Yay! Hot hatches. I am serious, when I say that they are my most favorite type of car. They are the happiest type of car ever, in my opinion. I always wanted, and still want, a hot hatch. More badly than a sedan, or a pickup truck, or a jeep, or a rear-wheel-drive sports car which are all my favorites. It is the only type of car that can be more fun than a Porsche to drive. The best type of car for Indian enthusiasts, in my opinion. Forget the SUVs, lol! They are hatchbacks that are based on a basic family hatchback model, but are a spiced-up version with more colorful exterior and interior trims, a more powerful engine, and better handling, and brake, tire, and suspension tweaks to make it faster, give it a louder exhaust, give it more soul, and make it more fun to drive and sporty. Keeping the subject of what is a real hot hatch and what is a hot hatch and what is a warm hatch and all that bickering aside, let us look at India’s history with sporty hatchbacks (There, I changed the word from “hot” to “sporty”, so stop bickering purists!) which is, a tragedy, more of a Shakespearean tragedy, if you will. This makes me sad, as a lover of hot hatches. What stings more is that India does have a large enthusiast base. Track days, tuning garages, and online forums brim with passion. YouTube channels dedicated to modifying Swifts and i20s into pseudo-hot hatches thrive. Clearly, the hunger exists. But manufacturers either don't believe the segment is viable, or aren’t willing to take the risk again.
India’s hatchback journey pretty much started with the Maruti 800. The 800 was a fun car to drive, no question, but it wasn’t a sporty, fast car. It was an economy car, meant to be cheap to run and fuel-efficient. It was meant to be a basic family car, so naturally people didn’t put “fun” and 800 in the same sentence. The idea of a small car that was fun-to-drive and only served the enthusiasts, started with the Zen (1993-2006). The Zen was a peppy, little car enthusiasts back in the day, considered to be fun to drive. It wasn’t that fast, and did not have any advanced suspension technology, but it was fun, it had soul, it had charisma, it made you feel alive, and it looked good. It also came in a variety of colors, and people would paint it in funky colors aftermarket. Zen had a crazy aftermarket scene and to this day has a cult-like following. Not just aesthetic mods like wheels, interior upholstery, stereos, and paint jobs, but Zen was famous for performance mods as well. Many people even raced Zens. The Zen from factory had a tiny 1-litre engine that sounded sweet, but wasn’t that fast. It just made 50-60 HP. So, a lot of people engine-swapped Zens. The two most popular swaps were-the 1.3-liter G13B from the Esteem or G13BB from the Swift, and the 1.6-litre G16 from the old sedan Baleno. But the Zen, was short lived. It didn’t last long, nor did it get an update. The Estilo just isn’t a Zen, sorry.
Then we come to the Fiat Palio 1.6. That was a properly sporty car that was made for enthusiasts. It looked classy and understated. It also had funky, good looking and unique colors. It also had a special S10 edition (Sachin Tendulkar), which came in a bright, cheerful yellow color. It looked quite simple, but vibrant. It also had soul, and was fun to drive. It was the first hatchback in India to make 100 horsepower. Fiat also launched a properly fast Punto Abarth later, which had a turbocharged engine that made 140 horsepower! It was the first hatchback in its segment to do 0-100 km/h in less than 10 seconds! But both of them are dead. And not many people bought these hatchbacks. The Punto Abarth’s case was very sad. People just weren’t buying it, and the sales team was so desperate, that they had to give massive discounts for people to buy the car. Again, bad marketing. There’s also the Volkswagen Polo GTI that came to India, but it was extremely expensive, and a limited run, and it was automatic only, it didn’t have a manual gearbox option. Also, not many people bought it. Mini Cooper S also made it to India, and it was also quite expensive. Only the rich bought it, and it also didn’t have a manual gearbox, not to mention servicing it is not only expensive but also a pain. The Polo gained a lot of success. However, it is no more, and its values in the used car market are ridiculous, at least the fun variants that had the good engines. Also, you might get one for a good price if you get lucky, but good luck servicing it because maintenance and parts cost are ridiculously high. Plus, it isn’t a hot hatch out of the box, the handling and suspension setup isn’t perfect, you will have to put in some good-quality suspension for it to drive perfectly well, and it doesn’t make ridiculous amount of power in stock form, even the GT TSI and TDI variants, you will have to put in a lot of money in aftermarket mods for it to be a proper hot hatch. People have put lakhs and lakhs of rupees to make the Polo a properly hot hatch. Not everyone might put that much time, effort, or money. The Baleno RS was also good, but quite bland, and not that much of a revelation to drive. Not many people bought it, because the 1.0 L Turbocharged engine had some issues and was expensive to maintain. Also, it didn’t make much power stock. So, it was also discontinued. The Tiago JTP had every chance of winning. It was surprisingly cheap, had quite a decent amount of power because it had a turbocharged engine from the larger Nexon plonked in, had manual gearbox only, and was styled tastefully as a hot hatch should be. It looked sporty, but classy, and not too flashy, and it drove exactly the way it looked. It was fast, but also, it was fun. It was lower than the stock Tiago, and it handled around corners way better than the Tiago. It had charm, and even though haters would call it a warm hatch, it drove like a hot hatch. It also made blow-off valve sounds, from factory! That is unheard of! It made the right turbo noises, and went like a bat out of hell. But, tragedy begins again. It didn’t sell, and was discontinued just after around 2 years. Tata’s sales and service network had already become infamous and people didn’t trust them. And no one expected Tata to make a sporty hatch, so most people didn’t even know how good it was, they thought it was a sticker job, and too expensive for a family car. Plus, Tata is also to blame because of bad marketing. They should have marketed the car better, so more people would buy it. Now, there is the Altroz racer. But, it just isn’t that great to drive, and it doesn’t hold a candle to the Tiago JTP, and isn’t a worthy successor, so Tata needs to work harder with the racer, or bring the hot Tiago back. The Ford Figo has always been a car that is fun to drive, but it didn’t have powerful engines and it was never considered to be a sporty car. Only enthusiasts knew how fun it was to drive, everyone else treated it like an ordinary family hatch. The 2nd-Gen, and last Figo that came to India before Ford left, was also fun to drive, and this time, had a slightly more powerful petrol engine, and a cracker of a diesel engine. It was called the diesel rocket for a reason. It was light, and had a powerful diesel, so nothing accelerated quite as hard as it. But, everyone treated it like a normal car. The Ford Figo S was a limited run, where the diesel Figo got a few tweaks like stiffer suspension, 4 disc brakes etc., but no one really cared. It also died. When it comes to the early to late 2000s, the Chevrolet Optra Magnum had a sporty looking SRV hatchback version. It had a decently peppy 1.6-litre naturally aspirated engine from Daewoo, and a manual gearbox. Since it was based on the Optra sedan, it had loads of space, but it lacked steering feel, wasn’t perfect in terms of handling, and was too expensive, more expensive than the Honda City of the time, so not many people bought it, and it also, died.
Now, let’s come to everyone’s favorite, the Swift. The 90 percent of Indian population treats it like a cheap, economic, low running cost, economy car, and basically thinks that it’s another Wagon-R. Haters call it a tin-can, like at least have some creativity! But the remaining 10 percent, that is you and me, and all the enthusiasts in this country, know how special the Swift is, and what a peach it is to drive. The Swift, except for the first gen, has never been outright called a sporty car, but it was always a light, agile, ready-to-race little peppy car. I mean the majority of enthusiasts consider only the gen 1 swift to be a properly sporty car, but I will be nice here and say that you haven’t committed sacrilege if you get the 2nd and 3rd generation, they are also fun to drive, and they also can be modified to be made into a great hatch. However, my point of disappointment with Maruti is, they never got the real hot hatch to India, the Swift Sport. Where is the Swift Sport? No, I mean seriously. Esteemed automotive journalists have been asking this question for decades. Like literal decades! Ever since the gen 1 Swift came in India in the early 2000s, people have been asking for the Swift Sport. But, why Maruti, why? Why haven’t you brought the Swift Sport? We sat and watched, as everyone around the world got the Swift Sport, 3 whole generations of it, but India didn’t. I don’t care about your reasons, you could have tried at least, like the others. I mean you got the Jimny, so you can get the Swift Sport as well. That’s it, no more excuses! I am disappointed.
That’s the thing with sporty hatchbacks in India. It always becomes a failure. When there is a good product at a good price, people don’t buy it! And in the other cases I highlighted, something is amiss, that becomes the reason why people don’t buy it. Sometimes, the price is too high, sometimes there is no manual variant, sometimes, people don’t know because of bad marketing, and sometimes brand image also plays a role. And, sometimes, like Maruti, some companies are just too afraid to bring their best products to India. People just don’t want to put their money in good products, like fun hatchbacks! When a good hatchback comes, people don’t buy it, and people don’t buy it so companies stop making sporty hatchbacks! Thank you, Indians, because of you, a segment that consists of the best driving experiences at reasonable prices, and all the car you need, is almost dead! If my sarcasm isn’t obvious, it’s our fault as well, that we don’t have good enthusiast cars. We aren’t buying them. The only car keeping the hot hatch dream alive, and the only car that deserves to be called a hot hatch, the i20 N-Line, is barely holding on. It is a fun car to drive, a perfect hot hatch, is practical, easy-to-drive in our traffic, and has both manual and automatic options. It is a genuinely fun car, it’s the i20 dialed up to 11. Stiffer suspension, louder exhaust, better steering, and perfect chassis tuning, not to mention perfectly luxurious interior because it’s a Hyundai, and sporty but classy looks. However, it might not be there for long, because I don’t see many people buying it and ready to spend 14 lakh rupees on a hatchback. I am afraid that it might die. Also, while I thank Hyundai for listening to the enthusiasts, this is not enough. We need more enthusiast cars, we need the properly full-blown performance cars, like the i20 N, which is the proper hot hatch, and the Elantra N. We need one manufacturer to take action so that we can start a movement where everyone makes cars for the enthusiasts, including hot hatches of course. Which means you and I, also have to play a role. We must buy such good cars, so that manufacturers make them, they have incentive to make them. I sound very emotional, I know, and this is a bit selfish because hot hatches are very close to my heart, but I am also posting this now because its relevant. Everyone now in India wants a front-wheel-drive SUV (jacked-up hatchback), so as I mentioned, sporty hatchbacks are dying. I20 N-line is the last man standing. And, there is another one coming, that unfortunately, I am afraid many people won’t buy, because of its expensive price, because it will most likely be an import. It’s the Golf GTI, the most iconic hot hatch ever, that is coming to India. I don’t think it will have a manual, either. However, at least it’s coming. My humble request is, please buy whenever products like these come. Sporty hatchbacks are a dying breed in India, and the only way to save them is to buy them, so that companies are incentivized to make more of them. Remember, they aren’t here to make cars, they are here to make money. If they realize Indians are buying hot hatches, they will make more of them. So please, buy the Golf GTI, buy the i20 N-line. I am not telling you to lower your standards and welcome an unfinished product. Don’t buy the Altroz racer. Give your feedback so that Tata goes back to the drawing board and makes it better. Keep giving constructive criticism and talk with companies, so that they bring more hot hatches. Show initiative, so that people get hot hatchbacks again. Also, Maruti, when is the Swift Sport coming?
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