Sipani

Sipani Automobiles Ltd. (known as SAIL [Sunrise Automotive Industries Ltd.] until 1978)[1] was an Indian car manufacturer established in 1973, located in Bangalore.

The license did not allow the prospective manufacturers to collaborate with foreign companies, or even to consult with them or import capital goods or components.

The Reliant link is tenuous at best, with the little vehicle being essentially an auto rickshaw clothed in passenger car bodywork.

[5] The Badal 4 had entirely different, more rectangular bodywork and a front-mounted engine but may never have entered actual production and was soon superseded by the Dolphin.

Power is 38 hp (28 kW) from the all-alloy 848 cc four-cylinder engine, also of Reliant construction, and the car weighed in at 505 kg (1,113 lb).

[10] Sipani also offered the two-door Estate bodywork as per the Kitten; this model was 2 centimetres longer and weighed in at 526 kg (1,160 lb).

Being light and comparably powerful by Indian standards of the day, the Dolphin became known as a fast car and saw some competition success in India.

The Montana used a number of parts from other manufacturers, including headlamps, turn signals, door handles, and windshield wipers from its competitor the Maruti 800.

The Montana sold better than the Dolphin, but its impact in the market was negligible at best, mainly selling in Bangalore and the surrounding area.

[17] The D-1 had a body design borrowed from the second generation Daihatsu Charade sitting on a stretched and widened version of the original Kitten underpinnings.

Except for the windshield, the glazing was borrowed from other cars (leading to rather thick door pillars) but most conspicuously the D-1 received the Maruti 800's taillights as well as its brakes.