In celebration of the landmark anniversary, PEUGEOT took on the challenge of recreating one of the most iconic 206 adverts – ‘The Sculptor’. The advert was originally filmed in Jaipur, India, in 2003 and depicted a young man converting his Ambassador into a 206 after seeing the car in a newspaper advert. The man makes the modifications by repeatedly crashing his Ambassador into a wall and encouraging an elephant to sit on it to make it resemble the PEUGEOT 206. To see the original 206 advert from 2003, visit: PEUGEOT 206 'The Sculptor'
In homage to this, the French carmaker converted a Hindustan Ambassador into the PEUGEOT 208 GTi, using a team of engineers at Ajeenkya D Y Patil University, based in Pune, India. Headed up by Ashish Nar, the team spent several months constructing the vehicle. View the recreated advert here.
Mark Pickles, PEUGEOT Marketing Director, said: “It’s been 15 years since ‘The Sculptor’ advert appeared on TV screens and as PEUGEOT has recently acquired the Ambassador brand, it seemed a fitting way to mark the 206’s anniversary year. The outstanding work that the Ajeenkya D Y Patil University team has put into the vehicle modification has been incredible to watch.
“The anniversary of the PEUGEOT 206 is a great opportunity to recognise the vehicle’s success in becoming PEUGEOT’s best-selling model of all time. On sale between 1998 and 2008, the 206’s reliable build and iconic design made it a popular choice of vehicle.”
Ashish Nar, Head Designer at DYPDC School of Design of the Ajeenkya D Y Patil University, said: “It has been an exciting and very valuable opportunity working with PEUGEOT to create this concept vehicle. To see the original Hindustan Ambassador parked in the workshop and to then be a part of its transformation into a new, shiny PEUGEOT 208 GTi is extremely rewarding for all of the team, in particular the students who had the chance to be a part of this project.”