India: 'Attitude' pitch as HM revs heritage

"The retro Ambassador will be a fashion statement and will be positioned as the car for 'people with attitude'," said a HM spokesperson.

Buoyed by market feedback for Ambassador Grand, which was launched in August last year, and initial feedback on Avigo, HM is gearing to go national with the variant, reportedly by year-end.

While Ambassador Grand, with its contemporary features, was seen as an effort to revive the brand, the new variant claims a technological leap packed into the car's core design. Unlike past efforts, Avigo will be targeted not at Government officials or the commercial segment, but at the 25 to 35 age group, which has never been the brand's core audience.

In the past, HM's bid to leverage Ambassador's 50-year heritage chasing what it hoped was a new market in 'retro chic', didn't work. Ambassador had an aggressive comparative media campaign aimed at bringing back pride of ownership for its users, but all that did little to expand the market for the brand.

According to Nirmalya Sen, group business director, Mudra Communications, the agency handling the account, internal research showed that no one bought Ambassador for its old world charm, but for very rational reasons - safety, its ability to ply poor Indian roads and spacious interiors.

"End users believe Ambassador has changed as a car, but the emotional barriers persist and they don't want to be seen in an Ambassador, a low-tech machine," he said.

Analysts believe earlier improvements in models of Ambassador were less of an eyesore, but nothing new when it came to the basic features. "You can't teach a dinosaur to dance," said one.

Ambassador's total annual production stands at about 15,000 units, of which 65 per cent are sold to the taxi fleet operation market, followed by the institutional market or the Government accounting for 25 per cent in sales.