DC Design Ultra luxurious Innova Crysta

One of the vehicles in JW Marriott Jaipur Resorts and Spa’s fleet of luxury vehicles is an Innova Crysta. This one is not an ordinary innova crysta, though it looks like one from the outside. The uniqueness of this Innova Crysta is that it has a highly luxurious and customized interiors, designed by famed automobile designer, Dilip Chhabria. Dilip Chaabria runs DCDesign, the firm that makes customized versions of everyday cars. DC Design has also launched a super car named Avanti, based on Ford’s engine. You can check their website for details.

Coming back to the car in question, the DC Design Innova Crysta has an all orange interiors- with two super luxury seats (instead of 4/5 in a regular Innova). These luxury seats have foldable tray table, custom reading lights, a partition from driver’s chamber for better privacy, extended head rest and folding footrest for full body support, almost at par with a business class seat in an aeroplane.

Above: Buttons to control different parts of the seat like headrest, foot rest etc. Unfortunately no massage seats here

Above: a look at the interiors.
Below: Boot

There's generous use of wood and leather all over.

The large glass shield infront- at first I thought it is a big TV. Then realisted that it is a nicely designed glass partition- guests can get a view of the front- the road or driver’s cabin, but driver can’t see the rear. (He has to use reverse camera for reversing the vehicle)

The car doesn’t give any hint of its luxurious interiors from the outside- I believe that is intentional. Many high net worth people do not prefer to draw attention or show off. So a simple ordinary exterior perfectly suits that purpose. Only visible change is the DC Design badge on the rear. Of course for a few lakhs more, you can have a customized exterior as well. Check on internet for samples.

I couldn’t see any curtains. The door panel was fine but didn’t have anything extra ordinary. I feel DC could have considered re-doing the door as well- may be like how the doors work in Rolls Royce Phantom- but such modifications are major and will cost further more. Also a sunroof could have been a nice addition- but not added.

Based on the information available on the net, DC design innova customization costs about 6 lakh rupees over and above the on road price of Innova crysta. Of course the actual price varies dependig on the level of customization required. The top end 2.8 litre Z variant costs about 26-27 lakhs on road (depending on city, optional items, exact variant etc). Add another 6 lakhs worth of customization + taxes, we’re looking at close to 35 lakhs for this ultra luxurious vehicle. Let me know what you think of this luxury vehicle. Some say it is better to buy a cheaper variant while giving for customization, as DC would strip off the interiors anyway- but cheaper variants may have less powerful engines and other limitations.

Unfortunately we couldn’t go for a ride in this vehicle- It is designed for luxury, not seating capacity. It can seat 2 guests in back, 1 more guest and  driver in the front- so 4 max. Because our group was a bit larger we got the regular Innova. if I had opted out of morning trip my fellow bloggers could have got a ride in this. This particular Innova crysta has a Haryana registration and is operated by a different car rental company but currently attached to JW Marriott Resorts and Spa Jaipur. There is no JW branding in the car. I was told there’s no explicit way to book this DC design Innova crysta in particular (Gadi No. 11)- it is assigned based on availability and when group size is 3 or less.

DC Avanti for reference [More pics and details here]

Other vehicles in JW Marriott’s fleet as of now includes a BMW 3 series, 5 series, Innova Crysta and Toyota Fortuner. Marriott’s fleet has a reliance Jio powered WiFi in their cars and other essentials like newspaper/magazines, drinking water, umbrellas and chill box, face wipes/tissue paper and so on. We had a short ride in BMW 320 on last day.

Irrespective of which vehicle you arrive in, you will be greeted by this Thakur with a traditional umbrella for a Royal welcome.

Another interesting point I noted during this Jaipur visit is that most operators have sold their old Innovas and have inducted Innova Crysta. I was told that all guests and thus tour operators prefer Innova crysta over other vehicles- hence those who have older versions of Innova get a booking only if Innova Crysta is not available. This has forced them to upgrade to Crysta. Should be music to Toyota folks.