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-   -   India abandons the Hindustan Ambassador over terror fears (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/55526-india-abandons-hindustan-ambassador-over-terror-fears.html)

For more than half a century the Hindustan Ambassador saloon has been a symbol of power and influence for Indian politicians.

But following the Mumbai terrorist attack, party leaders have been forced to finally abandon them for bulletproof jeeps.

The Ambassador, launched in 1957 as a copy of the Morris Oxford, became an icon of India's colonial past

More here

Mean while Rudra goes into depression

Bulletproof Jeeps? I would think Amby can offer better protection from Jeeps. How does this Bulletproof Jeep look like?

Samurai San, please do read the article linky. Bullet proof Jeeps as in Land cruisers and Pajeros. The Govt. is shifting to Pajeros.

What is a bulletproof jeep anyway? Who makes them? Mahindra? The recently started defence production unit?

I suspect these are Pajeros!
Upto 50 lakh rupees for armouring each!
This would take the game to a new level!

and how much would an armoured amby cost ??

and all these done for our corrupt politicians !! man !!

So Hindustan Motors still seems to remain the provider of Government vehicles. The article does not mention what SUVs they have tested. Hopefully the cost of Pajero will come down.

I sometimes wonder, why would any terrorists from neighboring country try to kill Indian politicians?
Afterall both of them are doing similar kind of damage to our country!!

Total waste of my tax money, I would say.

Regards,

These politicians are involved with the underworld anyway, who will want to kill them :p

Jokes aside, I like this, should make India look more modern in the eyes of foreigners.
I still wonder why can't the amby be made bulletproof, surely any car "can" be made safer. Why the pajeros and all, mahindra was making bulletproof SUV's for the army right?

My guess would be:
1. To get publicity for killing a VIP/high profile person. God forbid, if some high profile politician were to be killed imagine the media coverage.
2. To create havoc and panic for successfully killing those in power who are supposed to protect the citizens from harm?

one question- will the engine of the Pajero be souped up? Because the current engine will be woefully underpowerd to lug the pajero with the additional weight of the armour plating, adds approximately one tonne to the weight of the car, which will take the pajero close to 3 tonnes, and give it a power to weight ration of about 39 bhp/tonne (118 BHP engine in current guise)

Point to note is that Pajero's are marketed here by Hindustan Motors only, so they as a company wouldn't be losing out much. As HM already has the right connections courtesy their Amby, they are nicely using the paranoia and snobbery in our political class to sell a more expensive car.

Search for Mahindra Rakshak. A friend of mine tried importing a few to Nigeria in view of the security situation there. Most were abandoned on the roads - our company bought one too (I introduced him to the company) and it was left to rust in the scrapyard as soon as they found that an armed robber on a bicycle could overtake this thing. The original plan was to use this for the airport runs since the bulletproof airport van was a large Merc - it was sometimes sent to pick up ONE person!

Contrary to the popular perception as expressed above, I think a modern Ambassador is one of the most unsafe vehicles on Indian roads. If you ever see an Ambassador after an accident you would understand what I mean. It just rolls into a something like a waste paper ball.
The body has too many welded points which make it all the more unsafe.
Compared to the tank like metal sheets of the Landmaster, the modern Amby is just a tad thicker than a beer can.