Indian Autos blog

At the Geneva motor show yesterday, Mr. Ratan Tata, the chairman of the Tata Group shared his thoughts on the past and the future of the Nano. Launched back in 2009, the car carried high hopes for everyone including Mr. Ratan Tata himself as it was a dream come true for the middle class.

However the easily affordable Nano didn’t benefit Tata Motors with anything other than bringing worldwide publicity. Mr. Tata described it as an “opportunity wasted”.

The car which started it’s journey as the world’s cheapest car was engulfed not only by political and environmental controversies, but by fires and smoke. In these three years, Tata’s Nano has profited the company, less through sales but more through the publicity or the attention it has given the company worldwide.

Yet again, the Tata Nano is making news as the engineers and researchers in Pune, Lucknow and Jamshedpur are working on making some car parts out of the non-inflammable and non-toxic yet biodegradable cornstarch.

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Tata Motors is not resting until the Nano starts to outsell the Maruti Suzuki Alto. The automaker has just announced that it will be opening 230 dedicated showrooms Nano car in the next 12 months. Considering the 120 such outlets are already operation, the company is aiming a grand figure of 350 dedicated outlets for the Nano by the end of 2012.

The idea is to make the product approachable even in the distant and unreachable place. One of the key factors for the success of the Maruti Suzuki Alto is the massive web of the Maruti sales and service network.

From spreading out to neighboring countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal, indulging in diamonds and gold to celebrate 5,000 years of Indian jewellery, having a whacked-out sibling powered by a 1,600cc superbike engine and the lover-boy Valentine edition, to presenting itself in Europe as the crisis-ducking transportation solution, the Nano’s enjoyed a larger than life image.

In spite of people comparing it to Pokemon, asking it to be fitted with a fire extinguisher or calling it a sales dud, the Nano has found ways to fly through turbulent weather and emerge with the wings in tact.

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Valentine’s day is just around the corner. Your partner’s expectations are touching new highs. Roses, chocolates and champagne are just too bourgeois for your liking? Want to make your valentine feel really special? We have just the thing for you!

Tata Motors Goa dealer Auto Industries has launched a special Tata Nano Valentines Edition in Goa. Essentially, it’s a Tata Nano CX with some added features such as:

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Speculation is rife about Tata Motors investing in Jucu, near the Cluj-Napoca area of Romania after a report emerged on news service MediaFax. The county’s council chief Alin Tise said meetings were held with Tata officials but declined to elaborate on the matters discussed between the two parties. The investment value or the number of jobs stipulated is not yet known, it could run into millions of dollars.

What we do know is Tata’s trying to spread its wings with the Nano project. We’ve told readers how Bangladesh and Indonesia could get assembly lines for the Nano soon after the performance of the imported models is gauged.

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If you recall two years ago DC Design set off on designing a custom Tata Nano expected to retail for over one crore rupees. You won’t hear that everyday – no wonder it made headline news around the world. Newspapers in India ran the story days before the Auto Expo. Some publication went as far as reporting on an Auto Expo unveiling. It was not to be and all we got was the odd-ball body kits through Carnation outlets.

A recent report on The Hindu BusinessLine provides more insight on this elusive creation. DC silently finished the project last year adding goodies such as a drive-by-wire system akin to cars many times its actual price, LCD touchscreen and shipped the one-off Nano to a buyer in England who runs a company that supplies components to the Nano (did he mean Caparo?).

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After keeping their word to the Indian common man, Tata Motors think it’s about time to entice Indonesian masses with the launch of its home-grown hero, Nano. As per the reports on local newspapers, Tata Motors have already set up an office in Jakrata and intend to launch the car for the Indonesian market, sometime later in 2012.

At the initial sales stage cars will be imported directly from Tata’s Sanand plant in India. Later as the sales drive up the demand Tata Motors plan to assemble the Nano in Jakrata. The decision to build an assembly line will be taken only when Tata senses growing demand.