Hindustan · 1957–2014

Hindustan Ambassador

The Hindustan Ambassador is an automobile manufactured by Indian manufacturer Hindustan Motors from 1957 to 2014. It was based on the Morris Oxford Series III by Morris Motors. On 11 February 2017, Hindustan Motors executed an agreement with Groupe PSA for the sale of the Ambassador brand, including the trademarks, for a consideration of ₹80 crore (US$8.3 million). The tie-up entailed two joint-venture agreements between the companies of the two groups.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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History

=== Design and development === In 1956 Morris Motors (then a part of British Motor Corporation) sold the rights and tooling of the Morris Oxford Series III to Hindustan Motors, as it had done for its previous Series I and Series II models which were sold by Hindustan Motors as Hindustan 14 and Landmaster. The Series III model itself was a derivative of the Morris Oxford Series II model which was developed prior to the Austin and Morris merger. The Ambassador replaced the Morris Oxford Series II based Hindustan Landmaster, which was quite similar, and the larger Hindustan Deluxe based on the Chevrolet Deluxe. Birla Group. Hindustan Motors Limited (HM), part of the Birla group was India's pioneering car manufacturing company and later a flagship company of the C.K. Birla Group. The company was established just before Indian independence, in 1942 by B.M. Birla. They began operations in a small assembly plant in Port Okha near Gujarat by assembling the then Morris 10 as the Hindustan 10. In the mid-1950s, they planned to upgrade their existing Hindustan models based on the Morris Oxford Series II (Hindustan Landmaster), and eventually acquired rights for the new Morris Oxford Series III. The car initially came with a side-valve engine but was later improved with an overhead-valve engine. The Ambassador was quite innovative, with a fully enclosed monocoque chassis, making it spacious inside. The Morris MO Series models were introduced by 1949 as the Hindustan 14, with production continuing until 1954. The Landmaster based on the Morris Oxford Series II was introduced, with the same 1476 cc side valve engine, drawn from the earlier Hindustan I4. The same engine was used for the older Ambassadors Mark I from 1958 to 1960. Production years. The political influence of the Birla

Evolution

The Ambassador remained in continuous production from its inception, with very few improvements or changes. In 1948, Hindustan Motors shifted its assembly plant from Port Okha in Gujarat to Uttarpara/Hindmotor in West Bengal's Hooghly district and strengthened its manufacturing capacity in the automobile segment. The 1954 Morris Oxford Series II in India was licence-built at Uttarpara, (Hooghly district), West Bengal, three years after its debut in England and labelled as the 1957 Hindustan Landmaster. Engaged in the manufacture of the Ambassador, Contessa and utility vehicles like the Trekker, Porter and Pushpak, the plant hardly introduced any innovations or improvements. Hindustan Motors was the only manufacturing facility in the world to manufacture parts for the obsolete Bedford trucks. Sale of Ambassador taxis has been outlawed since 1 April 2011, a year after BS IV emission standards were rolled out in 11 Indian cities, including Kolkata. In later years, Hindustan Motors fitted the cars with a cleaner diesel engine in order to comply with new emission rules, allowing it to resume taxi service in Kolkata, one of the cities in which the vehicle had been banned.

Models and versions

=== Mark I (1957–1963) === The Hindustan Ambassador was introduced in 1957, as a rebadge of the Morris Oxford Series III. Hindustan Motors, to further earlier collaboration with Morris Motors entered into an agreement to manufacture the 1956 Morris Oxford Series III in India. All the tooling was transferred to Uttarpara plant in India. After introduction the Morris Oxford Series II-derived Hindustan Landmaster was discontinued. The new model included deep headlamp cowls and small rear wing "tail fins". The dashboard and steering wheel were completely redesigned. The Landmaster's flat-plane two-spoke steering wheel gave way to a dished steering wheel with three spokes made-up of four wires per spoke, for the Ambassador. Also a new, dimpled bonnet made its debut. These models had an Austin Motors derived 1476 cc side-valve petrol engine. In 1959 the side-valve engine was replaced by a 1489 cc, 55 bhp (41 kW) overhead-valve BMC B-series petrol engine. Mark II (1963–1975). In November 1963, the Ambassador underwent a frontal facelift with a closely chequered grille more reminiscent of the Morris Mini. The interior had a redesigned dashboard and instrument cluster. The early models had a sun mica sheet but it was replaced by a wood grain coated plywood and an aluminium bezel in later models (1968 onwards). This model was named as the Ambassador Mark II, and the early version quickly got dubbed as Mark I in the market, while it was never officially christened as such in its production days. The mid-sixties model again had minor changes to the tail lamp with integrated lens for indicator and brake lamp and the tall ornamented bumper stopper from the Mark I was redesigned with a smaller chrome metal stopper to keep up with the time. This model was sold until mid-1975 and was e

Engines

In the early 1990s, the old Austin-designed B-Series OHV straight-4 BMC 1.5L petrol engine was replaced in favour of an Isuzu 1.8 litre engine and became the fastest production car in India, beating Fiats, and the Maruti Suzuki cars at that time. The engines currently available are the 1500 DSL (1.5L 37 bhp [28 kW] diesel engine), 1800 ISZ (1.8 L 75 bhp [56 kW] MPFI petrol engine), 2000 DSZ (2.0 L 50 bhp [37 kW] Isuzu diesel engine) and 2000 DSZ Turbo (2.0 L 75 bhp [56 kW] turbocharged intercooled Isuzu diesel engine). In the late 1970s a limited batch of Mark III Ambassadors were produced with 1,760 cc engines. They were fitted with Constant Velocity SU side-draft carburettors of an earlier era instead of the more common indigenous variable velocity Solex down-draft units. The engine blocks of these cars had "1760" etched on them instead of the usual "1500". These were probably produced to handle the extra load of the piston-driven air conditioner compressors available in those days. The trim (metal beading) of these cars were a throwback to the sixties because they were chrome plated instead of aluminium.

Reception

The Ambassador was claimed to be the best taxi in the world by Top Gear in Episode 2 of their 20th series. An article by Hormazd Sorabjee entitled An Epitaph for India's "Appalling" National Car appeared in a July 2014 issue of BBC Magazine. Other variants. A local customiser, Parikh Coach Builders, had created an Ambassador limousine which had found its place in the Limca Book of Records.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name: Hindustan Ambassador
Manufacturer: Hindustan Motors
Production: 1957–2014
Assembly: India: Hooghly, West Bengal, India: Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Layout: FR layout
Predecessor: Hindustan Landmaster, Hindustan Deluxe
Successor: Hindustan Contessa
Class: Mid-size car (E)
Body style: 4-door saloon
Related: Morris Oxford Series III
sp: uk

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1619367CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan_AmbassadorCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1375299175 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hindustan_Ambassador,_Cochin_(Rob_Oo).jpgCC BY 2.0 · Photo: Rob Oo from NL · retrieved 2026-10-01
Manufacturer website (link only) — http://www.hmambassador.comLink only; no content copied · retrieved 2026-10-01
Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.