The Chinkara car has been around for more than an year now. Too bad they don't have a website - I really would like to set up one for them. This car is wild - it was created by a husband-wife team in Alibaug near Mumbai. Now this car - named the Chinkara - is available at approximately Rs 7,00,000 apiece.

Why would anyone want to buy the Chinkara? Here are a few reasons.

It is the only car available in the market right now which is a roadster. There is no other car in India which can satisfy your craving for the perfect wind-in-the-hair motoring. The closest car that one can think about is the San Storm from San Motors. But then, its a convertible, and not a true blue roadster.

For the price of any new mid-size car, now you can have a car that will make everyone on the street stand and stare at you.

This car, as it is manufactured out of locally made components, can be easily repaired by any roadside mechanic on the streets of India.

So why am I not going out and buying it rightaway? Oh well, I am not sure about how the banks would react if I told them I need a loan to buy a car called Chinkara, a roadster, made by a husband and wife team. Maybe they will be kind. Maybe they won't be. I have a mortal fear of banks and the creatures that inhabit them that I do not want to go there and find out whether they are willing to furnish me a loan to buy a roadster car called Chinkara. This may not be the case for the rest of you, so think about the Chinkara, please.

Here is the latest on the Chinkara roadster at the Auto Expo 2004.

Times of India:

Leading the show stealers is a Mumbai-based firm Chinkara Cars, which has developed a two-seater sports car. The car has been developed indigenously by a husband-wife team. The team has already got confirmed orders from JK group's Gautam Singhania and Shrinik Baldoota of Greater Mumbai Bank.

Priced at Rs 6.7 lakh, the Chinkara has borrowed its suspension, steering system and brake columns from Maruti and is powered by an Isuzu 1.8 litre petrol engine sourced from Hindustan Motors. "It makes the car easy to maintain and can be fixed by any mechanic or garage owner. It started as hobby but has now transformed into a profession," says Shama Bothe of Chinkara Cars. It takes her over three months to produce and deliver one car. Buoyed by the response to her first attempt, Bothe is now planning to produce replicas of AC Cobra and the Ford GT-40.

To read a road test of the Chinkara, please go to www.bsmotoring.com and search for Chinkara.

BY BM