Hindustan Motors Sells Ambassador Brand To Peugeot S.A
Hindustan Motors Ltd., India's oldest carmaker, has sold the Ambassador brand and certain related rights to French automaker Peugeot S.A for Rs 80 crore, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd. on Friday.
The Ambassador's Legacy
The Kolkata-based automobile maker introduced the Ambassador in 1954 as the Hindustan Landmaster, modelled on the Morris Oxford Series II. It was replaced with the Hindustan Ambassador Mark-1, the first car to be built in India at a plant in Uttarpara near Kolkata. It was again modelled on the latest version of the Morris Oxford Series III.
Ambassador soon became a status symbol and the government's preferred car. Popularly called ‘King of Indian roads', the car was also used as a taxi across major cities in the country. Majority of the cabs in Kolkata continue to be Amabassadors.
Ashley Coates/ Flickr) ">BBC's famous television series on automobiles, Top Gear, had ranked the Ambassador as the best taxi in the world.
The first serious competition for the Ambassador came in the 1980s from the Maruti Suzuki Ltd.'s 800, which at that point was much cheaper. The Fiat Padmini, launched at least 10 years before the 800, never really managed to dent the Ambassador's sales.
The last model, known as Ambassador Encore, was launched in 2013 to match the BS-IV norms in metro cities.
Hindustan Motors had halted production of the Ambassador in 2014 citing “low productivity, growing indiscipline, critical shortage of funds, lack of demand for its core product the Ambassador and large accumulation of liabilities”.
Founded in 1942 by B.M Birla, Hindustan Motors is now part of the CK Birla conglomerate. It was India's largest automotive manufacturer before Maruti Suzuki. The company does not produce any vehicles now, but is an assembling partner of Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in India.
Peugot's Third Innings In India
This will not be Peugot's first shot at the Indian market. The French carmaker had first entered India through a joint venture with Premier Automobiles Ltd. in 1994, and was christened as PAL-Peugeot Ltd.
They launched the Peugeot 309 in India. But a massive labour unrest at its Kalyan plant near Mumbai brought production to a halt in mid-1996, resulting in a loss of over Rs 300 crore. In 1997, Peugeot exited the joint venture and the Indian market.
The group did try to re-enter India in 2011 and laid the foundation of a factory in Sanand, Gujarat, but gave up the plan in 2014 because of financial troubles.
On January 24, 2017, a french daily LesEchos reported that Groupe PSA, the parent company of Peugeot, has formed an alliance with the CK Birla Group to produce cars from Hindustan Motors' plant in Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu with an annual production capacity of 12,000 vehicles.
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
