In one response to the last column, a reader questioned the widely-accepted definition of a people’s car. The argument: This definition is largely shaped by economic and technological considerations. A car that is much loved is truly a people’s car. There is a shape, nay shapes, to this argument — the Hindustan Ambassador and the Premier Padmini. Aren’t these people’s cars too? Indeed, they are.
These two cars ruled our roads when driving was a genteel pursuit and such things as road rage, traffic jams and cars for different segments of people did not exist. These cars were not elbowed out by the ‘others’; they had simply run their course. Time happens to the best of us and the best of products. Decline is built into every product and career. And that is exactly what happened to the Ambassador and the Padmini. The span of a car model, even a successful one, is roughly 25 years. The Ford Model T was in production for just 19 years, and the Alec Issigonis-designed Morris Minor for 23 years. ‘What about the Volkswagen Beetle?’ some of you may ask. It was in production from 1938 to 2003 alright, but its decline began in the late 1960s. From then on, it was being made in small numbers for a few markets, and it was bowing out of the others, one after another.
The Ambassador and the Padmini had an unusually long run. The former was in production for 57 years and the latter for 37 years. Before the Fiat 1100 was being made on Indian soil as Premier Padmini, it was being sold in India for around 10 years through badge engineering, being offered with minor changes and new names, Fiat Millecento, Fiat Elegant, Fiat Select and Fiat Super-Select. So, this car had had a nearly 50-year run. In the tired old human heart, always lurks a desire for change. And when the factors for change come together, people opt for it. So, they were not turning their back on these cars, only embracing the new.
Towards the end of these brand stories, just like a swan song, Hindustan Motors and Premier Automobiles Limited came up with a slew of innovations. Huge changes were effected especially in the final generation of Ambassadors, enabling it to compete with modern cars. Unfortunately, despite the changes under the hood and inside the cabin, the Ambassador and the Padmini had been labelled ‘old’. When people have made up their minds to reject something, it’s time not to woo them, but to walk away. And, if you are wise, you do it in style.
Or you turn it into a desirable classic model. In 1997, Volkswagen started the New Volkswagen Beetle line. On the inside, the New Beetle was a completely different creature. On the outside, it harnessed the power of nostalgia. When the present is caving in, the past almost always provides solid ground. The New Beetle line was being offered, parallely with the old Beetle (Volkswagen Type I) line, which was being made in small numbers, targeting specific markets until it was retired in 2003. The technologically niftier models of Ambassador could have been similarly offered — as part of a New Ambassador line, steered by the power of nostalgia. The right time to plan post-retirement life is before you have retired.
In the early part of this year, Hindustan Motors has got into an agreement with Groupe PSA and let’s hope something that warms our hearts comes out of this. But, let us be realistic. Even the power of nostalgia declines with time. A hundred years from now, would the Morris Minor be celebrated with the same enthusiasm with which it is now? If there is a time to celebrate the Ambassador and the Premier Padmini in a meaningful way, it is now, when these machines are still fresh in our memory.
