Published By: Rohit Chatterjee

The Rise and Fall of DC Cars

In 2015, DC Designs Pvt Ltd designed and introduced the first Indian sports car by the name Avanti

In the present year, there is no paucity of car and motorcycle designers in India. Over the years, the expansion of the automobile industry, along with the digitalization of the country, opened a number ofgates for the automobile designers. However, there was an occasion when India had a handful of designers. Among those designers, Dilip Chhabria made it large in the world of automobile designing.

Taking the road less travelled, a young Chhabria chose not to pursue a mainstream career and went ahead with a transportation designing course at the Art Center of Design, Pasadena, USA. Although, before flying to the USA, he pursued a bachelor’s degree in commerce. After successfully graduating, Chhabria started working at General Motors and had a great stint with the company. However, Chhabria had grandiose objectives and therefore, he came back to India.

In 1993, Chhabria started a small workshop in Mumbai’s Marol area and named the workshop Dilip Chhabria designs. His first product was a ring-shaped horn for the distinguished Premier Padmini. Slowly, he turned into the talk of the town, and several automobile companies started working with him. In 2002, he was hired by Kinetic Engineering for designing a scooter and in 2006; he established a firm named DCStar in Dubai that offers car customization.

There was no end to Chhabria’s success as the accomplished designer gifted several cool, customized cars to India. From a yellow whacky Thar to a contemporary ambassador for the VIPs, Chhabria left no stone unturned to gain recognition and respect from the automobile industry. His designing prowess was not merely restricted to cars, for he went on to design a luxury bus and a vanity truck for Bollywood superstars Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan, respectively.

In his prime time, Chhabria worked with several well-known companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Coca Cola, Renault, GM, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Toyota, Fiat, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, and Bajaj Auto. Not to forget, Dilip Chhabria gave India its first-ever home-grown sports car in 2015.

However, Chhabria and his DC Design witnessed a downfall after Mumbai police detained the designer for falsification and fraudulent financing in 2020. Chhabria was arrested for four months. At present, the star designer is fighting multiple lawsuits against him because of which, the reputation of the company has been damaged. Therefore, only time will speak about the destiny of Chhabria and his designing company.