Hindustan Motors, the manufacturer of the iconic Ambassador has decided to stop the production of this legend model. The reasons behind this are said to be many like its weak demand, lack of sales (as now it is normally used by Indian officialdom only) and no major change in its glimpse since its launch etc.
The iconic Ambassador was modeled after the British Morris Oxford and it was the first car to be manufactured in India. The Ambassador when launched had become a status symbol as being a very first Indian made model; everyone was in the queue to own it.
But then, in mid-1980s a reliable brand came in limelight with a new hatchback at much lower price and suddenly the iconic Ambassador began to lose its dominance. This brand was Maruti Suzuki and car it launched at that time was Maruti-800 (hatchback) which came with very much affordable tag.
Further, international manufacturers had started to take interest in Indian automobile industry and started bringing their smartly designed models with more advanced technology. This was the era of around mid-1990s when Ambassador had lost more than half market shares.
Later then, the iconic Ambassador has been become a choice of only government bureaucrats and politicians. The car is still being used as a Taxi in many cities of India, though.
On Saturday, Hindustan Motors stated, “worsening conditions at its Uttarpara plant which include very low productivity, growing indiscipline, critical shortage of funds, lack of demand for its core product the Ambassador and large accumulation of liabilities.” Company also stated that the production of this car has been suspended at its Uttarpara plant till any further notice.
“The suspension of work will enable the company in restricting mounting liabilities and restructure its organization and finances and bring in a situation conducive to reopening of the plant,” the company further said in its statement.
As per the data of Indian automobile industry, the Hindustan Motors sold only around 2200 units of Ambassadors in its financial year ended in March 2014. This contribution is just a minor share in the 1.8 million passenger cars which have sold during this respective year in India.
