For most people born in the ‘80s or ‘90s, the Maruti Suzuki 800 is likely to be the one in which they learnt how to drive a car. Decades after it was first launched in 1983, you still cannot simply ignore the significance of the 800, especially when everyone who has owned or driven one would tell you just how good a car it was.
But before Suzuki, there were several other carmakers who were in the fray to develop India’s first people’s car. Major names from across the world — including Fiat, Renault, Daimler and Volkswagen — were in the reckoning to help engineer what would become the first truly affordable car for India’s masses.
But what if I told you about a ‘before’ from even before these companies were approached? That there was another name which, at one point in time, was viewed as a potential candidate for the title of India’s first people’s car, and that it would be the Lloyd LP 250!
Born out of post-war Germany’s need for small, inexpensive vehicles, the two-door LP 250 — which measures lesser than 3.4m in length — was a derivative of the four-seat LP 400 that had a larger displacement engine. ‘LP’ denoted limousine or sedan.
- Lloyd Motoren Werke GmbH was founded in 1908, and manufactured cars at its facility in Bremen. Absorbed by Borgward — another German carmaker — in 1929, Lloyd only started mass production of vehicles in the 1950s.
- Its first cars had bodies made from wood and fabric.
- Lloyd sold a fairly high number of vehicles between 1953 and 1960. However, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1961 and ceased production of vehicles in 1963.
The LP 400 was manufactured in the early 1950s; it was designed to be a fairly basic form of personal transport. In 1956, Lloyd introduced the LP 250, which was essentially the LP 400 but with a smaller, 250cc version of its two-stroke, two-cylinder, air-cooled engine. It produced just 11hp, and being the most basic model on offer, the LP 250 didn’t even come with hub caps, bumpers or a back rest for the rear-seat passengers. It had a 3-speed manual gearbox, suicide doors, lacked an air conditioner, weighed only a little over 500kg, and cost less than 3,000 Deutsche Marks (roughly €1,530 today without accounting for inflation).
In its homeland, the LP 250 was referred to as ‘Prüfungsangst-Auto’, which translates to ‘Exam fear car’. The reason for this amusing nickname was the fact that the LP 250 could be driven by those who had not obtained a licence for driving a passenger vehicle. Legislation at the time necessitated an additional test for those who wanted to apply for a passenger car licence, but not for those driving a vehicle with an engine with 250cc displacement or lower.
The Lloyd LP 250 ended up coming to India thanks to Sanjay Gandhi, the son of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was intent on giving India its first true people’s car. Gandhi shipped in three Lloyd LP 250s. Two of them are said to have been taken apart for design and development work for it to suit Indian conditions and tastes, but the project was shelved midway.
The only surviving example was auctioned by the State Trading Corporation, which was sold to the then-president of World Tamil Congress, Janardhanam. This very car exists even today, having since been acquired by GD Gopal, son of famous Indian inventor and engineer GD Naidu, in 1996. Post restoration, the LP 250 is on display in the German car section of the Gedee Car Museum in Coimbatore.
Less than 4,000 units of the LP 250 were ever made, and now, over half-a-century later, this particular car is certainly among the last few surviving in the world. Had the project in India not been shelved, there probably would have been scores of these.
