Ambassador keeps on driving in India<\/p>\n
By Jay Shankar<\/p>\n
NEW DELHI (AFP): Some things remain quintessentially Indian.
\nThe Taj Mahal. Curries. The Ganges. The Ambassador car.<\/p>\n
Go anywhere in India and you will see the high-axled, pug-
\nnosed Ambassador, a throwback to the 1940s, barging its way
\nthrough the traffic.<\/p>\n
Every taxi driver in the capital owns an Ambassador.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister and his cabinet -- by official decree --
\nall use them.<\/p>\n
A foreign tourist, chancing upon a session of parliament,
\ncould be forgiven for presuming he had gate-crashed a convention
\nof veteran car lovers.<\/p>\n
Appearances, however, can be deceptive.<\/p>\n
The Ambassador -- a direct descendant of the British Morris
\nOxford -- is in danger of running out of gas after gracing Indian
\nroads throughout 50 years of independence.<\/p>\n
The car, which monopolized the automobile market up until the
\nearly 1980s, now records annual sales of 28,000, a mere seven
\npercent of the total. Of those, barely 8,000 are sold to private
\nbuyers.<\/p>\n
As such, the Ambassador represents a perfect microcosm of the
\nchallenges faced today by Indian industry after decades of
\ngovernment protectionism and patronage.<\/p>\n
C.K. Rao, vice-president of manufacturers Hindustan Motors,
\nadmits as much.<\/p>\n
Under India's \"permit Raj\", a centralized, Soviet-style
\neconomic system that went unchallenged from independence in 1947
\nto the early 1980s, it was the government which decided on car
\nproduction and pricing.<\/p>\n
\"There was a lack of motivation to do better, as prices were
\ncontrolled,\" says Rao.<\/p>\n
\"The car did not undergo any changes until 1993, when we
\nchanged the engine and made new interiors.\"<\/p>\n
By then, however, the rot had set in. In the shape of a
\nJapanese-inspired city runaround.<\/p>\n
Maruti Udyog Ltd, a joint venture backed by Japan's Suzuki
\nMotor Corp, was to have been the plaything of Sanjay Gandhi,
\nyounger son of prime minister Indira.<\/p>\n
When he died prematurely, while carrying out aerobatics over
\nNew Delhi in 1980, his mother decreed the project to create a
\n\"people's car\" should continue.<\/p>\n
Today, around 75 percent of the entire car market is claimed
\nby Maruti's 800cc model.<\/p>\n
It is modern in style, economic and rushing off the production
\nline in vast numbers. The Ambassador -- hand-built, low-tech and
\nwith all the maneuverability of an ocean liner -- has been made
\nto look dramatically dated in recent years.<\/p>\n
Competitors<\/p>\n
To add to the woes of Hindustan Motors, there are now a dozen
\nother overseas competitors, such as Peugeot, Mercedes Benz,
\nGeneral Motors, Daewoo and Honda, who have entered the Indian
\nautomobile market in recent years.<\/p>\n
The writing, it seems, is on the wall.<\/p>\n
Except that this is India, and these are Indian conditions.<\/p>\n
No car yet designed can tackle the country's many potholes
\nquite like the Ambassador. No car yet imported can cope with
\nIndia's rural conditions.<\/p>\n
And whenever the Ambassador does break down, there is someone
\nwith the ingenuity and know-how to repair it in every one of the
\ncountry's 600,000 villages.<\/p>\n
Perversely, the Ambassador's greatest strength is that it can
\ncope so well with the country's infrastructure weaknesses.<\/p>\n
Rao, while accepting that the battle for market share is
\nalready lost, believes the car, now equipped with a Japanese-
\nbuilt engine, can survive in its niche for a while longer. There
\nare even plans to increase production to nearer 40,000 a year.<\/p>\n
\"We know the value-offering cannot be matched by any car,\" he
\nsays. \"It's spacious, steady and comfortable.<\/p>\n
\"It is not a car for the cities. It's appropriate for the
\nmajority of Indian roads. As long as the roads are bad, the
\nAmbassador is the right car. So it is important that we do not
\ncontemporize it. We will not change its design.<\/p>\n
\"It has become a part of the landscape. Any village mechanic
\ncan repair the car. And a family of more than 10 can travel in
\nit.\"<\/p>\n
The Ambassador's critics, in contrast, say the company's
\ninability to innovate during its years as a pampered government
\nfavorite reflect perfectly independent India's continuing
\nindustrial failings as it reaches its 50th birthday next month.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, however, the ailing Ambassador will have the last
\nlaugh, embarking on a cult career to match that of the Volkswagen
\nBeetle and the British Mini.<\/p>\n
Last year, Hindustan Motors exported around 300 Ambassadors.
\nSome went to Japan, with the rest returning to the land of their
\nforefathers in Britain.<\/p>",
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