Compact size, easy maintenance, madness and reliable engine, this was the main characteristic of this most beloved car which was launched in india in late 60s and last unit was rolled out in 2000.
In the 70s and 80s Era, all the Indian cars were manufactured with the joint venture with foreigner automobile brands so was this one most iconic car.
So the car was launched in india with various names but one name which got very popular and remained companies signature product was Premier Padmini.
Origin of the brand
Officially this car brand was established in 1903 and manufacturing its products in india for very long time till India got its independence. After independence this car company starter manufacturing their trucks and cars in the name of premier limited.
For almost 20 years they manufactured cars and trucks with joint venture of Plymouth and Dodge and their products were being sold under the name DG, Plim, Disoto and Fargo.
Chrysler and Indian department of were very satisfied with the build quality of all these vehicles.
Journey of Padmini
After expired license with Chrysler and Plymouth premier limited had signed a contract with fiat which was European car manufacturing company so they started working on a new project together.
Fiat was already having a saloon car in Europe with the name of Fiat 1100, so with some differences in design and power premier was launched in india with the name of Fiat 1100 delite.
The car was small in size and engine performance from its European version.
This car was having a 1089 cc carborated 4 cylinder petrol engine which was producing 47 bhp and 70 nm torque which was sufficient for a compact car with only 895 kg weight according to Indian roads. And top speed of this car was 140 kmph.
Transmission was having 4 manual gearbox, So One thing which made this car different it was its gear stick which was mounted on left side of steering wheel and it was something astonishing experience to drive this car.
First big change
When in 1973 company got its license revoked with Fiat as government was turning into a nationalistic government and it wanted only domestic companies in india by banning foreign companies.
Then premier decided to change its name from Fiat 1100 delite to premier president but government didn’t like this model name so they stopped using president word in their model and they changed it with name Padmini in 1974.
Padmini name was taken from Royal princess from 14th century which turned a positive step for this company. As sales of this model hiked up after adapting a new Royal name which was elite signature.
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Introducing new technology in car market
After successful of first major updates company decided to work on some innovative plans to give more value to Padmini customers.
Premier decided to make this car more fuel efficient so engineers reduced its power from 47 bhp to 42 bhp which really improved some fuel economy.
To balance this reduction in power, premier introduced some advanced features in car. Like air conditioner, tinted glasses, leather seats and many more introductory features.
These all features were totally new for upper middle class people at the time mid 70s and they were considered a luxury in a car.
Padmini in 90s
After Indian economy got liberalized, many foreign car companies started launching their cars in Indian car industry which started outlining Padmini which was favourite of Indian families from many years so premier decided to bring some changes in their car.
New varient of Padmini was launched with the name of premier Padmini 137D. The biggest change in Padmini was its new 1370 cc diesel engine which was producing 48 bhp and 71 nm torque.
Top speed was same as before 140 kmph but there was huge chabge in fuel economy because now this car was giving 24 kmpl.
Another major change in Padmini was its new gearbox which was a floor mounted nissan manual 4 gears transmission. Other changes in the car was related to the interior where this car got a bucket seats and modern front grill.
This car’s new varient was also known with the name of Premier Padmini S1.
Rival to the Premier Padmini
At the time of mid 60s and 70s there was another big names which were very popular and common in Indian car buyers, one was ambassador from Hindustan Motors and another was Standards herald.
Both were well established cars in Indian car industry but in comparison of them premier Padmini was more modern, fuel efficient, simple and more reliable car.
Another reason of success of the Padmini was its compact and reliable factor because on the other hand ambassador and standard herald were united kingdom based cars which were bulky cars with large engine which weren’t as sufficient as Padmini for Indian customers.
Success of Padmini in every sector and Era
Padmini had a big fan following due to its charm on Indian people by its appealing and driving experience.
The first city which adopted Padmini to their daily life was Mumbai, where people were using this car as their family car so it became favourite of taxi owners.
This car was perfect choice for taxi as it has very reliable build quality and compact size which was making it very easy to maintain for transport business or individual taxi owners.
On the other hands this iconic car was featured in many popular bollywood movies. Many famous bollywood artists like Rajnikant, Amir khan m. murti are also proud owners of this symbolic car.
This car after gaining popularity in Indian cinema became first choice for youngsters, housewives, businessmen, taxi owners in 70s and 80s
Manufacturing plant of this car was in Mumbai so this city was the first city to have this car in big numbers as taxi under black and yellow colour theme but other cities in india such as Kolkata Chennai can be also seen with lots of Padmini cars as their taxi fleet.
Downfall of this iconic beauty
This car was dominating Indian car market from 60s and even its rival ambassador and herald couldn’t outplace this car from market. But there were change in car industry which started affecting its sale.
First impact was done by Maruti Suzuki in mid 80s after launch of their model 800 which was modern lighter and sleek designed car entering in Indian industry. This was a big move from Maruti Suzuki which brought some thunder and revolutionary step in car market.
Soon after starting of 90s government changed its policy which opened gate for lots of foreign brands to Indian automobile industry. Liberalization brought various options for Indian consumers to choose more modern and efficient cars and Padmini started loosing its popularity among new customers.
Another reason for families to change their decision was, Padmini was overly used by taxi owners which no any family wanted their car to see as taxi when there were options available in less money.
On the other side there were mass internal disputes in company and manufacturing plant which were becoming biggest barrier in the growth of premier limited.
Upper management team was replaced so many times which was causing several changes in management decisions which was not leading its engineers and workers in right direction.
There were dispute between workers and management which were causing labour strike and unstable management.
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Out side of the manufacturing plant company was facing issues with dealers and service center which were involved in some fraud activities and it wasn’t good sign for a company to survive for long time.
Filing legal cases against premier limited
All these chaos were leading company to a legal battle which were a big challenge for company to stay in business. After a huge labour strike in Bombay manufacturing plant company has to shut its operation which caused a big criticism in media against premier.
On the other hand consumer court was receiving plenty of complains against company for not returning booking amount to the customers
The cases were in high numbers which lead to form a association against premier to fight a legal battle against premier promoters and management team. It resulted in filing criminal cases against entire management.
Conclusion
Despite its tragic end, this brand served Indian customers for almost 40 years with its iconic car Padmini. Many families were blessed with this car as their first family car and big numbers of people had crush on it after seeing it on road and old bollywood movies.
After setting new benchmark of compact and efficiency with modern luxurious features this car will be always a milestone in Indian car history.