Top car companies of India and their first products

India is the world's 5th largest automobile market. And it has some very consistent market leaders over the years . All of these leading car companies once established as small business enterprises, with possibly different products. And today we will talk about the 1st ever products that these leading car companies offered to their customers before they entered automobile industry.

1. Maruti Suzuki: India's leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited, formerly Maruti Udyog Limited, is a New Delhi-based Indian car manufacturer. It was established in 1981 and was held by the Indian government until 2003, when Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan purchased it. Talking about Suzuki motor corporation. It was first started as Suzuki loom company in 1909 as a loom manufacturer for weaving silk and cotton. And for first 30 years of its run, its founder Michio Suzuki focused on making better and more user friendly looms.

And then in year 1937 Suzuki begins a project to diversify into manufacturing small cars. Two years later several innovative prototypes gets completed but govt puts a halt on production. As they declare civilian passenger cars a "non-essential commodity" in the midst of World War II. After tackling many economical, technological barriers, Suzuki Motor Company Limited was established in 1954, Michio Suzuki collaborated with his youthful technical team—many of whom were in their 20s—to design and create his first automobile Suzulight.

2. Tata: India's own automobile giant Tata motors is a subsidiary of the Multinational Conglomerate- Tata Group headquartered in Mumbai. It was first established in 1868 by Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata as a Trading company. Further he bought a bankrupt oil mill at Chinchpokli and converted that into a cotton mill. And sold the cotton mill after 2years with profit in hand.

Fastforward to 1945, and Tata motors is established under the leadership of J.R.D. Tata. Initially it focused on just locomotives. But in 1954, it enetered the commercial vehicles market after forming a joint venture with Daimler-Benz. Currently the Tata Group works in over 150 countries. And the Tata motors is currently the 2nd largest car manufacturer in India in terms of sales.

3. Mahindra & Mahindra: It is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing corporation headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed, later in 1948 gets renamed as Mahindra & Mahindra. In 1954 it started the assembling Willys Jeep's CJ3 model in India. And soon M&M was established as Jeep manufacturer in India.

Currently Mahindra Auto manufactures its own lineup of 10 commercial SUVs. Their latest edition being the newly launched eSUV- XUV400.

4. Toyota: Toyota Motor Corporation commonly known as Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. Established by Kichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. It is currently one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. Popular globally for its reliable and low cost vehicles. It produces nearly 10million vehicles per year. Its first product was actually a Toyota Model G Automatic Loom.

Toyota entered Indian Automobile market and started its operations in 1997 And launched its first commercial vehicle in 2000 which was the iconic Qualis.

5. Hyundai: In 1947, the Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company was established by Chung Ju-Yung, which is now known as Hyundai Group. Hyundai Motor Company, frequently abbreviated to Hyundai Motors, is a global South Korean automaker with headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, and was established in 1967. Currently, the firm owns 33.88 percent of Kia Corporation and completely controls two other brands, including Genesis Motor, a division that produces luxury cars, and Ioniq, a division that produces electric vehicles. In 1996, Hyundai entered Indian automobile market. And on September 23, 1998 the iconic and the legendary car Santro world debuted in the India. And the rest is history. Hyundai sells cars through 5,000 dealerships and showrooms in 193 different countries.