Ambassador Car Case Study
Rise and Fall of Ambassador car:
Introduction:
Based on Britain’s Morris Oxford series of cars by the Morris Motors, Ambassador was the first car to be produced in India. It started production in 1958, and for a long time was the only car to be sold in India.
In the fiscal year ending March 2014, the company sold only 2,200 cars out of the 1.8 million cars sold in India that year. Despite the fact that it had over 70% market share at a time, how did they lose their grip and slip to a mere 0.12% market share this year
Ambassador can be called as an first indian car. Although car has an British legacy, it is considered as definitive Indian car. Ambassador was born in 1958. The car owes its design and technology to a British car model - Morris …show more content…
There was a time when people had to wait for over a year from the date of booking to the delivery of the new car. However, the increasing popularity of Maruti 800 hatchback was a warning about the impending future. Soon after, in the 1990s after liberalization took over the country and markets opened up to new players, people started buying different car models. The waning popularity of the Ambassador should have been a signal for the management to innovate which they chose to …show more content…
And as time passed there were only three colors an ambassador could be seen sporting — black and white with a red light or a yellow taxi. It was a status symbol for people using the official car – a fact that could have been used to create a strong brand perception. But unfortunately, the Ambassador did not even capitalize on that market and eventually lost out when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee replaced his Ambassador car with a BMW SUV, and soon other ministers followed suite with their cars of preference.
Best taxi in the world:
In a recent BBC show, Top Gear, the Ambassador was pitched against a variety of vehicles which are used as taxis and came out a clear winner. But that title did not do much to revive the image. Now, its role as a taxi is also limited as Tata Indica has slowly taken its place with the other cars.
It was finally decided to give it a rest, till the team comes up with new ideas for its revival.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths
1) India has a large domestic market with tremendous demand
2) Produces goods at low cost but with high
Introduction:
Based on Britain’s Morris Oxford series of cars by the Morris Motors, Ambassador was the first car to be produced in India. It started production in 1958, and for a long time was the only car to be sold in India.
In the fiscal year ending March 2014, the company sold only 2,200 cars out of the 1.8 million cars sold in India that year. Despite the fact that it had over 70% market share at a time, how did they lose their grip and slip to a mere 0.12% market share this year
Ambassador can be called as an first indian car. Although car has an British legacy, it is considered as definitive Indian car. Ambassador was born in 1958. The car owes its design and technology to a British car model - Morris …show more content…
There was a time when people had to wait for over a year from the date of booking to the delivery of the new car. However, the increasing popularity of Maruti 800 hatchback was a warning about the impending future. Soon after, in the 1990s after liberalization took over the country and markets opened up to new players, people started buying different car models. The waning popularity of the Ambassador should have been a signal for the management to innovate which they chose to …show more content…
And as time passed there were only three colors an ambassador could be seen sporting — black and white with a red light or a yellow taxi. It was a status symbol for people using the official car – a fact that could have been used to create a strong brand perception. But unfortunately, the Ambassador did not even capitalize on that market and eventually lost out when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee replaced his Ambassador car with a BMW SUV, and soon other ministers followed suite with their cars of preference.
Best taxi in the world:
In a recent BBC show, Top Gear, the Ambassador was pitched against a variety of vehicles which are used as taxis and came out a clear winner. But that title did not do much to revive the image. Now, its role as a taxi is also limited as Tata Indica has slowly taken its place with the other cars.
It was finally decided to give it a rest, till the team comes up with new ideas for its revival.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths
1) India has a large domestic market with tremendous demand
2) Produces goods at low cost but with high