The Chandra Kant Birla group company Hindustan Motors Ltd (HML) has drawn up an exchange scheme to ramp up sale of its flagship brand Ambassador Classic 1.5 Diesel.
According to the "WBT (Black & Yellow) Taxi Exchange Scheme," an Ambassador (Amby) taxi owner would be able to exchange their WBT registered taxis that are more than 15 years old for a new Ambassador Classic 1.5 Diesel, Bharat Stage II (Euro-II) compliant.
"This would be a win-win call for everybody, to the taxi-owner, the state government, the state pollution control board and common citizens at large. It would also help the company to sell more cars," G L Reddy, vice-president (marketing), HML, said.
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The company expects this scheme to increase sale by around 3,000-4,000 more cars in Kolkata area only by end of this fiscal. "Although we would like to roll out the scheme to other cities as well, this may take some time. We would be evaluating the response here and then formulate a concrete strategy,' Reddy added.
HML has so far sold 8,000 Ambassadors (all variants) in the first half. Reddy expressed hope that with such innovative marketing strategies, the figure would go up to 18,000 by the end of this financial year.
In the first phase, to be completed in 10 days, HML would exchange 150 cars.
The old car would be accepted as an equivalent to the down payment (after deducting excise duty refund). A brand new Ambassador 1.5 Diesel would cost Rs 3,52,000 (ex-showroom) in Kolkata. The down payment for such car (25 per cent of the price) would be Rs 88,000.
Out of this, Rs 32,858 would be returned as sales tax deduction and consequently Rs 55,142 would be treated as down payment. HML has tied up with UCO Bank for providing finance options. Taxi owners can pay in installments in 48 months.
Reddy informed that company had informal talks with WBPCB (West Bengal pollution Control Board) and taxi owners' association. "There are nearly 15,000 taxis that are more than 15 years old in Kolkata which are major source of pollution in the city. The new cars would reduce air pollution and increase fuel efficiency," Reddy said.
HML would sale the old cars as scrap. The company is negotiating with firms to realise a good return from old cars. Reddy said HML would help build necessary infrastructure for handling large numbers of cars. "This is why we are servicing only 150 cars in the first phase. We will roll out the next phase after fine tuning every aspect, registration policies, scrap handling among others," Reddy noted.