The best days of Hindustan Motors, the company behind the iconic Ambassador --- for long the car in India (it was manufactured from 1958 to 2014) --- may be behind it. But the legendary Indian car maker is set to be plotting a comeback of sorts. And the road to its return will most probably through EVs.
According to a news report in Business Standard, which quoted the director of Hindustan Motors, Uttam Bose, the company is working on sewing up a joint venture with an European auto company focused on the electric vehicle (EV) space. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has already been signed and due diligence is expected to start shortly and will take 2-3 months to conclude.
Is Stellantis HM's unnamed JV partner?
As it happens, to start off, Hindustan Motors will launch two-wheelers and subsequently follow it up with four-wheelers in the Ev segment. It is just not that alone. The company that Hindustan Motors is in talks with may also pick up close to 49% stake in the putative joint venture. According to the report, "the vehicles would roll out of HM’s Uttarpara plant in West Bengal, which declared 'suspension of work' in 2014. Since then there have been no operations."
Elsewhere, the speculation that the unmentioned European carmaker in Hindustan Motors' scheme of things could be French Automaker PSA Group, which is now part of the Stellantis Group. The PSA Group acquired the Ambassador brand from Hindustan Motors for Rs 80 crore through a deal in 2017.
As it happens, the Stellantis group had last week announced that will launch its first electric vehicle in India under its Citroen brand next year. So should we join the dots and come to the conclusion that the Citroen EV launch is the one that will be based on the JV with the Hindustan Motors?
Maybe. But equally, may not be. For, Hindustan Motors says that the new EVs would roll out from its plant in West Bengal. But Stellantis had hinted that the putative Citroen EV was likely to come out of its plant near Chennai in Tamil Nadu. That plant is also a JV between the Hindustan Motors and Stellantis. It used to roll out Japanese Mitsubishi Motors Corporation's models like Lancer, Pajero and also under contract manufacturing deal for Isuzu Motors MU 7 model.
The point is Hindustan Motors' partner for EV may be the Stellantis group or not. But what is sure is its comeback in a new avatar. And that is purely from an Indian brand point of view is great.
