Calcutta, March 6 :    Calcutta, March 6:  Backtracking from its earlier plan of completely phasing out Contessa cars, Hindustan Motors has decided to give it a new lease of life, relaunching it as an inter-city luxury car. Addressing a press conference here today, G.L. Reddy, vice-president (marketing) said: 'We are currently selling 10 to 20 Contessa cars per month and it has a niche market even today. We want to give it a last try. We may come up with a fresh marketing strategy for Contessa after a couple of months.' Sales of Contessa stood at 200 units per month in 1997-98, but dwindled with the entry of luxury cars in the Indian market. 'Even today, the car is good for a long drive. So we want to cash in on this parameter,' Reddy said. A. Sankaranarayanan, managing director of HM, had said last year that since sales of Contessa were not picking up, the company may have to stop its production at the Uttarpara factory. HM today launched power steering facilities for its Ambassador 2000 DSZ and Ambassador Classic 1800 ISZ. 'Our internal research had indicated that a power steering version of Ambassador has been a long-standing demand of our customers. The new Ambassador with power steering is an amalgamation of both style and comfort. Customers will experience smooth driving and easy parking,' Reddy said. The ex-showroom prices (Calcutta) of Ambassador Classic 2000 DSZ and Ambassador Classic 1800 ISZ with power steering will be Rs 4.64 lakh and Rs 4.21 lakh respectively. The company will also provide retro fitting facility for its earlier variants at a cost of Rs 33,000. The company expects the sales of Ambassador to go up by about 3,000 units in the next financial year due to the addition of the power steering facility. HM has sold about 13,000 Ambassador cars, 2,500 rural transport vehicles and about 2,000 Trekkers till February. Strike at Uttarpara Both the Citu and the Intuc unions at Uttarpara factory have called a strike on March 8 to protest the company's decision to freeze wages, adjust leaves against non-production days, non-payment of annual increment to the workers and non-settlement of annual bonus for 2000-01. Ajit Chakroborty of the Intuc-affiliated unions said, 'If the management fails to settle these issues we will go in for a bigger movement.'