Titan to launch world's first jewellery car

Gold-plated Rolls Royces and Lamborghinis are usually associated with shaikhs and sultans in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf region, but soon ordinary Indians can also aspire to own such 'golden' vehicles.

GoldPlus, part of the Tata Group company Titan Industries, plans to launch ''the world's first jewellery car,'' the GoldPlus Nano.

According to C K Venkataraman, COO, jewellery division, Titan Industries, the car would soon be launched to celebrate 5,000 years of Indian jewellery, in association with Tata Motors.

GoldPlus has already put up a web site (www.goldplusnano.com) showcasing three designs of the proposed vehicle. Thirteen designs from across the country were considered before an internal team from Titan short-listed three designs for the jewellery car.

The public can now vote for their preferred jewellery car through SMS, telephone calls, logging to the web site, through social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, or at the GoldPlus outlets.

Public voting will be held between November 15 and December 12 and prizes worth Rs40 lakh are on offer, says Venkataraman. The car will be unveiled next April, though the Titan executive refused to divulge the price or the amount of gold that would be used. Nano was launched as the world's cheapest car, with an original price tag of Rs.1 lakh.

Venkataraman notes that the GoldPlus Nano would represent a great art work of jewellery on an automobile. The jewellery car will be designed at Titan's Hosur manufacturing facility, though the vehicle would not be re-engineered.

Titan Industries' GoldPlus is designed keeping in mind the jewellery preferences of semi-urban and rural Indians. It has a presence in nearly 30 towns in half-a-dozen states. Besides gold jewellery, the brand also offers designs embellished with diamonds, American diamonds and other precious stones.