HINDUSTAN MOTORS - One of the original car manufacturers in India,

founded in 1942 by Mr. B. M. Birla.

Ambassador was a leader in car sales until the 1980s and before liberalization in

India.
AMBASSADOR - It has been in production since 1958 with few

modifications or changes and is based on the Morris Oxford III model, first made by the Morris Motors Limited at Cowley, Oxford in the United Kingdom from 1956 to 1959.

Ambassador was considered as a definitive Indian car and was fondly

called "The king of Indian roads".

 In 1980s and mid 90s a man getting out of a Ambassador was easily

assigned to a social status. He was either in public service or a politician. All the government vehicles were Ambassadors for the good part of pre2000 era.

It was the first car to be manufactured in India, only automobile to ply Indian

roads for more than five decades, had carved a special niche for itself in the
passenger car segment.
Dependability, spaciousness and comfort factor made it the most preferred car

for Indians till 1980s.

The Ambassador's time-tested, accommodating and practical characteristics

made it a truly Indianised car.

 Ambassador was not up-to the mark in design and performance compared to

other segments of its competitors in the market.

Against the standard output of 8-10 cars per employee per annum, the plants

output was as low as 3 cars per employee.

It just failed to re-invent, align with the audience and update its external features.

The weight of the car would probably be the same as any modern sedan but

lacks in evenly distributed weight and does not provide appealing contours

and drivable dimensions.

Limited advertising campaign by HM.

 Product The product itself had some major issues, which if resolved

would have saved the company from its doom.

Price Since price is often considered a proxy for quality and vice-versa,

the company failed to judge the market and price its products competitively,

esp. against the new competitor, Maruti Udyog Ltd.

Promotion The company did not advertise its USP correctly and thrived

on word-of-mouth publicity.
Place Ambassador was never available as freely as its competitors

products, with not more than one dealer in the sub-major cities.

 Segmenting The segmentation of consumers was not done, the same product

was being offered to everyone in the market.

Targeting In the 80s and 90s targeting was done mainly towards government

institutions and cab companies and not general public. Later on many ambassadors were used for cab purposes and moved out of consumer segment.
Positioning Positioned as a government or commercial vehicle only. Rattling sounds and rusting was a common problem faced by its owners. The fall of Ambassador from a leadership position to a marginal player is a

classic case of marketing myopia