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A facelift for your car
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A changing lifestyle has led to people seeking a new look for their four-wheelers
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If a customer has a certain vision for his car in mind, we do it for him Rajiv Srihari
A few years ago car modifications were limited to a young clientele. But, the recent economic growth has resulted in the older people also wanting to give their cars a facelift.
Understanding the growing demand, KitUp Automotive here started its commercial activity in a more serious manner last year. Besides shaping aesthetic exterior add-ons, it moved into custom modifications based on customer requirements. It also recently forayed into high-end custom audio installations. "If a customer has a certain vision for his car in mind, we do it for him," says Rajiv Srihari, KitUp's Managing Director.
Unique style
"We exist because there is a market for customisation of cars. People want their cars to look unique. The lowest cost option for this is to add something to their cars that would make them stand out. The demand for such customisation has shot up and more auto manufactures are bringing in newer models quicker than they did a few years ago."
Rajiv has been modifying cars since his school days. "I safely tested my skills on my own cars and of those close to me," he says.
He says the main line products are ready-to-fit primered and painted skirts and spoilers (oft referred to as body kits or ground wings). "These are moulded for specific vehicles and are extremely easy to install. In fact, it takes less time to install a complete kit in the car than to fix an audio system and four speakers."
Rajiv, points out that modification is not that expensive. "You can spend about Rs.1800 on a spoiler for an 800. The unique features about our products are that the pricing is not based on the cost of the car."
PHOTO: K. ANANDHAN
DECKING IT UP in style
Original designs
He says the normal practice is to procure a unit of an established product, make a die and churn out original `look-alikes.' "What we do at our end are original designs. No question of fakes or copies. We take the pictures of the cars and then draw the skirt sketches over them. What comes next is pattern making. Only after the final approval do we send it for die making."
Do these modifications affect ground clearance? "It is just a common misconception, actually they do not. Though products are primarily aesthetic add-ons, they offer a small performance advantage, by increasing down-force at the rear of the vehicle, thus increasing stability at high speeds," says Rajiv, who completed his Masters in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
He finished with the `Highest Praise', the topmost honour awarded in the US education system.
KitUp had exhibited most of his products at The Hindu Metroplus Lifestyle show here and more recently participated in the 10th Kochi Motor Show. "The biggest of them all was our role in the Auto Expo '06 at the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. It was a big opportunity mainly because we were only one year into business. We had lined up three cars (Indigo, Innova and Swift) for the show. The Indigo and Innova for the Xenos Technologies Ltd was used to showcase our competence in custom audio installation. The Swift for the Overdrive stall helped us in displaying our exterior accessories such as the mesh grills, under body skirts and the spoiler," says Rajiv.
We are also currently experimenting with the carbon fibre composites for performance and reduced-weight body panels. The next two months will see us increase our product portfolio to include even the E-segment class of cars."
R.R
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