Hindustan Motors Ambassador Encore BS4 Diesel
Amby simply refuses to die, Hindustan Motors has recently launched the BS IV-compliant Ambassador. Dubbed the Ambassador ‘Encore’, this diesel car’s BS4 compliance will mean that it can now be sold in 17 cities, from where it had to be discontinued since April-2010 due to non-compliance of BS4 emission norms.
A significant investment in terms of money and man hours has been made to upgrade its BS III 1.5-litre diesel engine to meet BS IV standards, this engine churns out around 36 BHP of power and 73 Nm of torque, with power going to the rear wheels. However it has taken Hindustan Motors 3.5 years to upgrade the Ambassador from BS3 to BS4, that makes us realize how poor their engineering capabilities are in these modern times.
Bookings of the Ambassador Encore have started and the vehicle is priced at Rs. 4.98 lakh (ex-showroom, Kolkata). The car is offered for the ‘no-refusal’ taxi segment and buyers who are in the replacement taxi segment will get massive reduction in the above price.
The West Bengal government has just issued 2,000 permits under the “No Refusal” taxi scheme, with a further 2,000 permits due to be issued in November 2013. Sales of the Ambassador Encore are expected to be driven largely by this new scheme.
The No Refusal cab scheme involves the taxi driver signing an agreement with the West Bengal government, stating that he/she will not refuse passengers at any hour of the day or bad weather conditions, bandhs and rallies.
Also see – Production of Tata Safari, Indica and Hindustan Ambassador to end by 2015
HM Ambassador hatchback on the works, alongside the compact sedan variant
