[Redline6800]

Old cars don’t die and go to heaven; they get sold in newer variants!

Maruti developed the Swift, Dzire & Ertiga on the same platform. As ridiculous as it might sound, Hindustan Motors is taking a leaf out of Maruti's book.

First, they developed a pick-up Ambassador which was scooped by BHPian zalaps here. Then, BHPian Kalinga spotted a sub-4 meter Ambassador sedan being tested here.



Now, Business Standard reports that Hindustan Motors is developing a hatchback version of the long-in-the-tooth Ambassador. It quotes MD Uttam Bose saying that 'R&D has already begun and the hatchback version of the Ambassador will have more features and better interiors'. The hatchback should be ready to go on sale by the end of 2013-2014.

Stunning as this may seem, Ambassador sales (diesel variant mainly) have actually increased in the recent past. Rather embarrassingly for some other car makers, the Amby has outsold far more modern sedans this year. Sample this, the sales pole vaulted by 172 % from January (200 units) to February 2013 (545 units). Last month, the Ambassador outsold Ford's New Fiesta (63 units), Fiesta Classic (503 units) and the Fiat Linea (43 units). The new BS IV-compliant diesel goes on sale in June 2013 and will only lead to better sales for this vintage car.

Hindustan Motors currently has five variants of the Ambassador on sale. These range from the Diesels (1.5L & 2.0L), Petrol (1.8L) and 1.8L CNG / LPG variants.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene. Thanks for sharing!

[bhp_maniac]

Thanks for sharing this, the grill is an eyesore though. Considering the workhorse inside, this one seem to get decent sales even though its nothing other than a body cut to our dear vintage. IMO, pricing will decide the future. Will be interesting to see how the Amby hatch get designed! The sales figures of Amby was a surprise, I never thought it sell in higher numbers now.

[sgiitk]

Mein Gott. Will the dinosaur never die?

[roy_libran]

^ Exactly my sentiments too. This should have died, a thousand times over, by now.
Hmmmm, so this is HM Corporate Strategy...

[KiloAlpha]

I was thinking about the engineering challenge in taking this antediluvian platform and trying to make a hatchback out of it. And my mind is hurting really badly.
Can Hindustan Motors really be able to pull it off? How do they think that they will achieve it? I am not sure they have the resources.

Unless, of course, they decide to just chop off the rear overhang and shape the hatch like a Morris Minor

[noopster]

HM really needs some new ideas. The Amby's only USP is how big it is and I am going wondering what a hatchback version is going to look like. Almost certainly going to be a monstrosity and I really wonder what segment this car is targeted at.

Originally Posted by bhp_maniac

Thanks for sharing this, the grill is an eyesore though.

That's the pick-up, not the hatch.

[bhp_maniac]

Originally Posted by noopster

That's the pick-up, not the hatch.

Yes, whether for a hatch or a pickup IMO the grill looks terrible Look at the uneven finish and gaps. This is Amby's another example of how hard they are trying to milk an old cow.

[Maky]

I don't see an Issue with this. If they modernise the Amby both interiors, exteriors and the engine i.e. I'm just happy with it. Just how BMW re-did the mini cooper.

[Nilesh5417]

Sometimes you just accept it and move on. The HM & Amby case seems to be one that befits this premise. Its an existential question constantly being answered incorrectly by HM. But hey, they are still around so who are we to question?
Actually i tried to imagine how the Amby hatch would look like and it just might be able to look cutesy. But its going to need a lot of chopping & cutting flab to make it look leaner and softer.

[ozzyrules]

Wow, the Amby going strong. Brings back a lot of memories. I learnt to drive in one and we had a couple of them in the family.
We even had a Mark-III converted to Mark-IV. It was the in-thing back in the days and all it took was a new bumper and square parking lights instead of round ones

[EFF-EIGHT-BEE]

Instead of flogging a dead horse HM should have revived the Contessa brand. Its much more modern( at least compared to the amby) and has much more scope to improve it and make it modern. It could very well be made into a Indian muscle car or D segment luxury car. But alas dreams are dreams.

[Ashley2]

Hopefully it does not look like this.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Mein Gott. Will the dinosaur never die?

Originally Posted by noopster

HM really needs some new ideas. The Amby's only USP is how big it is and I am going wondering what a hatchback version is going to look like. Almost certainly going to be a monstrosity and I really wonder what segment this car is targeted at.

The Birlas make the right noises such as this so that the government doesn't go after them for selling subsidized land acquired for the manufacture of this clunker. In fact in 2007 as per this http://www.livemint.com/Industry/f4f...-govt-194.html article under the guise of raising more money to pump into HM, the Birlas sold the surplus land around the factory to make an IT park and a township, we know who would keep the profits from selling government provided subsidized land for a factory.

The eventual sale of 314 acres to Bangalore-based Shriram Properties Ltd yielded Rs.285 crore. A township along with an information technology (IT) park is to be built on the plot, but the project has been disrupted for want of clearances and by the ongoing dispute over the land sale.

Consequently this has been held up now because I guess the spoils of the proceeds could not be distributed amicably among the looters here. Cars be damned it is all about the land now for the Birlas.

The state’s efforts to realize the money intensified after the Trinamool Congress came to power last year. The Mamata Banerjee-led government is closely examining deals involving the erstwhile Left Front government with “an eye on potential revenue losses”, said one of the officials cited above. The state’s labour minister Purnendu Bose recently cited the HM land sale, for which permission was granted by the Left Front government, as one such.

Consequently the cash strapped TMC government may fight it out tooth and nail with the Birlas to ensure that the lion's share of any land sale ends up with the government. If the Birlas were really serious about HM they would have done a lot of things right a long time ago. As of now the TMC government is using the extraordinary sale of BSIII Ambys as taxis as a leverage against the Birlas for this land.

[rajeev k]

An Ambassador hatchback would definitely be more appealing and functional than the chopped off sub-4 mtr Amby because a shorter third back looks disproportional. Modifications if carried out with a fair amount of design flair and discarding the present and popular front end of the Amby can bring in a touch of class.