If you were asked to picture the Indian automotive industry then chances are that you might think of some executive sedans, some compact SUVs and a lot of hatchbacks on road. These may vary from entry level models to a few of the luxury offerings but the number of out and out sports cars will be relatively marginal. One of the reasons this is that India is known largely for budget cars, be that in any segment.
But, times are changing and automakers like Lamborghini are playing a huge role in it. They recently launched the Huracan Performante in India at a price tag of Rs 3.97 Crores (ex-showroom) which is the most powerful V10-powered offering that the company has ever made, and they have been known for making extremely fast cars for decades.
The biggest attraction about the car is that it set a new production car lap record of 6:52.01 min on the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany in Oct 2016. To give you a perspective on how big of an achievement it is – most automakers test out their car’s abilities on the same racetrack which is considered as the mecca of automotive racing and hence, the track lap time serves as a good reference for how fast the cars are. As of now, the Huracan Performante is the fastest.
How fast is it numbers? It is powered by a naturally aspirated V10 engine that pushes out 640 horsepower and 600 Nm of torque and comes mated to a 7-speed dual clutch gearbox. In simple words, it can go from 0-100 km/h in 2.9 seconds and 0-200 km/h in a staggering 8.9 seconds and will pull all the way to 325 km/h. That’s not it, though, as it can even come to a halt from 100 km/h in just 31 metres.
But that’s not the best part of the story. The best part is the fact that Lamborghini launched it in India.
It’s expensive, it’s rare, it’s meant to go stupendously fast and given the Indian road conditions, there aren’t many places that you can drive it at. Cars as expensive as this don’t sell in huge numbers either, even though Lamborghini has been having a record sales run globally. And yet, the car was launched in India.
This, shows the intent and the level of commitment and at the same time, the changing ‘winds’ of the Indian automotive industry. The fact that automakers believe that it is a right decision to launch their supercars in India promises to make things very exciting in the coming future. And let’s not forget, India is home to some really fast race tracks like the Buddha International Circuit in Greater Noida and the MMRT race track in Chennai. And if this continues, then even the Indian auto enthusiasts could soon get the chance to get their hands on some really exotic machines very soon.
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