Owners of the iconic Hindustan Motors Ambassador are in a fix, as spare parts aren’t easily available.
A car that once ruled the Indian roads in the 1980s has become a rare sight these days, all thanks to globalisation. The Ambassador’s production started in 1958 and was in production until 2014. The Ambassador was fondly termed as the ‘King of the Indian Roads’, such was its popularity.
The Ambassador’s production was stopped three years back due to weak demand and the cash crunch faced by the company. The car has been the only mass produced vehicle for the longest number of years with minimum design changes and on the same assembly line. Since its production was stopped three years back only there are issues being faced by the owners of the Ambassador with respect to availability of spare parts.
Hindustan Motors claims that apart from the genuine spares there are several third party vendors who supply spares but without the guarantee. There are some top politicians who are still using the Ambassador, some being the bulletproof ones. Non-availability of the spare parts has left many owners wanting to go for the without-guarantee spares, and in case spares were not in stock, dealers selling them are taking way too much time to source the spares. The lesser number of authorised dealers across the country for spares also is a contributing factor to this problem.
Recently, French auto major Peugeot acquired the Ambassador brand for a sum of Rs. 80 crores and Hindustan Motors intends to pay off its employees and some loans. We hope the company addresses the issue of spares not being available too.
Ambassador Maintenance
– Less number of authorised dealers for spares has led to non-availability of spares
– Owners fed up of waiting for genuine spares, are buying spares without guarantee
– Hindustan Motors stopped the production of the Ambassador three years back
Source: ETAuto.com
