Possible look of the Tata eco car for Thai market
Contrary to recent media reports, Tata Motors reaffirmed its stand on the eco-car project in Thailand. The company announced it will stick to original plans of manufacturing a sub-1,300 cc mini car by 2012 which has nothing to do with the Nano, specially for the Thailand market.
The car engineered to suit local needs, will share little or nothing in common with the present line-up.
Reports written in Thai newspapers recently suggested Tata would alter its investment plans original due to poor economic conditions. The eco-car project is a government initiative to attract car makers from around the world to set up facilities in the country and make eco-friendly cars.
The rules of the project require a minimum of 100,000 units of small passenger cars to be manufactured annually. Special tax incentives are also offered to the participants to make it a very attractive proposition.
Toyota Motor , Mitsubishi Motors , Nissan Motor , Honda Motor and Suzuki Motor are Tata’s newly found enemies peers in Thailand, who are all working on their own eco cars for the Thai market.
Source – Reuters
Funny that the specifically mentioned “will share little or nothing in common with the present line-up”.
So I suppose it will share similarities with the next generation model (say an Indica? or some low cost domestic Indian market sedan?)
Requirements for Thai passenger car markets is not that different from other developing countries like India. Doesn’t really make much sense to develop a model specifically for the Thai or South East Asian market when the same model could be adapted for India or vice-versa.