citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message premier ltd. type public company industry automotive machine tools engineering founded 1941 headquarters mumbai india 1 key people maitreya doshi chairman & managing director number of employees over 8 000 2 website premier.co.in premier ltd. formerly the premier automobiles limited 3 is a manufacturer of vehicles based in mumbai india . 1 the company is owned by the walchand group contents 1 history 1.1 liberalisation 2 models 2.1 assembled 2.2 previous models 2.3 current models 3 references 4 external links history edit plymouth savoy 1956 dodge kingsway 1956 28 hp 6 cyl wbe 1362 kolkata 2014 01 19 6408 fiat 1100 millecento was launched in 1954 fiat 1100 elegant launceed in 1955 fiat 1100 selectin 1958 followed by super select the company was established in 1941 and negotiatied with chrysler corporation for licenses to build a plymouth car and a dodge truck sold under the dodge plymouth desoto and fargo names starting around 1949 . in the early years quality was considered good by both chrysler and the indian department of defense . citation needed in 1949 parts were being made in india starting with simpler components and gradually building up to more complex pieces . two companies made parts for these vehicles premier and hindustan motors of calcutta . the early years of premier and hindustan were marked by very low sales due to the size of the market ; only about 20 000 vehicles per year were made in india in 65 different models . to prevent foreign companies from dominating by mass producing parts to be assembled into cars in india the government set up steep import duties on imported parts in 1954 allowing indian parts makers to survive . 4 premier licensed and manufactured a version of the fiat 1100 d beginning in 1964 continuing almost unchanged into the late 1990s . the car was initially marketed as a fiat 1100 delight and subsequently as the premier padmini with a 40 hp 30 kw 1100 cc engine and manufactured at the now defunct kurla factory in suburban mumbai . later models included the premier 118ne named after its 1171 cc nissan a12 engine and with a transmission from the nissan cherry a version of the 1960s fiat 124 built in a then new but now defunct factory at kalyan . the 118ne was considered a mid size luxury car in india until the influx of modern cars in the 1990s . liberalisation edit with market liberalisation premier teamed up with peugeot to build an outdated model of the popular peugeot 309 in india . initial demand was high but labour problems and poor dealer service led to problems which were compounded when premier also aligned with fiat to manufacture the fiat uno . peugeot pulled out of the venture around 2001 after only a few thousand cars sold . citation needed labour and service issues also plagued the fiat venture and a strike finally caused the plant to shut around 2001 . fiat and premier faced severe criticism in media . there were various criminal cases against its promoters and the consumer courts of india were flooded with complaints for non refund of the car booking . the promoters of premier automobiles have also been confronted with criminal cases in various consumer courts of india under section 27 of the consumer protection act . a customer association based at gujarat rajkot called pal car customer association has made various representations against the premier automobiles ltd. citation needed in november 2004 premier restarted operations by building a small diesel powered van called the sigma . 5 it was based on a 1980s mitsubishi varica design licensed from china motor in taiwan originally intended to be fitted with peugeot s tud5 diesel engine . the production version as finally presented in late 2004 instead had a hindustan built 2 liter isuzu diesel unit . it has 58 hp 43 kw and is mated to a four speed manual gearbox while the car offers from five to nine seats . 6 a multitude of other versions have since been developed and as of december 2009 the engine has been replaced by a 1.5 liter idi diesel with or without turbo or by the cng powered 1.8 liter 4zb1 both still manufactured by hindustan . 7 the facelift also meant improved suspension . 8 there was also a pickup version of the sigma called the premier roadstar . 9 today premier has two business segments engineering and automotive . the engineering segment has two activities cnc machine division and engineering while the automotive segment consists of light utility vehicles and sports utility vehicles . originally based in mumbai premier is now located at an iso 9001 certified plant in chinchwad pune . spread over 27 acres this plant now serves as the centralized research development and manufacturing for all activities . 10 in october 2009 premier re entered the indian passenger vehicle market with a compact suv named rio . 11 rio is assembled from ckd kits of zotye nomad i made by zotye auto of china and went on sale in december 2009 . 8 this vehicle is itself a poorly built copy of daihatsu s old terios model again from the 1980s models edit fiat 1100d which later became the much loved premier padmini had a long production run till 2003 premier 118ne assembled edit peugeot 309 fiat uno fiat 1100 103 1954 premier padmini taxi in mumbai dodge kingsway plymouth savoy plymouth belvedere fiat 1100 fiat uno peugeot 309 previous models edit there was also premier president that lasted for two or three years while padmini was transformed from 1100 d premier padmini derived from fiat 1100 premier 118ne derived from fiat 124 premier sigma a compact diesel mpv premier sigma lifeline an ambulance based on sigma platform premier sigma express a cargo carrier based on sigma platform premier sigma school van a diesel or cng school van based on sigma platform premier sigma tourist van a diesel or cng tourist van based on sigma platform current models edit premier rio 2012 premier rio india s first compact diesel suv rebadged zotye nomad i premier roadstar a compact diesel pickup premier roadstar tipper open and closed body tipper references edit a b premier contact us . premier.co.in . retrieved 2010 08 12 . annual report premier ltd. premier ltd . premier.co.in . retrieved 2011 01 01 . sealey mike . chrysler cars of india premier automobiles . allpar.com . retrieved 2011 01 01 . premier sigma . archived from the original on 2009 12 05 . krishnan srinivas 2004 11 20 . premier sigma van diesel . business standard motoring . retrieved 2013 09 21 . premier sigma india s first compact diesel van brochure pune india premier ltd. 2010 a b premier s sigma roadstar rio to hit the road in december . the hindu business line . 2009 11 25 . mazur eligiusz ed . 2006 . world of cars 2006 2007 . warsaw poland media connection sp . z o.o. p. 153 . issn 1734 2945 . about us . premier ltd. retrieved 14 december 2012 . premier rio . premier rio . retrieved 2011 01 01 . external links edit official premier automobiles limited website premier rio website premier s vehicle division website premier s machine tools division website premier s engineering division website premier rio reviews premier sigma reviews indiacar.com v t e automotive industry in india automotive industry economy of india transport in india indian vehicle manufacturers active ashok leyland asia motor works bajaj auto chinkara motors eicher force hero hindustan hradyesh kerala lml mahindra group mahindra reva mahindra & mahindra mahindra international mahindra two wheelers mahindra tractors mahindra truck and bus maruti suzuki ofmk premier sml isuzu swaraj mazda bengal enamal tara international tata motors tata motors cars tvs vfj defunct hero motors sipani standard indian foreign joint venture vehicle manufacturers active eicher polaris tata marcopolo ve commercial vehicles defunct hero honda mahindra navistar mahindra renault components anand group jai jk tyre motherson sumi systems rane rane engine valve zf electronics tvs subsidiaries of foreign companies bmw india bharatbenz mercedes benz india ford india fiat chrysler india ferrari india fiat india gm india chevrolet india opel india honda india hyundai india porsche volkswagen india volkswagen group sales india audi india porsche india koda india volkswagen india renault nissan india nissan india renault india toyota india design studios taco faurecia design center other acma of india auto expo nha of india category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title premier automobiles limited & oldid 738401191 categories automotive companies of indiamotor vehicle manufacturers of indiaindian automobilesmanufacturing companies based in mumbai1944 establishments in indiavehicle manufacturing companies established in 1944indian brandswalchand grouphidden categories articles needing additional references from june 2011all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from december 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages deutscheestifran aisitalianonederlandspolski edit links this page was last modified on 8 september 2016 at 18 57 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . 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