Ambassador sales are up by 2%

Ambassador sales are up by 2%

The grand old dad of Indian automobiles Ambassador is still surviving. Hindustan Motors has reported that they have registered a meager 2% growth in sales of Ambassador Car in October at 1,003. This is am improvement over 980 units in the same month last year. They also reported that Ambassador sales were up six per cent in the April-October 2005 period at 7,003 units against 6,623 units in the same period last fiscal.

Hindustan Motors said in a statement: “Ambassador’s multi-fuel offering in petrol, diesel, CNG and LPG makes HM the only car manufacturer to offer all fuel options. This has significantly added to the growth in sales.” About Ambassador: The Hindustan Ambassador is a model of car manufactured by Hindustan Motors of India. It has been in production since 1958 and is based on the 1948 Morris Oxford model first made by the Morris Motor Company at Cowley, Oxford in the United Kingdom.

The Amby, as it is affectionately called, has been in continuous production since its inception, with very few changes to its aging frame. The model is currently available with a 75 bhp petrol engine, or a 50 bhp (37.3 kW) Isuzu diesel engine. The car was briefly imported to the United Kingdom in 1993 in a disastrous attempt to bring the Ambassador “home”.

The cars were retrofitted with a heater and seat belts in order to comply with European safety legislation, but only a tiny number were ever sold, and the venture was quickly aborted. It is most radical revision, a part of a brand revitalization kicked off in the middle of 2003, was the Ambassador Avigo, launched in the summer of 2004. The revitalization consisted of the Ambassador Classic of mid-2003, the Ambassador Grand of late 2003, and the aforementioned Avigo.