Demand for Tata Nano peaks in Sri Lanka
Demand for the Tata Nano in its domestic market is far below what Tata Motors had expected though neighboring Sri Lanka is presenting a picture of stark contrast. For there is big demand for the Nano small car in that country so that the supplier there — Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO) is unable to cope up with the demand. Chairman/CEO DIMO, Ranjith Pandithage told the Business Times, “We have booked 600 cars and Tata in India is struggling to send them as they are unable to meet the demand. These cars are moving so well and the demand is really high.”
He also added, “It offers an incredibly spacious passenger compartment which can comfortably seat four adults and is priced at Rs 800,000 to Rs 1 million.” The Sri Lankan market got its first view of the Nano in June 2009 which was just soon after its launch in India which was in March 2009.
DIMO, as per Mr. Pandithage, now has plans to venture into the luxury sector given the boom the country is experiencing in the tourism market. The company is also opening up a driver training center which could be ready by February 2012. The training center is being built at a cost of Rs. 250 million and located in Suriyawewa. The company also has plans for extending its present land holding to the area in front of its offices which is located at Jetawana Road, Colombo 14. This area would be converted into a commercial vehicle facility site. Mr. Pandithage said, “We bought a land at Thotalanga, Colombo 14 (the former Ferntea Company land) at nearly Rs. 680 million to put up a state-of-the-art showroom service centre and are park for TATA passenger as well as Mercedes Benz cars. It’ll house our showrooms and sales facility.”
As far as future plans of the company go, he added that their Bosch Centre at Bloemendhal Road would be ready by next year and this at a cost of Rs. 250 million. The company also has plans to cater for Sales, Service and Spare parts (‘3S’) for which they would open up outlets at Trincomalee, Jaffna and Kilinochchi by next year.
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