AMBASSADOR

Prof.R.Ravi

Till the mid-nineties, Hindustan Motors' (HM's) Ambassadordominated the

Indian roads like a clunky colossus, one of the most potent symbols of the
protectionism of the licence raj. It says much for this brand, at once much
maligned and affectionately remembered by generations of Indians, that it
took more than two decades from the end of licensing for the "Amby" to
call it a day when it was finally discontinued in May, 2014.
Yet 40 years ago, the Amby was the mainstay of the Calcuttaheadquartered flagship of the C K Birla Group. Built with dated technology
from Morris Oxford, UK, by the time the seventies came round, the Amby
was already in its twenties. It started life in HM's Uttarpara, West Bengal
plant in 1948 and, as the monopoly producer - its first competitor, Premier
Padmini, arrived only in 1964 - it rapidly became a status symbol among
rich Indians and a sign of government authority via the ubiquitous white
Ambassador.
The Amby's tough, tank-like exterior and chunky interior styling made it
admirably suited on rugged roads, captured in one of its earliest
campaigns, "Wheels of India". Its flaws (especially mileage) became
apparent, partially in the eighties with the entry of Maruti Suzuki's Maruti
800, and completely after liberalisation in the nineties. Ironically, HM was
one of the first to see the need for change, tying up with General Motors to
produce the Astra from its plant in Hallol, Gujarat in the mid-nineties. But
in the seventies and eighties, the Amby's monopoly made HM a favourite
on the stock market - "Motor Garam" was a favourite phrase of
stockbrokers in those days.
Not that the Amby's ample curves were immune to changing market tastes.
In 1975, it was given a facelift with the addition of new tail-lights, a
number-plate light, srounded parking lights and a new dashboard and
called Ambassador Mark III (Mark II had been launched 12 years before in
1963). HM pushed the new Amby as "a big size family car" through
advertisements. The company also came out with an innovative scheme for
its existing customers, offering to replace an old car-body with the Mark III

shell.
The marketing push led to sales peaks in the eighties, with annual sales of
over 24,000 Amby units. In the seventies, HM also started to export the car
to neighbouring countries. By the end of the 1970s, Amby enjoyed a
market share of 75 per cent. "Hindustan Motors is proud of the fact that...it
has put on the road 360,000 passenger cars & trucks, and...provided
employment to over 2 million people," N Das, then economic advisor and
vice-president of HM, noted in a 1976-advertorial, talking mainly about the
success of flagship Ambassador.
But the branding success backed by the product specifications froze in time
after that, just when these were needed the most. While convenience and
nostalgia still carried it through in the years to follow, its resistance to
evolve cost the Amby its appeal.
As India's newly rich middle class entered the car market for their first
purchases by the late-nineties and early-noughties, nostalgia gave way to
practicality. Stodgy Amby stood no chance. Delaying the shift to BS-IV
emission norms prevented it from selling in tier I cities where the demand
surge began. In 1995, HM used to sell about 18,000 Ambys annually. Last
year, it sold about 2,214 units. Between 1984 and 1991, reports suggest
that the Amby's market share tumbled to 20 per cent.
However, till the late nineties, it was still favoured for institutional use,
synonymous with sarkari gadi (government car). It was Atal Bihari
Vajpayee who, as the Prime Minister then, abandoned the brand for a
reinforced BMW. President Pranab Mukherjee, after assuming office, spoke
of his liking for the car before stepping into a custom-built stretch
limousine, the Mercedes Benz S600 (W221) Pullman Guard.
The Amby continues to live on as a retro, kitsch design icon. It even made
it to a dedicated fleet of a luxury hotel. However, it has miles to go before
achieving the iconic status of the Volkswagen Beetle which is both a design
icon and a still-selling car.
Till date, the Amby had some semblance of its earlier draw in Kolkata. The
public taxi segment in the city stuck by the car, albeit with a little leg-up
from the West Bengal government. The sales of Amby taxis were
suspended in the state only in April, 2011, a year after BS IV norms rolled
out. The government also allowed HM to sell BS III cars as taxis in the
replacement market, until the company came up with BS IV by 2013.

An HM spokesperson maintains that in both plant and car could be revived.

But the suspension of work was soon followed by sacking of over 80 per
cent of the managerial staff. Moreover, the last citadel, Kolkata's taxi
market, too, has been invaded by Tata Motors with its "Kolkata exclusive"
Indigo taxis.
The Amby can take solace from the fact that it went down in history with
its head held high. In 2013, it was crowned the 'best taxi in the world' by
the globally popular auto show Top Gear, aired on BBC, beating popular
models such as the German Mercedes E-class, Mexican Volkswagen Beetle,
the Russian stretch limousine or even the London Black Cab (by Manganese
Bronze), in a televised race where the "virtually indestructible" Amby had a
resounding win.

Q. In this scenario, you are appointed as Marketing Manager & asked to draw future
course of marketing strategy. Enumerate various steps & action plan for revival of this
brand.