Tata Steel is in talks for supplying outer body panels to Nano

Tata Steel is in talks for supplying outer body panels to Nano, the sensational new small car from Tata Motors, ready to hit the roads
in July this year.

“We are in discussions with Tata Motors for supply of external body panels to Nano. We are already supplying internal components for the car,” Anand Sen, vice president, flat products, Tata Steel, said on the sidelines of a Tata Steel press meet in the city on Friday.

Tata Steel has already set up a dedicated production line at its Tubes Division in Jamshedpur to manufacture ‘hydroform’ tubes for Nano. As part of this, tubes manufactured here undergo a special ‘hydroforming’ process. This makes them ready for use as engine cradle inside the ‘Nano’ car. Through this process, Tata Steel tubes division has also contributed in reducing the weight of the small car. The dedicated press shop at the tubes division has the ability to ramp up production capacity of engine cradles in step with scaling up production of ‘Nano’.

These engine cradles conform to a special design created specially for the ‘Nano’ by Tata Steel and Tata Motors Limited. For all practical purposes, Tata Steel is also the sole and exclusive supplier for these parts to the Nano. Hydroform tubes are used by global automakers in developed markets, since they reduce the number of weld joints and make a car light weight.

Tata Steel now plans to take its dalliance with Nano a step further. “We now want to provide body panel support to Nano, in addition to meeting its internal demand,” Sen said. In effect, this implies Tata Steel’s advanced Cold Rolling Mill (CRM) in Jamshedpur, which already supplies to leading automakers like Maruti Suzuki and Tata Indica, is also likely to supply cold rolled (CR) and hot rolled (HR) steel to ‘cover up’ the Nano, too.

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