Ambassador : King of the Road, Ghost of the State

In this episode of That’s the Thing, Jimmy, Kavya, and Atharva slide into the wide, unyielding backseat of an Ambassador—the car that defined Indian power, politics, and pothole strategy for over five decades. It was a diesel beast. A monocoque marvel. And a boot space that no hatchback today can touch. Modelled after the British Morris Oxford, the Ambassador became the official ride for every babu, neta, and dignitary that mattered. By the 1960s, it wasn’t just on the road—it was the road. Jawaharlal Nehru may have swapped it out for a Cadillac when foreign guests arrived, but Lal Bahadur Shastri made his preferences clear: “I want them to know that the Indian Prime Minister is traveling in a car made in India.” It had fans beyond the government. R.K. Laxman, creator of The Common Man, only drove a black Ambassador. His cartoons? Usually featured one too. But by the '90s, everything changed. Liberalisation flooded Indian roads with Marutis, Daewoos, and Hyundais. Suddenly, spotting a non-Ambassador was a game 90s kids played from the backseat. And soon enough, that backseat was in a Santro. In 2002, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first PM to ditch the Ambassador for a BMW—security, they said. By 2014, production of the Ambassador ended. Quietly. Then came another blow. On May 1, 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially ended India’s Laal Batti (red beacon) culture. Overnight, the red-domed Ambassadors vanished—no longer a moving symbol of VIP authority. And just like that, the car that once announced power fell silent. Still, it lingers. In some parking lots. In the collective memory of a nation that once measured status by how high the flagpole rose from the hood. It may be called the white elephant. But try denting it—you’ll see who wins. Discover more shows in English, Hindi, and Kannada: https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/radio-azim-premji-university Follow us on Instagram: @radioazimpremjiuniv Credits Produced by Jimmy Xavier. Radio Azim Premji University: Akshay Ramuhalli, Bruce Lee Mani, Gorveck Thokchom, Kishor Mandal, Kruthika Rao, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Ram Seshadri, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi, and Velu Shankar, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi, and Velu Shankar.