With the electric vehicles becoming a new trend in the markets all over, manufacturers in India are launching new electrified products too. Hindustan Ambassador, the long-gone iconic sedan that has had a long journey in India and was in production for close to six decades remains etched in the memories of most of us. While the Ambassador sedans are slowly disappearing from the roads, DC Design has a plan, which will bring the Ambassador to life in an all-new avatar!
Dilip Chhabria of DC Design, which is now known as DC2 is working on a production model of the Ambassador EV that is likely to be launched in the coming years. To start with, DC2 has conceptualised a new model that is called the Pheonix. It is based on the now-discontinued Hindustan Ambassador 1800 ISZ. The Pheonix has gone through a lot of changes and it has now become lighter by 55-60 kg than the stock version. Dilip Chhabria, the founder of DC2 had this to tell Overdrive.
It is the car that motorised the country post-Independence and represented the true values of the country. The Ambassador has always been a crucial aspect of the identity of free India. It was always seen as a national car and we wanted to elevate it to a level that can be taken across the world. We also wanted to make it more suitable for politicians to use, in comparison to cars from other brands.
Also read: Tata Altroz Diesel gets a solid price cut: Only diesel car in India”s premium hatchback market
This would be the brand’s second car in the Indian market after the Avanti. However, you should know that DC Design was ready with its second vehicle – the TCA, which was expected to be launched but due to the BS6 norms and other concerns, the vehicle was never launched.
The Ambassador EV project will cost around Rs 120 crore to develop and launch. The car has been made from scratch in about 18-20 months. The report mentions that DC Designs took about 33 months from designing the Avanti to do a homologation test and delivering the car to the first customer. The Ambassador EV can be expected to be launched around 2022 with this timeline.
DC2 earlier launched a concept design, called as the Amberoid. This e-Amby looks quite similar to that and gets a similar gullwing door set-up. Also, the vehicle gets rounded edges all over with bulges and character lines keeping the design busy. The electrified version of the Ambassador will be around 200mm longer, 100mm wider and 50mm taller than the stock version of the sedan.
There will be a 160 kWh battery pack which will offer a driving range of about 200 km when fully charged. The batteries will support fast charging system but it will take about 5-6 hours to charge on a regular charger. Since it is electric, it will be extremely quick. As per DC2, it will be able to do 0-100 km/h in just 5.5 seconds.