Nostalgia prevails as dying Made in India icon Ambassador finds French buyer

Ambassador, the iconic Indian car which served both the commoners, politicians and top dignitaries alike since 1958 and even inspired celebrated photographers to use it as a muse to tell the story of India, has changed hands and has gone to the French following a deal by Peugeot, a media release said.

The deal was finalised for Rs 80 crore by the CK Birla group which owns Hindustan Motors, the parent company of the grand contraption.

For a city like Kolkata that prides itself for its slow moving tram yet, its old culture and Raj era monuments, the Ambassador, the design of which was inspired by the British Morris Oxford, held its own blending with the city's image. And still so with majority of the yellow cabs in the city even now the all-weather-beaten Amby.

The car was viewed as a status symbol once, and then a status uncool for private car owners with the Maruti taking over the segment followed by all the top global brands eventually. But as cabs it remained popular.

With the news of a French takeover reaching the generations that are not just millennials, reactions poured in, laced with nostalgia and a sense of deja vu.

Chandrima Pal, a media professional, posted on Facebook: "Bonjour Nostalgia! Millennials will never know the joys of packing three generations into a family car and drive out! I remember once 13 of us (including seven adults) were packed into the family Amby for a trip to the amusement park. The 3km drive back home was the trip of a lifetime," .

Tweeted auto analyst Ayush Saraswat: "There's no denying that the bond of the #Ambassador as a car with the countrymen is strong. Hope to see a refreshed one  by Peugeot soon."

Several others too had a similar view and shared their experiences.

The Ambassador plant at Uttarpara (Hind Motor), near Kolkata was closed in 2014. Hindustan Motors factory at Uttarpara is spread over 420 acres and it was the manufacturing hub located in a place which is less than an hour and half's drive from Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal.

Even a railway station (Hind Motor) was named after Hindustan Motors after the plant was set up in 1948. Since 2014 the plant area looked desolate.

For a car as magnificent as the Ambassador, the lack of demand forced it into an early retirement.

"We were shocked to learn that the factory would be closed down like this all of a sudden. We had no inclination," Kaushik Chakraborty, a worker had said three years agon when the news that the factory would be shut down came as a rude shock to him.

While many are happy that it found a French buyer, many in India rued that the automobile brand had to be sold for such a low price to a foreign auto major.

As former CEO of National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid) Raghu Raman tweeted: "Iconic brand, sold at a throwaway price to a foreign company! Pity no Indian auto major stepped up!"

Image: Bring Home Stories and Sujoy Dhar