auto alert
Highway Traffic Safety Authority in 2013
totaled 714 events and involved nearly
28 million individual vehicles. The list
includes virtually every known manufacturer
of cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles that
is active in North America, and includes
some real exotics such as McLaren and
Bentley. Recalls are also not just a recent
manifestation, and statistics published
recently by the NHTSA reveal that the total
number of vehicles affected by recalls since
1966 was no less than 740 million units! The
average number of recall events per annum
over the 1993-2013 period was 544, with
2008 being the worst year with 781 recalls.
We have also noted a high frequency of
reports from other countries, one of which,
notably, is China, confirming the universal
nature of this epidemic.
We can only guess at how much these
recalls have cost the vehicle manufacturers,
as they have paid for replacement
components, and the mechanics’ time that
is taken up by removing potentially faulty
components and fitting the new parts.
However, we can be sure that this cost
must work its way back into new vehicle
pricing somewhere along the line, as it
cannot just be written off without further
consequence. We do not expect that
environmental legislation or competitive
rivalries between manufacturers will go
away any time soon, but we must question
the rate at which technology is being forcefed into the system, and the influence it will
ultimately have on vehicle reliability and
affordability in future years.
End of the Road for
Amby?
Very few car models can be described
as truly enigmatic. Some might say that
the original Volkswagen Beetle lived long
➲
enough to be given that description, but
it was mainly left to a few manufacturers
to introduce “retro” products to capitalise
on a fairly short-lived fashion for cars that
recalled a bygone era. Most of these were
thoroughly modern under their “period”
skins, paying homage to the ‘thirties
and ‘fifties only through their “vintage”
shapes. However, there is one genuine
automotive enigma, and it is the Hindustan
Ambassador. Externally, this mid-size
saloon is virtually indistinguishable from a
1956 Morris Oxford, and it has been built in
India continuously since 1958, although it
did eventually give up its original licensebuilt four-cylinder BMC petrol engine for a
more modern (and lower-emission) Isuzu
diesel.
The Hindustan Motors Ambassador (or
Amby, as it is popularly known) was
claimed to be the first car model to be
manufactured in India, and it benefitted
greatly from that country’s “closed door,
static technology” motor industrial policy
that held force from 1970 to 1991. During
that period, only the Ambassador, and
a few other time frozen models built by
Premier Automobiles and Maruti Udyog,
were available to Indian car buyers, and
the Amby was to become particularly
popular with senior civil servants and
taxi operators. However, with the arrival
of Maruti’s licence-built Suzuki models
in the 1980’s, the Amby’s market share
started to take some strain, and it suffered
another mortal blow in 1991 when the
Indian economy was opened up to foreign
investors, many of whom established their
own motor manufacturing operations, or
set up joint ventures with local companies.
The resulting flood of more modern and
stylish cars rapidly relegated the Amby to
an “also-ran” position in the Indian market.
On May 25th, it was reported that
Hindustan Motors had
suspended production of the
Ambassador at its Uttarpara
plant, outside Kolkata, citing
inter alia “low productivity,
growing indiscipline, (a)
critical shortage of funds,
lack of demand (for the
Ambassador) and (a) large
accumulation of liabilities”
as the very compelling
reasons for this decision.
Observers believe that
this could be the final act
for the Amby, as making
“The enigmatic Hindustan Ambassador; has its time
finally passed?”
it more acceptable to a
| words in action
21
july 2014
market now fully accustomed to modern
products would be very difficult, if not
impossible.