Hindustan Motors

Bedford TJ manufactured by HM in India

Hindustan and General Motors have had several tie-ups in the post independence era to produce Bedford Trucks, Vauxhall Motors (1980 to 1990), Allison Transmissions and off-road equipment. In 1994, GM and Hindustan (C K Birla) formed a 50-50 joint venture, General Motors India to manufacture Opel Astra cars in the newly created mid-segment category. The production of the Astra was phased out and later replaced by the then successful Opel Corsa family of vehicles. In early 1999 General Motors India bought out the Halol, Gujarat, plant from Hindustan Motors thus ending a long partnership.[5]

On 21 February 2012, Mr. Manoj Jha, the managing director stepped down from his post. The decision was unanimously accepted by the board of directors.[6]

Hindustan motors used to make earthmovers, initially in collaboration with Terex (US) and Fermac (UK); and beginning in 1984 with Caterpillar Inc. at the HMEED plants in Thiruvallur, near Chennai and Puducherry. The operation was sold to Caterpillar in 2000 and HM quit the earthmover business. HML continue to be a joint venture partner with Caterpillar in Hindustan Power Plus, which manufactures diesel engines and generator sets.

The company began in 1959 as Tractors and Bulldozers Private Ltd and imported tractors. Manufacturing of tractors began in 1963, in collaboration Motokov-Praha (Zetor) of Czechoslovakia, and was known as Hindustan Tractors & Bulldozers Ltd.[7] In 1967, it became Hindustan Tractors Ltd. The tractors were based on the Zetor tractor design and sold under the Hindustan brand. In 1978, the Gujarat, Indian government formed Gujarat Tractors from the ailing company. In 1999, Mahindra Tractors purchased 60% of the company, and in 2001, completed purchasing the rest of the company, renaming it Mahindra Gujarat Tractors Ltd.[8]

In 1982 Hindustan formed a collaboration with Isuzu to assemble and sell the Isuzu F series - JCS trucks in India. These trucks came from the factory with a fully built modern metal cabin which was not common with Tata and Ashok Leyland trucks at the time. They were well known for their reliability and fuel consumption, but were discontinued mainly due to falling sales, poor service facilities, and HML not being able to sell them for an affordable price.[9]

Similar looking 1982 Isuzu Forward JCR500S

Hindustan Motors also entered into a technical collaboration to manufacture engines and transmissions for the Contessa in the late 1980s at a newly constructed state of the art engine plant at Pithampur near Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The petrol engine commonly known as Isuzu 1.8 Petrol would later serve in the Hindustan Ambassador with Multi Point Fuel Injection until 2015. Initially the joint venture produced 4-cylinder G180Z 1.8L petrol engines and 5-speed transmissions. Later, an 2.0L Isuzu diesel engine was added to the production line to power the Contessa and the Ambassador. The technical collaboration lasted from 1983 to 1993. The Indore plant has since expanded to manufacture engines for a number of other manufacturers like Opel, Ford and Mahindra.

Hindustan has a joint venture with Mitsubishi that began in 1998. The plant is located in Thiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. In India, Mitsubishi offered the Pajero, Lancer and Outlander with mild refreshes until early 2010s, but as time went by, their sales trended down. Mitsubishi launched Pajero Sport in 2012 with a 2.5l DI-D Variable Geometrical Turbo Diesel engine mated to a 5-speed AT (in 2WD only) or MT (in 4X4 only). Montero was also offered for a brief duration. Mitsubishi also launched the latest generation Outlander in 2018. The Lancer Evolution X was launched in India in 2013 as a CBU import, but it did not sell well in India due to the high price of ₹50 lakh.

The sixth generation Mitsubishi Lancer had a long production run in India

• 
  Mitsubishi Pajero
• 
  Mitsubishi Outlander
• 
  Mitsubishi Pajero Sport
• 
  Mitsubishi Lancer

• Hindustan 10 - based on 1947 Morris 10, replaced by Hindustan 122.
• Hindustan 122 and Hindustan 14 -based on 1948 Morris Oxford MO Series - replaced with Landmaster.
• Baby Hindustan based on Morris Minor.
• Hindustan Deluxe - based on 1948 Chevrolet Deluxe.
• Hindustan Landmaster - based on Morris Oxford series II - 1954 to 1957. Made way of Ambassador range.
• Hindustan Ambassador - ceased production in May 2014. It was one of the longest running models in the world for 56 years.[10]
• Hindustan Contessa - based on the British Vauxhall Victor FE with Isuzu diesel or petrol engines.
• Other Hindustan Ambassador derived models - Pushpak, Trekker and Porter - ceased production since April 2008 Multiutility Vehicles based on Ambassador chassis and engines (Half Ton Driveaway Chassis).

• Lavender - a small truck with 1.8L petrol engine or 1.5L Diesel engine
• MASCOT T-480 FC - commercial truck.
• RTV Ranger - Minibus