 Being the first indegeneous car manufacturer of

the country Hindustan Motors got the full

advantage of protectionism. The Government
departments patronised Hindusthan Motors by
buying only ambassador cars for their official
use.While the contemporary other manufacturers
like Italian Fiat Motors, Standard Motors, were in
the market but their market share was very low
and ambassador dominated the market due to
bigger space in the vehicle. In many cities
Ambassador car was given permission to ply as
taxis.People has a soft corner in their mind for
first country made car.
 However in the 1990, when cheaper, small fuel
efficient cars came to the market share of
Hindustan Motors (ambassador) went down. One
thing to be noticed ambassador did not change
the chassis of the vehicle and did not bother to
improve the efficiency of the engine, whereas
new companies like Maruti.Hyundai, they brought
various variant of cars in the various sizes which
ultimately compelled ambassador to stop
production in May 2014. There was a time in late
70’s when ambassador used to have a sale of
22,000/ annum, came down to 2200 in 2011.
 The absolute, command over the market put the
Hindustan Motors in a complacent position , and
it did not upgrade the vehicle in different
aspects over the years . All this together put the
last nail in the coffin of the ambassador. The
factory in Uttarpara , Hooghly , W.B. is closed
down for last 3 years. The product obsolence can
be termed as the main cause of Hindustan
Motors failures in ambassador segments,
whereas the car manufacturing industry has
flourished many times, the number of cars sold
every year has multiplied many times.
 Hindustan Motors Ltd was the premier motor
vehicles manufacturing indigenous
organization in our country. Established in
1942, it was manufacturing ambassador car
which was in great demand for decades. Even
people waited for few years for delivery of
their vehicle. Hindustan Motors dominated
Indian car market before rise of Maruti Udyog
ltd, 35 years back from now..
 The company was the largest car manufacturer
in India before the rise of Maruti Udyog.
Hindustan Motors was the producer of
the Ambassador motorcar, which was once a
mainstream car in India, based on 1956 Morris
Oxford series III and was in production from
1957 until 2014. One of the original three car
manufacturers in India, founded in 1942 by Mr.
B.M. Birla,[2] it was a leader in car sales until the
1980s, when the industry was opened up
from protection. All through its history, the
company has depended on government
patronage for its sales and for survival by
eliminating competition.
 When the industry was opened up from
protection, Hindustan Motors could not stay
in the competition because of multiple factors
as described below:-
 1. Only variant of same model of ambassador
car was available in the market that to after a
long time waiting he list.
 2. Cost was not comparable with any other
car as such the market has no choice but to
accept the price that was fixed by the
company.
 Many car manufacturing organizations with
advanced technology set up in collaboration
with the foreign companies. Various types of
cars in small segment , big segment where
made available to the buyers as per their
choice and with less buying time. This push
down the sales volume of ambassador car to
the lower level where as Maruti Udyog Ltd
captured the market space predominently
from Hindustan Motors.
 Thank You
 Presentation made by Dishari Poddar of
class BBA 3 A of Ilead