Nano launches in India - with a Euro version due in 2011
Mar 24 2009 from Birmingham Post Editor Marc Reeves, in Mumbai
Birmingham Post Editor Marc Reeves reports from the Mumbai, on an extraordinary car launch.
The European version of the Tata Nano could be in showrooms as early as 2011, it has been revealed.
To cope with overwhelming demand for the £1,300 car aimed at India’s emerging middle classes, the Nano went on sale at its launch here via a bizarre booking and application process.
Only the first 100,000 applicants to be selected at random would get a vehicle – and some of them would have to wait more than a year.
Others would earn interest on their deposits until their car was ready – which could mean an even longer wait as Tata’s original production targets were slashed when political problems forced the company to relocate its factory to the other side of the country.
Market analysts believe Tata, which last year bought Jaguar Land Rover for a reported £1.1billion, may eventually sell up to two million Nanos a year, but Tata cannot now reach the levels of output it had hoped for and is expected to produce fewer than 80,000 this year.
It only moves into profit when it sells 350,000 cars and that is expected to take at least three years, said India Infoline analyst Jatin Chawla.
Despite the problems, chairman Ratan Tata said the Nano Europa could be ready in less than two years.
Speaking at the launch at the Taj Palace Hotel here in the Indian capital, Mr Tata said: “Today is a milestone in a journey we started six years ago as a concept based purely on an emotional desire to provide affordable and safe forms of transport to the families of Indians, who were exposed to the elements and usually ran on two wheels carrying a family of four in somewhat dangerous circumstances.
“The concept started with the question ‘how can we make two wheels safer?’ and ended with the Nano we see today.
“The Nano represents the spirit of breaking conventional barriers. From the drawing board to its commercial launch, the concept, development and productionisation of the car has overcome several challenges.”
Mr Tata’s optimism that there was a ready market for the cheap car was fuelled by the current economic downturn and the announcement that the 624cc vehicle would easily meet European targets with Co2 emissions of just 101gm per km.
“We met most of the goals we set ourselves, contrary to conventional wisdom and expectations,” he said. “We are at the gates of offering a new form of transportation to the people of India and later I hope to other markets in the world.”
In India, the Nano is widely seen as much more than just another new car launch. Shravan Garg, group editor of Bhaskar Publications, which sells more than four million Indian-language newspapers daily, said: “This is not a car. It’s a vehicle of change. It will change the face of society in India.”
The Nano launch coincides with a vast road-building programme across the country which will see villages that were previously unreachable by car opened up to access industry, employment and education, he said.
