Amby is for sure one of the oldest that can be still be seen healthily running on the Indian roads. Experts have the opinion that Amby still has one of the most comfortable back row seats. May be this is why Amby is so widely used as passenger vehicles. If you visit Kolkata you can see Ambassador Classic being widely used as taxis. The power lady of India, Sonia Gandhi, as well as many other political leaders, still prefers touring around in an Ambassador. Recently Hindustan Motors launched a BS IV compliant Ambassador and now it has released brochures for the car.
BS compliance is basically a limit set by the Indian government to control the vehicular emissions. Every automobile manufacturer in India has to comply with these standards. These are set by the Central Pollution Control Board which comes under the Ministry of Environment & Forests. Till the year 2010, every Indian vehicle had to comply with the BS III limits. Ambassador being a BS III compliant vehicle was thus widely seen throughout the country. But in the year 2010, the government presented the BS IV limits which were implemented in 17 major Indian cities. As a result Ambassador could not enter these 17 cities and therefore it lost a vast area from its market. The sales were so badly affected that in the year 2011 the company sold only 2500 units of Amby.
Hence it became very important for HM to make its Amby BS IV compliant so that it can regain its lost market. The company was working on the BS IV compliant Ambassador for quite sometime. Their BS IV compliant vehicle was first offered to various officials of Taxi associations in Kolkata. These officials became test drivers for the company. They certified that BS IV Amby was better, in more than just 1 way, than the BS III Amby.
Bimal Kumar Guha, general secretary of Bengal Taxi Association giving his opinion about the new Amby said that “I myself drove the BS IV Ambassador over several laps of the test track and found that the new vehicle offers higher power and torque, better vehicle control with power steering, improved gradient negotiating capacity, better cooling and overall better driveability with no compromise on fuel consumption. Of course, it meets the emission norms. I could not detect any smoke.”
Tarak Nath Bari, Secretary of Kolkata Taxi Association who also reviewed the BS IV Amby said that “Driving the BS IV Ambassador, today, was a pleasant experience. The forthcoming vehicle is positively better than the current BS III vehicle. The drive proved that the new vehicle fully matches the technical specifications provided by HM. It is real value for money and will positively make better business sense to buyers, particularly in the taxi segment. Kolkata had been waiting for BS IV diesel Ambassador for quite sometime.”
The company was finally able to get a BS IV compliant tag for its Amby by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI). During its testing, the car cleared its mass emissions, OBD II and several other tests according to the Rule 115 of Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989.
Hindustan Motors MD and CEO, Mr. Uttam Bose said that “We had been working on upgrading our Ambassador 1.5-litre diesel car to match BS IV norms for over a year. We are happy that our efforts have borne fruit and we have received certification from ARAI after passing rigorous tests. This has demolished the myth that Hindustan Motors cannot upgrade its existing engines. Moreover, this opens hitherto forbidden markets where this vehicle commands enviable loyalty in the taxi segment. We expect our sales to grow significantly within a few months.”
The brochure which as been revealed talks about its 3 variants and precisely explains all the features and specs of each variant. The brochure shows 3 variants of BS IV compliant Ambassador which are as follows-
- Petrol variant- This model has a 1.8 liter engine offering a displacement of 1817 cc. The engine will have a maximum power output of 53.2 kW at 4800 rpm and a torque of 134.2 at 2250 rpm. The car will have a 5 speed manual transmission.
- LPG variant- This model has a 1.8 liter engine with a displacement capacity of 1817 cc. The car will offer a maximum power output of 48.5 kW between 4600 and 4700 rpm. and a maximum torque of 129.5 Nm at 2000 rpm. The car will have a 5 speed manual transmission.
- CNG variant- This model will also house a 1.8 liter engine with a displacement of 1817 cc. This engine will churn out a power of 41.5 kW between 4600 and 4800 rpm and a maximum torque of 115 Nm between 1800 and 2000 rpm. This will also offer a 5 speed manual transmission.
