CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Hindustan Motors (HM) has decided to sell iconic car brand-‘Ambassador’ to France-based Peugeot S.A.

Detailed explanation-2: -Thereafter, Peugeot, the French car manufacturer acquired the rights of the Ambassador brand in 2017 for Rs 80 crore. Now the carmaker is planning to relaunch the Ambassador car in a new avatar and will manufacture it at the HM’s Chennai manufacturing facility.

Detailed explanation-3: -The carmaker, owned by industrialist CK Birla, is closer to its rebirth after finalising its proposed electric two-wheeler project in collaboration with a European partner.

Detailed explanation-4: -However, the company closed down the plant in 2014 due to lack of demand for Ambassador’ cars, and subsequently sold the iconic brand to French auto manufacturer Peugeot at a realisation of Rs 80 crore. It has also sold its luxury car brand ‘Contessa’ to SG Mobility.

Detailed explanation-5: -Hindustan Motors owned Ambassador car was present in India from 1958 to 2014 and be it a politician or a celebrity, the Ambassador in its early years was an aspirational product. It was a status symbol in India from the 1960s to the mid-1990s, and it was also the lone mass-produced luxury car in the market.