Tata chief claims Nano is no flop

Ratan Tata who pioneered the concept of an ultra cheap car like the Tata Nano, is on the verge of retirement. It has been his personal project that saw the reality in the form of the Nano. The car which made waves at the time of its launch for its size and price did not however make much of a dent amongst the people of the country. Ratan, however is of the opinion that this is a temporary phase, further aggravated due to a mistaken marketing strategy

A number of issues had also worked against the Nano including a few Nano cars that caught fire. During its launch the car had been priced at $2,600 which would have enabled all those who owned a two wheeler in the country to move up to a four wheeler.

Ratan Tata yet has hopes for this car to turn out to be the all weather family car that he had dreamt it up to be.

In his own words, “I don’t consider it a flop. I consider it that we have wasted an opportunity.”

He reasons that the advertising had not been adequate as well the dealership network too had not been well addressed.

He said, “I believe we will see a resurrection of this product as we move forward. Whatever stigma has been attached to it will be undone.”

There would be a Nano even for the US and Western European market in the near future though this model would however have more features and not be as run down as the Indian Nano.

The Nano that we get in India now has just one wind wiper, had no cup holder and one gets this Nano at INR. 140,000. The Nano claims a mileage of 55.5 miles per gallon or 23.6 kmpl.

The start of Nano trouble for the Tatas began with farmers protesting the takeover of their land for the building of the factory where the Nano was to be built. The company had to finally shift their site which lead to some delay in the production. Then came the case of Nano’s catching fire for which Tata went on to replace 140,000 starter motors and that too free of cost.

The only silver lining — sales of the Nano has now come up to 7,466 units last month from a low of 509 in 2010.