Within three weeks of
announcing a tie up with the PSA Peugeot Group of France , the CK Birla Group
has announced that Hindustan Motors Ltd, the manufacturer of the iconic
Ambassador car, has executed an agreement with Peugeot S.A. on February 10,
2017 for the sale of the Ambassador brand.
In a letter the Indian stock
exchanges, Hindustan Motors noted that the Ambassador brand (including the
trademarks having application numbers 2803570, 2803571 and 2821821) and certain
related rights ("Ambassador Brand") by the Company (Hindustan Motors
Limited) has been sold to Peugeot S.A for a consideration of Rs 80,00,00,000
(Indian Rupees Eighty crore). “The sale of the Ambassador Brand shall be
effective upon fulfilment of the terms & conditions as prescribed in the
said abovementioned agreement”, the note said.
Read Report of January 25,
2015 announcing PSA GROUP, CK BIRLA GROUP SIGN TWO JVS WITH HMFCL AND AVTEC
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Hindustan Motors was
established in 1942 by late BM Birla (grandfather of CK Birla) and for the
several decades the company’s flagship product Ambassador car ruled the roost
in the Indian passenger car market. By the end of the 1970s, its market share
was as much as 75pc, but its progress was halted with the coming in of Maruti
Udyog Ltd (now Maruti Suzuki Ltd) and the Maruti 800 car. The latter was
launched in 1983.
It was in 1948 that HM moved
its operations to Uttarpara in West Bengal for manufacturing Ambassador
cars. By 2014, after incurring huge
losses and also after dealing with massive labour unrests, the company
suspended operations in Uttarpara facility.