The Hindu Business Line : DC Design moving to Pune and to a bigger centre

"I would love to stay in Khandala and drive down to Pune for work,'' is how Mr. Dilip Chhabria, Managing Director and Chief Designer of DC Design Ltd. would love to have it.

He is shifting from Mumbai to Pune in June. Reason? DC Design is moving lock, stock and barrel to Chinchwad near Pune to their new facility.

Talking to Business Line, Mr. Dilip said the company has acquired land of one lakh sq. mt for the new design centre with digital capability.

The facility would have a capacity to produce about 300 cars per annum, which would be increased at a later date to 500 cars per annum. The investment for the new facility is Rs 25 crores.

Giving a peek into his future plans, Mr. Dilip said he is also proposing to set up an automotive and design institute in the country, which would cater to the industry requirements of transportation design.

The institute is expected to be set up in three year. "The institute is looking at conjoining the streams of art and engineering. It should be able to make the engineering students draw French curves without the aid of nstruments'', he said.

The course structure would follow the international standards of automotive design. There has to be a breakeven and the viability proposal would also have to look at aspects such as whether the automobile industry would be able to absorb these graduates coming out of this institution.

He pointed out that another five years down the line, the industry would witness a supply-demand gap as Indian and the multinational automotive companies which have set shop here would look at designing cars for the Indian market.

"With the development costs also working out lesser in the Indian subcontinent, these specialised students would find themselves in a niche area which is what we are looking to tap,'' he said.

The DC Design Lab is also set to create a stir in the Geneva Motor Show, which is to be flagged off on March 2. The company is showcasing a new vehicle, Noble, which is a trademark of a British Company. DC has done design and prototype of the vehicle.

The other design work that is currently on include a Rolls Royce, working on three stretch vehicles (Mercedes and Camry from the Toyota stable) and armour-plated off-road vehicles for four chief ministers. He said it is also working on specialised vans for the Indian market.

Not to be left behind, even Bollywood is set to screen the DC vehicle in one of the forthcoming movie, which is slated to be released by mid-April.