What comes to your mind when you hear the word pony? For most of you it must be a cute little horse, but for any automobile enthusiast, it is the American muscle. Muscle cars have a long and interesting history. They are big, powerful, gorgeous and insane. Hundreds of horses packed in big and powerful V8s which go bonkers on a drag strip. Muscle cars have many haters but double the lovers, why wouldn’t they! I mean even John Wick drove a classic muscle car i.e a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429.
The history of muscle cars dates back to 1949 and started with Oldsmobile Rocket 88 and it just keeps getting insaner every year. Cars like the Ford Mustang, Shelby Cobra, Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger rule the muscle car market today. The main reason why muscle cars are so popular is because they are very affordable compared to the other sports cars. They are big, they can be easily driven on regular roads and they are practical too. Muscle cars might not be the best pick for a track race but definitely are for a drag race. On a drag strip, the Dodge Demon does 0-100 km/h in just 2.3 seconds! That’s faster than a tesla P100d and even a Bugatti Chiron which does 0-100 km/h in 2.4 seconds and the Demon starts at just $79000, while the Chiron starts at $3 million. Due to their heavy and un-proportioned weight, some people might even call the muscle cars some of the worst cars to handle. But that’s what the ‘muscle’ in a muscle car mean, that’s what makes them so insane. These qualities have made the muscle cars so popular in the whole world, especially in the USA.
Sadly, the Indian market could never get a good taste of muscle cars. Currently the Indian market has only one muscle car on sale and that’s the Ford Mustang, but, it comes at a very hefty price. The Ford Mustang that come with a 5.0 litre V8 which produces 460 bhp and 570 Nm torque and has a twin-disc clutch starts at 74.62 lakhs ex-showroom. While in USA, the Ford Mustang starts at just 20.3 lakhs($26,670). This price jump really makes the Indian buyers lose interest in the Mustang. This price jump is due to the high import taxes levied on the car. The total custom duty is at 119.65%, added to it are the road and state taxes.
MY VERDICT
The Muscle cars have a huge demand in India. They are fit for the Indian roads unlike many sports cars and are practical too. Speed in India doesn’t come cheap. You’ll have to shed at least 1 crore to get reasonable fast car starting with BMW M3. But, the cheap muscle cars could really change the game if they are exempted from the heavy taxes or start getting manufactured in India. Indian is a big market for the Muscle cars. Muscle cars offer almost the same thrill as of a sports car and Indians are desperately waiting for inexpensive fast cars but sadly, manufacturers don’t seem to have any plans in regard of uplifting the market for these Muscles.
The CarGuy 