Premier Ltd(formerly Premier Automobiles Limited) is a Mumbai-based manufacturer of vehicles.Founded in 1944, the car first launched production by building vehicles under license from Dodge and Plymouth. In 1951, they began producing versions of the Fiat 500 for the Indian market. This was followed by the Fiat 1100 in 1954. In 1973, the Premier name was used on their vehicles for the first time, the Premier President, based on the Fiat 1100 as Premier Padmini. In 1984, they launched the Fiat 124-based Premier 118 and 138D models. In 2000, they launched production, under license from Taiwan's China Motor Corporation, of the Premier Sigma and Roadster vans and pick-ups.Premier Automobiles is an Indian automaker which flourished in the so called 'sudhakar' period from the 1950s till the early 1990s when India was closed to the world and imports. The company was established in 1944 as a result of successful negotiations with Chrysler Corporation in 1939, resulting in 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. In 1949, parts were being made in India, starting with simpler components and gradually building up to more complex pieces. Two companies made parts: 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.