At the Tata Motors plant in Pune, near Mumbai, a potholed ?torture track? simulates the spine-jarring conditions of Indian roads. In five years? time, only one in every two of Tata?s cars may need to go through the painful ordeal of preparing for life on the subcontinent?s streets.

With a car coming off the end of the line about every 80 seconds, the group sees itself as competitive enough to make its biggest ever push into export markets, which could lift overseas revenues to half of the total by the end of the decade from a current 20 per cent.