Iacocca who? This was the response from my 28-year-old Product Manager. For most millennials, the name means nothing. As a young engineer, reading Iacocca was an inspiration to join the auto industry, even though it was considered blasphemous for an electrical engineer like me. The wish came true more than 15 years into my career.

Lee Iacocca’s story influenced so many in my generation, who in the early 1980s were starting their careers with the luxury of having a grand total of three cars to choose from, including the aspirational Maruti, none of which one could afford and which had long waiting lists.

Reading about the then glamorous Detroit with the Big Three car companies and their various models was a harbinger of what would hopefully be possible in the India of the future.

Iacocca also embodied what a lower middle-class person could achieve. It talks about the chutzpah and the hard work with which a professional could become more famous than the promoter and actually take him on. For Indian youth in the early 80s, visioning a non-owner reaching these heights in ones career was unthinkable.

The Iacocca story was a kind of a wistful yearning by romantic young professionals looking forward to a day when surnames would not matter. Thanks to the great Indian startup story, we now have new surnames making news.

Sadly, Iacocca’s story is not mandatory reading in most auto companies now. It reflects a shift of power centres from Detroit to Tokyo. And maybe in the process, we have lost out on the emotional aspect of the industry.

Rest in peace Iacocca, you belonged to a generation when car manufacturing and selling was still glamourous.

The writer is co-founder and MD of WheelsEMI

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