F1-inspired electric cars heading to India next decade

Gupta, who heads the rapidly-growing steel-to-banking conglomerate GFG Alliance, is keen on tapping the electric car market, which has seen interest from conventional vehicle manufacturers as well as tech giants like Apple and Google.

The idea is to manufacture lightweight electric cars for city use by harnessing the knowledge of legendary grand prix designer Gordon Murray, who is also hailed with building the legendary McLaren F1 roadcar.

Murray has been working heavily on the iStream process, which uses motorsport principles to reduce the weight of cars and bring substantial cost savings along with it.

“We are talking about city cars, about small, light, very, very economic cars,” Gupta said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We will launch both in India and in Australia.”

Gupta’s GFG Alliance has been in purchase talks with Indian auto parts manufacturer Amtek Auto Ltd  to speed up the entry into the automotive business.

The company could also acquire previously shut auto plants in Australia, a country where Gupta has several business interests in.

“Launching a car is not a joke, it’s a big undertaking,” he said.  “If we are to do something with an existing plant then it’ll be faster.”

If Gupta’s F1-inspired electric cars enter the Indian market, they will face stiff competition from several homegrown and foreign brands.

Mahindra is currently the leader in the EV space in India and also has its own Formula E all-electric racing team. Tata, too, has recently supplied electric versions of the Tigor sedan to the government, but is yet to make it available to the general public.

Apart from Indian manufacturers, Suzuki - through its local subsidiary Maruti Suzuki - and Toyota also have plans to launch electric cars in India in the interim future.