Automobile News Section - Hindustan Motors’ Ambassador 1.5-lt diesel certified as BS IV compliant by ARAI
Hindustan Motors’ Ambassador 1.5-lt diesel certifiedas BS IV compliant by ARAI
Move opens major metro markets for the popular vehicle
KOLKATA,
July 25, 2013: Hindustan Motors’ Ambassador
1.5-litre diesel model has been certified as BS IV compliant by Automotive
Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune. Equipped with an upgraded engine,
the vehicle passed ARAI’s mass emission, OBD II (on board diagnostics) and
other related tests as per Rule 115 of Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR),
1989, effective from April 2013.
The move opens for the new vehicle the
17 major metro markets, especially Kolkata, where sale of BS III cars had been
banned since April 2010. Hindustan
Motors has started work on the productionisation of the newly certified BS IV
car which will start rolling out of its Uttarpara plant in Hooghly from August
2013.
Commenting on the welcome development,
HM’s Managing Director & CEO, Mr. Uttam Bose, said, “We had been working on
upgrading our Ambassador 1.5-litre diesel car to match BS IV norms for over a
year. We are happy that our efforts have borne fruit and we have received
certification from ARAI after passing rigorous tests. This has demolished the
myth that Hindustan Motors cannot upgrade its existing engines. Moreover, this
opens hitherto forbidden markets where this vehicle commands enviable loyalty
in the taxi segment. We expect our sales to grow significantly within a few
months.”
Recently, HM had displayed the upgraded
vehicle to office-bearers of Kolkata’s different taxi associations. Following extensive
driving at the company’s test track at the Uttarpara plant, they found the new
vehicle to be distinctly superior to the existing BS III model. They were of
the view that apart from reasonable emission levels the upgraded vehicle also
offered higher power and torque, improved gradient negotiating capacity, better
cooling and overall better driveability with no compromise on fuel consumption.
The official endorsement of this feedback has now come in the form of BS IV
certification by ARAI.
About
Hindustan Motors Limited
Hindustan
Motors Limited, the flagship venture of the multi-billion dollar CK Birla
Group, was established during the pre-Independence era at Port Okha in Gujarat.
Operations were moved in 1948 to Uttarpara in district Hooghly, West Bengal,
where the company began the production of the iconic Ambassador.
Equipped
with integrated facilities such as press shop, forge shop, foundry, machine
shop and aggregate assembly units for engines, axles etc, the company currently
manufactures Ambassador (1500 and 2000 cc diesel, 1800 cc petrol, CNG and LPG
variants) in the passenger car segment, light commercial vehicle 1-tonne
payload mini-truck Winner’s 1.5-litre and 2.0 litre diesel versions and Winner
1.8 XD PLUS (CNG) model, and auto components at its Uttarpara plant. The
company also runs operations at Pithampur near Indore in Madhya Pradesh where
it produces Winner.
Hindustan
Motors entered into technical collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation
of Japan in 1998. Under this license, HM has manufactured/marketed premium
Mitsubishi passenger vehicles from its third plant situated at Thiruvallur and
office in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Lancer was the first Mitsubishi vehicle to be
introduced in India by HM in 1998 and it was followed by Montero (2001), Pajero
(2002), Cedia (2006), Outlander (2008) and Lancer Evolution X in 2010. Special
edition variants of some of these vehicles were also launched in between.
Pajero Sport, which was launched on March 12, 2012, is the latest member of the
HM-Mitsubishi group of vehicles in India. It has won BBC Top Gear’s ‘Off-roader
of the Year 2012’ award.
Hindustan
Motors is committed to core values of quality, safety, environmental care and
holistic customer orientation.
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