Yesterday, Citroen finally came out to announce their entry into the Indian Market with added investment into their plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. As of now very little is known about the brand that is a part of France based PSA Group. Amidst the flurry of speculations that indicate that their first actual product is likely to hit the Indian Market in 2022, a major factor was left amiss. In February 2017, the PSA group which is in India now as part of a Joint Venture with the CK Birla Group made one major announcement, acquiring the Ambassador Brand name from the CK Birla group for around Rs 80 crore. As of now, we know that Citroen is testing the AirCross SUV that has been spied testing in India, indicating that it could be on the list of vehicles being considered.
This will be the group’s second innings in the Indian continent as their first innings started through a partnership with the Premier Automobile Limited that endeavoured to sell the Peugeot 309 sedan in India. The brand wasn’t particularly successful and withdrew leaving a very small footprint on the nation. In their second innings, PSA is likely to be more careful with their steppings. PSAs factory until last year had been aimed solely at the manufacture of powertrains, although an additional investment of Rs 600 crore will bring the plant up to vehicle assembly spec. As of now, the plant will target 50,000 vehicles in the first year which will be both, for domestic sales and export.
As per official confirmations, it is honestly too early to expect anything. We expect the company’s first launch will be in the SUV segment, as seems to have become a sort of strategic norm for new Automakers. The Aircross makes a perfect fit for this cause taking on the likes of the Tata Harrier and the  Hyundai Creta. Following which the company could make considerations about what they will do with the Ambassador brand that they acquired at a significant cost. At this point, the ultimately finished car could be anything, how cool would it be if it was a stately electric SUV that would take forward the Ambassador’s diplomatic legacy? In short. Very!
