The e Amby (electric Ambassador) launch
date is out. Dilip Chhabria has revealed the launch plan and specifications of
DC2’s upcoming electric car. DC2, formerly DC Design, is calling the model
being reported as the ‘electric Ambassador' by the media ‘e Amby’. The name of
production version could be different, and we know that it’s definitely not
going to be or include ‘Ambassador’ because that’s a trademark owned by Groupe
PSA, the parent company of Citroen.
The DC2 e Amby measures approximately 125
mm more in width and 170 mm more in length than the Hindustan Motors
Ambassador. Its technical development has been outsourced to a Swiss company.
With a low annual sales target of just 5,000 units, the development costs had
to be kept low, and electric cars do offer that advantage over ICE cars.
Chhabria is more confident about the DC2 e Amby’s success compared to the DC
Avanti’s because of it being a more accessible and practical car, and also a
product that involves lower financial risks.
The current plan is to offer the DC2 e
Amby with four electric motors, one mounted on each wheel. However, this could
be changed to two electric motors, one mounted on each axle. It will probably
come down to what the majority of the customers will be able to afford at the
end. Chhabria says that this EV will have a 0-60 km/h sprint time of 4 seconds.
Its chassis will be an aluminium space frame with the central part made of
carbon composite.
4 prototypes of the e Amby have been built
so far and all of them are in Switzerland for development. DC2 could launch it
either by itself or sell it to another company as a project. Chhabria wants it
launched by the end of 2021.
The undisclosed Chinese company interested
in acquiring the DC2 e Amby project wanted to put it to production in India.
However, looking at the response the car has received in the last 10 days, DC2
is more inclined towards releasing it in the market by itself. The so-called
electric Ambassador was supposed to reach India at the end of this month, but
because of the lockdown, the month of arrival could be June now. DC2 is yet to
finalise the design, after which it’ll have to send the same to its vendors for
tooling, which is yet to be cleared.
