Hindustan Motors Sells The Iconic Ambassador Car Brand To French Company Peugeot For Just ?80 Crores

Ambassador Car, the once iconic symbol of the high and mighty in power corridors of India has a new owner, French carmaker Peugeot.

BCCL/ File

The brand owned by Hindustan Motors, which is a part of C K Birla Group has sold the legendary brand for Rs 80 crore.

¡°Hindustan Motors has executed an agreement with Peugeot SA for the sale of the Ambassador brand, including the trademarks, for a consideration of Rs 80 crore.¡±

Once the go-to vehicle of ministers and bureaucrats, the Kolkata-based HM had stopped production of Ambassador cars almost three years ago.

PTI/ File

The car which until a decade ago carried the Prime Minister ran out of production citing weak demand and lack of funds.

Ambassador cars which sold nearly 24,000 units a year in the mid-1980s, saw its sale plummeting to less than 2,500 units in 2013-14 before the production at HM's Uttarpara factory was suspended.

Modelled based on the Morris Oxford series, the Birla Group began production of Ambassador cars in 1958.

PTI/ File

It quickly became a national icon and continued to dominate Indian roads till the 1980s, before the advent of Maruti 800.

BCCL

Lost out to more modern competitors, today the once king of the Indian roads is mostly used as cabs in cities like Mumbai and Kolkata.