Fiber body car, not iron! Where did this ‘Dolphin’ Indian car that scared Maruti in the 80s suddenly disappear?

When cars were mentioned in India in the 80s, only the Ambassador or the Premier Padmini came to mind. In such a time, ‘Sipani Automobiles’ company of Bangalore launched a car on the Indian roads, which was way ahead of its time. The name of this car was ‘Sipani Dolphin’.

Launched in 1982, this car was not made of iron, but its entire body was made of ‘fibreglass’. Based on the British ‘Reliant Kitten’ model, these cars weighed only 505 kg. The ‘power-to-weight ratio’ of this 2-door car was amazing due to its light weight and powerful 848 cc engine. Due to this, this car ran at the speed of wind on the road. Especially in the Indian rally and racing world, this car has achieved many historic victories and has made car lovers crazy.

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However, this fast ‘Dolphin’ could not last long in the market. The biggest reason behind this was security and the mentality of Indian consumers. People in India did not believe in fiber bodies; Customers were afraid that this car would scatter like leaves in an accident. Also four door cars were preferred instead of two door cars for family use.

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It was during this period, i.e. in 1983, that Sanjay Gandhi’s dream car ‘Maruti 800’ entered the Indian market. Maruti’s 4-door strong iron design and cheap spare parts completely turned the middle class away from the Sipani. The company later introduced a 4-door model named ‘Montana’ to attract customers, but by then Maruti had completely dominated the market. In the end, production of this speedy ‘plastic car’ was discontinued permanently in 1987 due to extremely poor sales, and one of the boldest experiments in Indian automobile history passed away.