Initially, there were concerns that the rudimentary nature of the Nano, priced at about 1,400 pounds, might fall short of stringent European safety standards, but these have diminished following its impressive performance at the Motor Industry Research Association last week.
Riding on the Nano wave, Direct-to-Home major Tata Sky on Tuesday announced a promotional scheme for consumers booking the people's car, offering a 20 per cent discount on a new connection.
Tata's small car Nano may not be able to enter Europe due to stringent safety and emission norms, leading German luxury carmaker Audi said joining the list of auto players, who are sceptical about the prospects of the world's cheapest car.
Tatas' drive into Sanand area for their Nano project has given a major fillip to Mumbai-based real estate major K Raheja Corp to set up its support infrastructure projects in the area.
India's first woman photographer Homi Vyarawalla, who has been eagerly awaiting the delivery of Nano has threatened to cancel the booking if the car is not delivered to her within a week. The company had offered to deliver her the 'small car' on priority basis after accepting deposits from her about two months ago.
Even after people rushed to various centres to book the Nano on Saturday, the last official day for doing so, dealers undertook bookings on Sunday and Monday, breaching the time-line set by Tata Motors.
Many vendors who had lost their investment in Singur, West Bengal, after being forced to abort production there, are yet to decide on relocating to Sanand. Most of these suppliers will address the demand for components from their existing plant locations to meet this year's Nano production needs.
The farmers of Khoda and Bol village on Tuesday claimed that a large portion of the proposed 1100 acre for Nano is their ancestral property and the land was given for the cattle farm which falls under Anand Agriculture University. The state government has given half of the 2200 acres of land to the Tatas.
In all, Tata Motors received 206,703 applications for the Nano. It also said that deliveries to the first batch of 100,000 applicants will begin in July and is expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2010. The company is presently manufacturing the Nano at its plant in Uttarakhand; production at the car's mother plant at Sanand, Gujarat, will only start later this year or early next year.
The Nano does not look or feel like a very 'cheap' car. It is a very thoughtfully designed piece of kit, with an agreeable level of fit and finish. Nor would you expect the kind of space it has in its interior. The two-cylinder 624cc engine hisses like a modern scooter before waking up and settling to an idle. The cable-linked gear lever helped Bijoy Kumar Y select first and presto, we had motion!
Zahir Haq lost his farmland to the Nano factory, but still applied for a car, when bookings for the Tata Motors Rs 1 lakh car opened at Singur on April 9. And he is not alone: an appreciable number of Singur residents booked the Nano through the bank branches in the area, with the State Bank of India branch as the nodal point.
Mother plant apart, the project involved 54 ancillary units, which meant enormous employment potential. People would have had the experience of seeing a modern industry.
The innovations of the $2,500 car carry important lessons for Western executives
In 2013-14, Tata Motors produced 21,358 Nano models against the plant capacity of 250,000 vehicles.
Tata Motors, India's largest car maker by revenue, is exploring the possibility of adding more models to the production line at its Sanand plant in Gujarat.
India's largest automotive group said it had received 203,000 pre-paid orders worth Rs25bn ($507m) for the Nano, the world's cheapest car, which it put on sale for a 16-day booking period which ended on April 25.
The Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, could be cruising on Pakistani roads if the governments of India and Pakistan remove bottlenecks standing in the way of joint ventures and investments between the two countries.
The company is offering three types of flats. A one-room flat with a small kitchen in an area of 283 square feet, a one-room flat with a large kitchen in an area of 360 square feet and a one-bed room flat with a hall and kitchen in an area of 465 square feet.
Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest carmaker, may after all do what everyone expects it to: take on Ratan Tata's Nano with its own low-price car. For long, there has been a will-they-won't-they kind of speculation about how Maruti will protect its entry-level consumer base from the Nano, whose lowest variant is likely to cost Rs 1 lakh in some places and about Rs 1.26 lakh in some others. The higher variants may cost Rs 1.5 lakh or more.
Tata Motors is 'at a very high stage' in finalising a production site for its small car Nano at an overseas location, which could be either in Latin America, South East Asia or Africa.
Code-named Pelican, bigger hatchback with new petrol and diesel engines may hit the road next year.
Selected inner structural panels will be pressed and assembled by Caparo at a new facility in Singur, adjacent to the Tata Nano manufacturing plant in West Bengal.
Recently, another version of the Nano, one with a compressed-natural-gas engine, was launched.
low-cost plans dovetail perfectly with the company's decision to make affordable new models.
One of the Nano vendors lays off 75 workers, others on wait-and-watch mode.
The car so far known by the code name 'Kite' will be a hatchback.
The world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano, is being "refreshed" to realise its full potential, says Ratan Tata.
The Nano, with a MH 04 ED 7015 licence plate, is on its maiden trip to the US and was unveiled at the Detroit Science Centre in Detroit on Friday.
Tata Group said that Tata Motors should target exports of the car in the developing countries like Brazil, China, Indonesia and Russia, where the growth rate is more than 10 per cent.
Tata Motors will distribute all Nano cars from Pantnagar through its new subsidiary, Tata Motors Distribution
Tata Motors now eyes the US, European and African markets.
The Tatas are planning to introduce its small car Nano in Latin America in partnership with Italian auto maker Fiat.
Enthusiastic owners who drove the Nano through dusty roads, highways and steep terrains, hundreds of kilometres at a stretch share their experience.
The company said it has begun intimating customers, who had retained their booking but are not among the first 100,000.
Tata-promoted Taj Hotels may decide to add the Nano to their line of chauffeur-driven cars used for guest transfers.
Uttarakhand government has written to Tata Motors, asking the auto major to sell a majority of the Nano cars through its new subsidiary, Tata Motors Distribution Co Limited, which was recently floated at Pantnagar. Through the sale of the Nano cars and other commercial vehicles which are being manufactured at Pantnagar, the state government is hoping to earn additional tax collections of Rs 100 crore to Rs 200 crore through a 12 percent VAT.
The chat show host has added to his famous car collection.
Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata did live up to his promise of delivering a Rs 1 lakh car. But, that promise is now costing Tata Motors dear.
Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata did live up to his promise of delivering a Rs 1 lakh car. But, that promise is now costing Tata Motors dear.
The police on Friday arrested ten persons in connection with torching of a Nano car at Nizgossaingaon village in Baksa district of Assam on Wednesday. The ten were picked out of the 65 persons rounded up by the police on Thursday night from the area.
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