Team Agastaya, a team of young Telugus and couple of Tamils is going to ship a tough car from aouth Indian automobile hub, Chennai for Collegiate Design Competition to be held in New York.

An All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) crafted by engineering students may not compete with the low-cost car being planned by automobile majors, but it is expected to catch the attention of industry biggies like Daimler-Chrysler and Ford.

The ATV designed by a team of 14 students of the Vellore Institute of Technology University (Vitu), Chennai, is all set to make its presence felt at the collegiate design competition being organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), US, at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York.

Vitu is the only Indian institute participating in the competition, to be held from June 7 to 10, 2007. Nearly 140 teams from around the world are taking part in the contest.

Team Agastya, as this team of 14 call themselves, has 12 students from Andhra Pradesh. The team comprises first, second and third year engineering students from different streams, including civil, mechanical, instrumentation, electrical and electronics.

"We worked on the project for about one year and finally built the ATV. The vehicle is capable of running on any terrain including rocky ones. This is not meant for city driving. But, this would be suitable for any country side drive including deserts," said Avinash Mitta, a member of Team Agastya which is led by T Vinay Krishna.

The vehicle has been completely designed and built by the team. It uses a Belgiummake Briggs & Strattion engine. This 300-CC four wheeler can attain a maximum speed of 80 kilo meters per hour.

The ATV, which runs on petrol, is not for those who are conscious about the mileage since it uses one litre petrol for every eight kilometres.

"Mileage or speed was not considered important while designing the vehicle. The objective was to make a car that runs on difficult terrains and capable of climbing up rocks," Mitta explains.

The team has spent about Rs 1.56 lakh to build the ATV. However, it costs close to Rs 5 lakh to ship the vehicle to Rochester.

"There were sponsors to take care of the shipping cost. The state government too has agreed to give us Rs 5 lakh towards all our expenses," Mitta says.

But, will they find some takers for the vehicle at the event ?

"The idea was not to commercially promote the model. All the major automobile majors of the world attending the show will have a chance to look at the quality, hardwork and expertise that has gone into designing the vehicle. Based on feedback we get, we are hopeful of finding good placements for all the team members in major automobile companies," says Koushik Koganti, another member of the team.