Hindustan Ambassador : The story of a legend

The Ambassador is a car that brings goosebumps to every Indian ,  just like the VW Beetle would for any German . The Hindustan Ambassador , though a car borrowed from the British Morris Oxford company ,  is still more or less and Indian car , not just because it was built in India but never underwent major surgeries to its design for 60 long years.

In the year 1942 the CEO of HM(Hindustan Motors) , C.K Birla who was importing cars from Britain got legal sanctions from the East India company to set up his own manufacturing centre in India.
The car which was sold as the Morris oxford III until 1949 was now being sold as the Hindustan 14 succeeding the Hindustan 10 which was based on the Morris Oxford II . The Hindustan 10 production was continued until 1950 but phased out due to the stereotypical English design. The Hindustan 14 although British designed was largely accepted by Indians as it was completely built in India and exported to Britain . The Ambassador name replaced the Hindustan 14 as it became a car that every Indian bureaucrat and politician owned until 1980s. The company also launched the Ambassador Estate variant in Europe and India in 1970s . The last Ambassador exported to England , according to HM was in 1993.

After the 1980s , growing markets for the affordable Japanese cars caused troubles for the Ambassador. The launch of the Maruti Suzuki 800 was a major blow for HM. Although the Ambassador lost its earlier markets , Indian Politicians and Taxi drivers still loved it due its spacious interior.
Beginning from 1990s AC became standard on Ambassadors and the Ambassador Estate was discontinued . Due to the boxy styling of the Ambassador Estate , it lost its market to the curvy , yet modern Japanese cars.

In the year 2000 the Ambassador got its first facelift in decades with new front grills, head and tail lamps and trendier cluster gauges. in 2008 the HM line up added another vehicle derived from the Ambassador , the Avigo.  The Ambassador showcased its strong build quality in the Top Gear program's taxi race by winning the title to be the most indestructible taxi .

In interior the Avigo, however, had much more classic-touch internals. The entire dashboard console was redesigned with a classic retro theme reminiscent of the early models with central mounted meter new clusters (like the Mark IV models). Seats were specially built for this model with dual tonne beige coloured scheme and wood-grain interiors. A factory fitted 6CD Kenwood audio system and new air-conditioning system was installed. The car was priced higher than the existing models.

Eventually , in 2011 after imposing the BS IV emission standard the Ambassador  and Avigo were no longer produced and the company closed down in 2012. 

On February 11th  2017 HM sold its company to the French automaker and once partner Peugeot.

Peugeot confirmed that the HM Ambassador will once again enter the Indian markets as a premium luxury sedan in 2018 except that now the cars will be manufactured at an old Ambassador production facility in Chennai .

The Hindustan Ambassador (icon of indian auto industry)still remains in the hearts of each and every Indian