If you thought that the first generation Proton Saga was the longest car model sold in the world, from 1985 to 2008, you’re wrong, as the honour goes to India’s Hindustan Ambassador, who’s production years is similar with Malaysia’s age! Based on the Morris Oxford model, the car, nicknamed “Amby”, defined the social classes in India for decades. However, after almost six decades, the Ambassador set to meet its end by Hindustan Motors.
Hindustan Motors, India’s oldest car maker shutdown its plant at Uttarpara, on 24th May 2014, which effectively put the end of the production of the Ambassador model. The manufacturer blamed lack of demand of that iconic car, falling production rates, and massive debts by the company are the reasons they were stopping it. Recently, the factory just churned a total of five Ambassadors a day, a far cry compared to the past where 24,000 units were sold per annum in the 80’s.
The Hindustan Ambassador will always be known as “The King of Indian Roads”, where its loud horn and curvy shape ruled the notorious Indian traffic for decades. It is still a popular choice for taxi drivers in India, and was once known as the best taxi in the world by Top Gear UK (see below).
“Had Hindustan Motors continued to evolve the Amby over the past 60 years without changing the DNA, it would have been the Rolls Royce of India,” said India’s leading auto designer Dilip Chhabria. We quite agree with Dilip here.
[Source: The Economic Times India]
