Archive for the ‘Tata Nano’ Category

Tata Nano – It isn’t exactly a car for the two-wheeler rider

Tata Nano

When Ratan Tata first got the concept of the 1 lakh car his main objective was to give people a cheap means of transport so that they could migrate from the unsafe 2 wheeler to the more safer option- the 4 wheeler. He aimed at those those family’s who could not afford a car with his Nano.

But latest reports reveal a shocking tale. According to Tata Motors’ dealers around 60-80 % of the Tata Nano buyers already own one or even two cars and buy the Nano to commute inside the city. Many customers who shared their views, reveal they use this car for city runabouts.

Their Honda’s, Skoda’s and Toyota’s are too big to maneuver or park in the congested confines of Indian cities. So whether it be picking up children from school or drawing out some money from the local bank, or bagging a few vegetables from the market, the Nano hits the sweet spot.

Sure, the car is not used for highway journeys but in the city, it is a complete automobile. Another point to be noted is that of the 1,00,000 Nano’s booked only 20% were the basic no frills versions- another indication at the fact that not many 1st time buyers are eying the Nano.

It was believed that the sales of 2 wheelers will be dented when the Nano arrives but that is hardly the case. People also seem to appreciate the cute looks of the Nano.

No wonder Tata is contemplating on launching a more deluxe version of this car to further enhance its appeal!

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Entry posted on September 9th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Tata to re-open Nano bookings during September 2nd week?

Tata Nano

Four dealerships of Tata Motors in Delhi will open bookings for the Nano during the second week of September, reports India Today.

The company had stopped registering bookings last year and since then it has turned its attention towards delivering vehicles.

A Tata Motors dealer -

Even though there is no formal announcement we have already received the go-ahead for re-opening the bookings for the car

Deliveries of the freshly booked Nanos are said to begin in the first week of October coinciding with the festive season.

India Today also mentions the diesel model will come eight months later. A CRDI engine is expected on the diesel model, most likely to be the smallest diesel engine with CRDI technology to enter mass production.

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Entry posted on September 1st, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Another Tata Nano goes up in flames in Delhi

By Kaustubh Shinde

What is the one common thing between the Lamborghini Gallardo, The Ferrari 458 Italia and our very own Tata Nano

They spontaneously catch fire!

Another Nano has caught fire in front of the MCD office in south Delhi on Friday. Fortunately, no one was injured in this accident. An onlooker explained that there were sparks coming from the rear of the car and as soon as the ignition was turned on, the flames emerged from near the engine and went on to completely engulfed the car. The fire fighters were rushed in but by that time the car was destroyed almost beyond recognition.

This will be the 6th one to be involved in such an incident. Previous events happened in Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi and Vadodara.

Debasis Ray, the spokesman for TATA motors -

We will find out why this incident has taken place and, if necessary, take all requisite steps. While this incident has taken place, you need to acknowledge that there are thousands of Nanos running absolutely normally. We have also launched a subsequent program to inspect all the Nano cars already sold to customers

The company has managed to sell more than 50,000 Nanos since the deliveries began in July 2009. It has also built a dedicated plant in Sanand, Gujarat to meet the rising demands. It is also about to open a second round of bookings in a phased manner.

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Entry posted on August 28th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Maruti 800 sedan to be China’s answer to the Tata Nano!

Jiangnan Alto vs Tata Alto

Ever since the Nano was unveiled back in 2008 & got the ‘cheapest car in the world’ price tag, China has lost sleep. It isn’t only China but many other international auto makers who are watching the Nano closely. There is the Renault-Nissan Bajaj small car, GM along with SAIC is trying to make a low cost hatch & there is the Chinese company Geely which also announced that they will make the world’s cheapest car.

Now there is yet another company, again from China- Zotye which has made it official that they will make a car that will cost less than the Tata Nano. Zotye is the same company that in partnership with Premier Motors sells the Rio SUV here in India. Zotye Holding Group said that they will make a sedan on the second generation Alto platform, which they purchased in 2007 from Suzuki, to save costs that will rival the Nano. They’re looking to position the Alto sedan at 1.35 lakh rupees ($2,900 US Dollars)

The JiangNan Alto is essentially the Maruti Suzuki 800 ! (Another Indian connection eh?).

So basically the company will make a sedan out of that platform! Engine options are expected to be in the range of 0.8 liters to 1.1 liters with a power output 37 & 44 BHP.

But do you think this car will be reliable enough to actually ‘drive’? Sure Chinese can make cheap products but can they make a reliable one? The Nano was built from scratch & the Nano Superdrive proved its robustness. Will the Chinese be able to beat that? Lets wait & watch.

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Entry posted on August 27th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Tata Nano bookings to opens shortly; Prices to go up

Tata Nano

The ‘Lakhtakia’ car as it was always called is not so anymore. As Tata re-opens the booking for the Nano, the company is hiking prices of the car due to obvious reasons such as rising input costs. The standard variant of the car with the BS 4 compliant engine is expected to retail at 1.4 lakh , CX at 1.66 lakh & the LX at 1.93 lakh (all ex-showroom Mumbai.)

The company has opened bookings in the state of Kerala in order to garner sales during the Onam festival, followed by Mumbai around the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi & then Gujarat just before Dussehra followed by rest of the country.

The Sanand plant is now fully operational & the company is aiming at producing 20,000 units per month & 2.5 lakh units per annum by the end of this financial year. Tata is also aiming at providing Nanos off the shelf to the customers starting January next year.

Tata had earlier stated that about a lakh of customers who had booked their Nano last year itself will be informed about the price they have to pay at the time of delivery. An official statement from the company on the prices is expected shortly.

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Entry posted on August 26th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Tata Nano TV Commercial in the works

Tata Nano silver

Tata Motors’ Nano has maintained an extremely low profile since its launch in March last year. Tata never had to aggressively push the Nano through print or electronic media as newspapers featured the car in their headlines anyway.

Since the Nano has faced delays in reaching customers, many analysts believe that Tata has missed out on numbers due to long waiting period. It is fatigue or poor memory that’s plagued customers.

To revive the interest among buyers now that the Sanand plant is up and running, Tata is about to launch its first TV commercial for the Nano. The company is expected to make an announcement on the reopening of bookings shortly.

Nisha Singhania, executive vice-president for Rediffusion Dentsu Young and Rubicam Pvt. Ltd -

We did do a lot of research and spoke to consumers. That’s when we realized that the people the car had been made for, had not had a chance to experience it…they were just going by hearsay. So, the objective of the campaign is to urge people to go out there and experience the car and decide for themselves

The Tata Nano is perhaps the first car where the customer deposited his money on without test driving it. When the bookings were open the last year, some showrooms didn’t allow customers to experience the car in the fear of that the few demo models dispatched to them would crumble at the hands of the curious visitors, who were uncertain if it was made of plastic or metal.

The Nano’s commercial will bring out the car’s safety, speed, mileage and space. It will be based on the same message on the print campaign “Now You Can.”

The commercial will be aired on television channels during the festive period. It was filmed in the Nashik countryside. We have already witnessed how pretty the Nano is on tape, so we’re expecting something really nice. Nothing associated with the Nano will address anything more than the basic needs, so don’t expect a celebrity in the Nano’s commercial!

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Entry posted on August 25th, 2010 and filed under Commercials, Tata Nano

Tata Nano bookings to commence on August 15?

Tata Nano Europa

Image (Tata Nano Europa) for illustrative purpose only

Autocar India reports Tata Motors will reopen bookings for the Tata Nano nationwide on August 15. Bookings have been declared open on August 3rd in Kerala predicting strong demand for this car before the Onam festival in the state.

The company began production of the Nano at the mother plant in Sanand, Gujarat earlier in June and has been working constantly to increase production since then.

Tata Motors, according to Autocar India, hopes to boost volumes to 20,000 Nanos a month by March 2011, which will make it the second largest car manufacturer in our country.

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Entry posted on August 11th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Tata Motors testing Nano CNG in Pune?

Tata Nano colors

Maruti is ready with five CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) models and will put them on the market all in one day this month. So what has this prompted Tata Motors to do?

Ans – Develop a Nano CNG!

If a report on Velociti Magazine can be believed, Tata Motors is developing a CNG variant of the Nano and is busy testing it on the outskirts of Pune. The grey vehicle with black bumpers spotted testing had the CNG sticker on its windshield and looked like it was in the final stages of development.

Tata Motors is developing a diesel engine for the Nano which is widely believed to be a sub 800cc engine with CRDI technology from Bosch. Tata has also shown interest in the electric vehicle space by exhibiting a Nano Electric prototype at the Geneva Motor Show back in March. Tata is also working on a higher displacement petrol engine for the export markets. Developments such as these don’t make the Tata Nano CNG a hard one to swallow.

CNG is catching up quickly in India and the retail web is only getting wider and denser. Running a car on CNG comes second only to electricity in terms of cost.

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Entry posted on August 3rd, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Tata looking to triple Nano production to meet demands

tata nano production

Tata Motors is looking to triple the production of the Tata Nano by March 2011. Tata’s Sanand facility which is fully operational right now has an annual capacity of 2,50,000 Tata Nanos. This capacity would be achieved in phases and currently the plant is producing 10,000 Nanos a month. Tata is looking to triple this number to meet high demands.

A Tata Nano vendor to PTI -

At present, vendors are supplying components for an average of about 10,000 units of Nano a month. They have been told to scale it up by three times by March 2011.

Tata Nano is in huge demand and with Tata already having and order backlog of near one lakh Nanos, it is only wise for Tata Motors to ramp up Nano’s production to clear delivery backlogs and start delivering the car to new customers at showrooms without a long waiting period.

Tata is also looking to export the Tata Nano to Nepal and sources say there is heavy demand for the Nano in Nepal even without the car being officially launched there. This could also have led to Tata planning to ramp up production.

Tata Nano is also manufactured at Tata’s Pantnagar plant and this plant is producing 50,000 units annually. Tata Motors would be looking to have a combined output of 3,60,000 units from Sanand and Pantnagar facilities by 2011-12.

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Entry posted on July 5th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Quote of the Day

Tata Nano LX

The bookings for the cars will probably start at the end of this year. We are getting as much as 20 enquiries a day for Nano. We already have a list of 4,000 persons who are most likely to buy the car. Our 100 engineers are soon leaving for India to get trained about the technicalities of Nano. Trainers from Tata Motors are also coming here to impact necessary training to our mechanics.

An official at Sipradi Trading – the authorized distributor for Tata vehicles in Nepal, while speaking to a Nepalese daily on the Nano’s plan for their country.

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Entry posted on July 5th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Video – Tata Nano superdrive

A compilation video of the Tata Nano superdrive which concluded yesterday after 26 days of high-voltage action through 36 cities in India has been posted on youtube. The nine Nanos were driven around India and were shown to thousands of potential customers who would wipe away false perceptions created by a few burning Nanos.

The car has come through with flying colors and proven the point that inexpensive isn’t unsafe. But is it enough?

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Entry posted on June 29th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Tata Nano Superdrive succesful – Nano’s reliability proved ?

Tata Nano superdrive

The Tata Nano Superdrive which was flagged off by Ratan Tata himself on June 2, 2010 has successfully concluded after covering 36 cities all over India in a span of 26 days.

The ‘Nano Superdrive’ was organized to prove a point and that being the Nano’s reliability. The issue of the Satish Sawant’s flaming Tata Nano created a stir and to erase memories of the burning Nano from the minds of the public, 9 Nanos took off to all corners of the country to prove the car’s safety and reliability.

Now that the 9 Tata Nanos have returned to base successfully (or rather safely), the public would be confident about the Tata Nano’s safety and could even go and buy one, but does such a country-spanning drive make the Nano a better car? Has Tata sorted out all the reliability issues?

Though the Tata Nano can satisfy the dreams of millions of Indians waiting to own a car, would the ownership experience be as good as the ‘dream coming true’ part? Would the car be trouble-free? Would customers like to have the car for a long time?

These questions do not have a clear answer now, but in a year or so, the real verdict about the Tata Nano would be out from its customers.

click through to read the press release and view images

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Entry posted on June 29th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano

Tata Nano to be three times costlier in Nepal?

Tata nano nepal export

Tata Motors would soon begin exporting the Tata Nano to Nepal from next month onwards, reports Indian Express. The Nano however would not be as cheap as it is in India, as Tata could price the vehicle at 7 lakh Nepali Rupees (NPR) which equates to 4.36 lakh Indian Rupees.

The cost of the Nano is tripled in Nepal, thanks to the 300% excise duty. The price the Tata Nano, at which it would be sold for in Nepal is in fact much more than what the Tata Nano Europa could cost.

Sipradi Trading Company would be Tata Motors’ distributor in Nepal. Sipradi Trading’s CEO, Shambhu Prasad Dahal said the company will receive the first lot of 5 Tata Nanos by July end. These 5 Nanos would be put for a test run in Nepal before Tata starts exporting large volumes of the Nano.

The Tata Nano is a perfect car for developing countries and Tata would look at many similar export markets which need low cost cars and where there are no stringent safety regulations.

But with Tata Motors having an order backlog of more than one lakh Nanos, the export of Tata Nanos to foreign markets could anger customers who have been waiting for their Nano patiently right here in India.

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Entry posted on June 28th, 2010 and filed under Tata Nano
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