Tata Motors' plans to roll out the first of its Rs 1-lakh (Rs 100,000) small car, the Nano, from Uttarakhand, were boosted today after a high-powered state government committee under Chief Minister B C Khanduri allotted it nearly 45 acres of land to expand the Pantnagar unit.
The Tata Europa is a jazzed-up version of the Nano that we got to see at the Auto Expo in India last year, but there are some important changes.
The smallness of the car is perfectly suited for the hills, some owners said, because it is easy to park, convenient to negotiate bends, economical to run and fun to race on narrow roads.
At its current price - $1,819 per troy ounce - the gold alone adds $4.68 million.
The Indian conglomerate is also studying investments in automobiles, software and hotel businesses, as well as biofuel in South American markets such as Brazil and Argentina.
The company has delivered 1,000 cars to buyers and is in the process of delivering another 2,000 units.
In March this year, the anticipation of Nano launch coupled with a sluggish demand had made a sharp dent in used car prices by 25-30 per cent. Dealers had feared a further dip in prices by around 10 per cent.
The tiny Nano car made by India's Tata Motors has been described by company director Jamshed J. Irani as having huge potential. Even as analysts claim that the Nano could rock the international auto industry and put millions of new Indian drivers on the road, Irani told The Washington Post in an interview that while Tata is producing only about 100 units a day at present, it hopes to ramp up to about 1,000 vehicles a day next year.
It's going to be an 800cc twin cylinder diesel engine with a rated power of 40.2 bhp.
It signals a major jump in the global acceptance of India as a hub for small cars, but maintaining this will require a lot more including, for starters, large production volumes.
United States President Barack Obama, who heads the world's richest economy, on Sunday checked out the world's cheapest car -- Nano. When the powerful US couple was introduced to Ratan Tata, who heads the $72 billion conglomerate, President Obama told First Lady Michelle that this is the person who created the $2,500 wonder car. Eyewitnesses said that Michelle immediately expressed the desire to see the car that revolutionised the auto industry.
"All Indian cities are already struggling with traffic flow problem due to various types of vehicles on the road, lack of need-based road and traffic design and engineering and the unchecked growth of private vehicles and with the entry of the new cheap car Nano on the road, the situation is likely to get worsen," Justice Kailash Gambir said.
Booking amount financing available from Rs 2850; retail auto loan available at interest rates starting from 9%; insurance premium starts at Rs 3,468 (ex New Delhi).
History will be created in Mumbai on Monday evening when Tata Motors launches the world's least expensive car, Nano -- a car that can redefine personal transportation in modern India.
In a bid to push up sales, Tata Motors on Wednesday announced a special finance scheme by which a customer will get a loan for the Nano within 48 hours.
Addressing an event in New Delhi, Gen Pande also said the recent global developments have underscored that the security of the nation can neither be outsourced nor be dependent on the largesse of others.
Just months ahead of the launch of its Rs 1-lakh Nano, the world's cheapest car, automaker Tata Motors has started the process of expanding the dealership network for passenger cars.While the applications have already been invited for dealerships in Delhi and adjoining Ghaziabad, the company officials said that similar exercise is also being carried out in other parts of the country, wherever there is a need for expansion.
What does it take to drive around India in a Tata Nano? A bit of gumption, is what Vanessa Able would say. A fascinating account of a young lady's improbable journey in the world's cheapest car.
Faced with steep fall in sales of Nano, Tata Motors said it will reposition the budget car as `a smart city car' with added features such as power steering, apart from introducing a CNG version.
India's first woman photographer Homai Vyarawalla, who is eagerly waiting to drive a Nano after she parted with her 55-year-old Fiat, has been offered the first 'people's car' by a Tata Motors dealer in Vadodara.
While the Nano is priced at Rs 1.12 lakh, Bajaj Auto's RE petrol variant costs about Rs 90,000, while its diesel variant is pegged at Rs 1.2 lakh. Analysts also say Bajaj can drop prices without any problem. "Bajaj Auto has been in the three-wheeler segment for 60 years. Which means their plants are fully depreciated and they can afford to lower the prices, which other manufacturers can't do," says a top executive from a competing three-wheeler brand.
The issue is not the right to own a Nano but the right to a slice of the public subsidy so that everybody is mobile, says Sunita Narain.
The Nano may ultimately be a winner but cannot turn around the company in the near term. For the present, Tata Motors continues to stare at a weak demand for both commercial vehicles as also cars. While CV volumes were lower by 51 per cent y-o-y in January 2009, compared with a fall of 46 per cent y-o-y in the December 2008 quarter, to revert to the mean could take a while given that the downturn in the economy persists.
If Mr Tata really wants to do something for India, wouldn't he have done better if he had developed a tiny car with serious fuel emission and fuel economy innovations, instead of simply a brand?
Nano, the wheels that millions of Indians have been waiting to drive, on Monday hit the roads and waved goodbye to Tata Motors' enduring image as a truckmaker.
Tata Motors' planned vendor park at its 1,100-acre Nano project site in Gujarat may be delayed by at least six months, triggering speculation among suppliers of a delay in the Nano project. The delay is mainly on account of global recession, which has slowed down demand for vehicles, according to Rajkot-based suppliers.
Meanwhile, pre-construction work has begun at the Nano plant site in Sanand near Ahmedabad. Spread across an area of 1,100 acres of land, the plant will bear an investment of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).
The country's largest lender SBI on Friday said it has been appointed as the sole booking agent for the world's least expensive car, Nano, from the stable of Tatas.
Speaking about the field that India could enter when it came to commercial application of nano science and technology, Rao suggested that India foray into manufacturing sensors.
The land acquisition row seems to chasing the Tata's Nano car project even out of Singur as farmers of villages near Sanand, the project's new address, have staked claim on the plot.
Tata's small car might just have managed to steal the thunder from the annual boat racing festival in Kerala. For a special offer for Onam, Keralites have decided to give oars a rest, and test-drive the Nano instead.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the interim Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman offers the "guarantee" of strengthening the foundation of a developed India and carries the "confidence of continuity".
Rakesh Oberoi, a Tata Motors dealer, said he was getting hundreds of enquiries related to Nano everyday. Tata Motors was given over 950 acres of prime land by the state government at Pantnagar for setting up its manufacturing facility.
Nano was launched in Sri Lanka late last month as the first foreign destination for Tata's smallest car.
Now Delhi-based Sona Koyo, which is supplying steering systems for the Nano, and Minda Group, which supplies electrical switches, have confirmed that they and other component suppliers have suggested a price rise to Tata Motors.
In an effort to make the world's cheapest car more affordable, Tata Motors is exploring the possibility of providing loans for the Nano either through Tata Motors Finance, a wholly owned subsidiary, or existing financing channels.
It was also sequentially higher than in March, when 8,700 Nanos were sold.
Gold Plus, the jewellery division of Titan Industries, said it will come out with the world's first 'jewellery car' by embellishing a Tata Motors Nano with gold designs as it celebrates 5,000 years of Indian jewellery.
Sabeer Bhatia, founder of hotmail, may give some concrete shape to his proposed Nano City project, to be set up near Panchkula in Haryana, on June 9, when he visits India to finalise equity structure with real-estate player Parsvnath Developers.
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