No, it’s not another post about Norwich Union’s Indian call centres!
Apparently Bollywood is all set to do a remake of the Italian Job, which is going to literally be an all singing and dancing affair, and may even be filmed outside India.
Now, everyone knows that the real stars of the original Italian Job were the cars. Not just the Minis – who can forget the Lambo Miura, the two E-Type Jaguar cars and the Aston DB4, which all had great supporting roles, as well as the Land Rover, the Alfa Romeo Giulia police cars, the numerous Fiat 500s and Dinos, not to mention the Pakistani ambassador’s Daimler and the Morris Minor van that got more than its bloody doors blown off.
So for me, at least, the big question is, which Indian cars are they going to use to replace the Mini Coopers. Let’s have a look at the contenders.
First up is Tata – their Indica is the most popular new car in India, but they don’t appear outside of the subcontinent too often. Probably more likely that Tata would use the forthcoming £1,200 Tata Nano, which Tata hope to export all over the world. It certainly has cute looks, but the really small wheels might get in the way of some stunts.
An Indian car (technically a quadricycle) that already does appear abroad, and is very common in London already is the Reva G Wiz – even tinier than the Nano, the electric power plant might make for some quiet chase scenes, and you’d have to hope the batteries lasted back to the Autostrada. On the plus side, you’d have no trouble fitting these onto a bus – in fact they’d probably fit in the buggy space.
The San Storm on the other hand is a two seater convertible, built on a Clio chassis. It nearly got sold here as a revival of the Reliant Scimitar name, but the deal fell through. With a shell made entirely of fibreglass, might not be too useful for a film involving as many scrapes and bumps as the Italian Job.
The Maruti A-Star is a rebadged Suzuki Alto – and the Works versions of those cars were pretty sporty. Maruti also sells a rebadged Suzuki Swift, which has certainly built up a worldwide cult following, so may be in with a shot.
Finally, and an outside bet, how about the Hindustani Ambassador? Based on the 1957 Morris Oxford Mk III, this car is still in production, and although it is a bit big it’s the definitive Indian motor – Hindustani really made it their own. You can get a version with a turbocharged 1.8 Isuzu engine under the hood too.
Officially or not, all of these cars are available to buy in the UK, but some insurance companies will be left scratching their heads if you try and insure one. Fortunately, Adrian Flux can help, whether you need electric car insurance or Indian import car insurance, so if you fancy an Indian car, make sure you give us a call for a quote on 08000 83 88 33.