The comeback of Ambassador: India's first iconic car

The iconic brand Ambassador, which was a symbol of the high and mighty in power corridors, is back. Some trivia:

India's pride
Based on the Morris Oxford series III model by Morris Motors Limited, Hindustan Motors started the production of the Ambassador in 1957. Till 1983, it remained the only production car in India till Maruti Suzuki came in.

Longest in production
Hindustan Ambassador's production span of 57 years was the longest for any car in India.  It remained in production till 2014. The second closest car is the Maruti Omni, which is only 30 years.

Design par excellence
It was designed around a monocoque chassis. The broad chassis made the car very spacious from inside and gave enough leg space. It also became the first car to be powered by a diesel engine and remained so for a long time.

Style upgrade
The car was introduced with a 1,476 cc side-valve petrol engine. In 1959, it got a new 1,489cc, overhead-valve BMC B-series petrol engine that delivered 55 hp of power. In 1962, the car got a facelift with a chequered grille, new tail lamp, an all new instrument cluster and others.
In 1975, two new versions - Standard and Deluxe were introduced.

Favoured carrier
The Indian government bought as many as 16% of total units produced by the company at a time as it was the only vehicle to transport the government servants. The strong body of the car and spacious cabin made it a famous choice.

Seven generations
There have been seven generations of the Ambassador since it was introduced in 1957. While the first was called the Mark-1, the 7th-generation Ambassador, which complied with BS-IV engine standards, was called the Encore.
The 1958 Ambassador cost a mere Rs 14,000 and the 2014 Ambassador was sold for Rs 5.22 lakh.

Acquired!
The iconic brand was acquired by the French company Peugeot (PSA), which also owns global car brands like Peugeot, Citroen and DS Brands, for Rs 80 crore in February 2017.

Return of the icon
The new joint venture between C K Birla Group and PSA Groupe will see an investment of Rs 700 crore to set up its base in Tamil Nadu that will have an annual capacity of 2 lakh units.

New offerings
PSA Groupe and C.K Birla aim to roll out the first car in 2020. Along with the iconic Ambassador, a hatchback are also on the cards. These new cars will be built at the Hindustan Motors' plant in Chennai.