was made to global standards, but the harsh reality of turning a beautiful design into a market-ready supercar in India was evident.

After meeting Chunky Vazirani, I reached out to many industry veterans and experts for guidance. I learned a lot about the harsh realities of building an automotive brand in India, especially without deep pockets to spend.

Meeting Shashi VyasI travelled to Ahmedabad to meet Shashi Vyas, an ambitious aerospace engineer from the UK who launched an electric sports car in India in 2014 under the brand Supernova Electric Vehicles (SNEV). Team-BHP has an article about it as well.(https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...sportscar.html (The curious case of Gujarat's 'green sportscar'))

He even sent one of his models to ARAI for testing. I wanted to understand why, despite his impressive work, he couldn't bring his car into production and why people were unaware of his efforts.

Here are some pictures of my visit to his workshop.

Continue reading BHPian startupdaddy's post for more insights and information.