If you thought Hindustan Motors Ambassador, the car that you relate with every minister in India, will die a natural death, you are gravely wrong.
When the whole car market is suffering from dropping sales, Ambassador registered a growth of more than 3 times at over 500 units for the month of February 2013. HM attributes this success to a continued preference in the Taxi segment, non-taxi segment along with company’s promotional measures. HM has also penetrated deep in the market with more dealerships.
The biggest shortcoming of the car is the lack of a BS4 compliant engine, which HM has been trying to source for sometime now. But, the confirmation has arrived and the car in BS4 diesel variant will be available across the country by June 2013. This will enable HM to sell Ambassador in the top 13 BS4 cities including metros.
This will obviously make the age-old car a slightly better and peppier drive. HM must lend a complete refresh of the interiors to make the car a little contemporary. HM intends to sell as many as 5000-5500 units of Ambassador in the complete financial year of 2013-2014.
Cheaper Ambassador Compact
That is not where HM plans to stop. We all know that the company is working on a compact version of Ambassador which will get a chopped boot to enable it to become a sub 4 meter car. Falling under the ‘Small Car‘ category, this Ambassador CS will attract the least 12% excise duties and that is what the company intends to pass on to the customer.
Its imperative that the BS4 engine will also find its place in Amby CS. HM plans to launch the Ambassador CS early next year.
Source: Hindustan Times
