Tata Nano Launch

One of the most important events in the history of automobiles on our planet has
happened. The Tata Nano has been launched!To prepare ourselves to welcome
the most-anticipated Indian car ever, Overdrive did a seven-part Nano launch
special starting March 16, 2009. As you read through this series, we will bring
you the history of people's cars from around the globe, from the beginning of
automotive history to today. We will look at the tortuous path Tata Motors has
had to tread to bring you the Nano, and we're not just talking about the
problems with the factory either. We will look at the innovations that Tata has
invented to ensure that the Nano is a real car in every sense of the word, at the
unreal price tag which has caught the imagination of the world. And finally, just
before the launch we will look at who intends to compete with the Nano and just
what they are up against.

History of the people's car

The people's car is not a new idea. At various times in history, a manufacturer has either
recognised the demand for one, or has been forced by the need of the hour to create one. In
every case, the car that has resulted has shared some common attributes - their inexpensive
price tags, their reliability and in time, their iconic status. One thing is for sure, this is not the
complete list of people's cars, but these four, we believe, are the most important icons of that
popular category of cars.

Ford Model T
The Model T, or Tin Lizzie, predated other people's cars by a decade and was the first
production car. This you know. Henry Ford's goal was simple, "I will build a car for the great
multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run
and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the
simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man
making a good salary will be unable to own one - and enjoy with his family the blessing of
hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces." And in hindsight, he succeeded on all of those
fronts, right? The 20.2hp, 2.9-litre inline four was reliable and powerful enough to drag the T
to over 65kmph. Prices began at $850 in 1909 but fell to about $450 by 1915. Which was dirt
cheap compared to the other cars at the time, which tended to stay over the $2,000 mark.
Today, that would peg the Ford Model T at roughly $9120 or Rs 4.7 lakhs.

Fiat Topolino
It wasn't quick, it wasn't fast, it was difficult to fix thanks to its size. But Fiat's Topolino
('Little Mouse', the Italian name for Mickey Mouse) was pleasing to look at, drank almost
nothing and proved to be spacious. And that was enough to make it a legendary car. The Fiat
500 (official name) was produced from 1936 to 1955, although truth be told, it almost never
got made.

The plan for the car was in the building back in 1919, but though brochures were printed, the
car wasn't minted. In 1934, Agnelli, Fiat's boss visualised the 5,000 lire people's car that
would carry two adults and 50kg of stuff. Dante Giacosa, a young aeronautical engineer
worked on the powertrain while Rudolfo Schaffer created the two-part body. The 500 was
ready. It cost 8,000 lire, then, way over the target, but the buying public didn't notice, really.
Until 1955, without any major mechanical mods, the Fiat 500/Topolino ran a 569cc four-
cylinder side-valve water-cooled engine mounted ahead of the front axle. It could hit
85kmph, return almost 17kmpl and was priced at Lire 8900 (roughly $440, then), which,
adjusted for inflation works out to $6620 (Rs 3.42 lakhs) today. In the 1955, the new 500 Fiat
launched turned out to be so iconic, that the new one is remembered today as the Fiat 500,
and not the Topolino.

Tata Nano Special - The Dream

Ratan Tata met an extremely select group of senior editors before he unveiled the Nano at the
Auto Expo. This remains the most detailed interaction he has had with journalists since the
Nano hype hit the global buzzwire and sent it spinning into a frenzy.

It seems the seed that will blossom into the Nano was sown years and years ago in Kolkata
(then, Calcutta), when Mr Tata would use the iconic hand-pulled rickshaws. He would
consider a solution to the problem of his own personal safety and of the obviously hard life
that the puller must go through. His visits to plant showed him a similar problem - a sort of
inherent disregard for the comfort of and to some extent the safety of the workers. This
brought him to the conclusion that safety is affected, among other factors, by fatigue.

Obviously, this applies to our lives in many aspects. And perhaps the one situation relevant
here is a pretty common sight - family of four on a scooter. We've all been there before - kid
on the front, second kid in mother's arms, and dad riding. In the days of the Lambretta, riding
on the spare wheel was a special privilege, even. But is that really safe? We all know the
answer. Add in the normally greasy Indian roads, especially during our fairly violent
monsoon, and poor visibility at night, and you have a rather precarious situation.

While Tata admits that scooters have their place - their a step-up from bicycles and so forth -
it started him thinking of a solution to the problem. He admits to thinking about adding, in
effect, a roll cage. He considered adding two wheels to the back for stability - a cheap trike,
even. Then he spotted BMW's C1, which was, in effect exactly the thing he'd been thinking
of.

Tata Nano: The Innovations

So, how exactly did Ratan Tata and his team get the price of the Nano where
they wanted it? Before you start screaming cost-cutting, there's more to it than
just that. The Nano team scratched their heads, put on their thinking caps and if
you're a management type, they even brainstormed. It's no wonder that the
Nano and patent applications appear to have gone in hand in hand.

At this moment, a fair amount of information on how the Nano was brought to its
intended price tag without compromising its design brief - 'a proper car' - is yet
to be announced. But here is what we do know.

1. ECU
The ECU, or engine control unit, is a central part of any modern day motor. It is
in effect a small computer that controls all aspects of engine operation. Given
the sheer complexity of even the simplest engines, they can be expensive. The
complexity is not inherent, it is needed because an engine today must satisfy
emissions norms, sound norms, produce an acceptable spread of power, return
an acceptable level of economy and still more. This complexity makes it crucial
and in the case of the Nano, expensive. However, Tata worked with Bosch to
take the ECU down to an unprecedented price. Among the solutions employed, is
the fact that the sensors used by the ECU to govern the engine are down to half
the usual number. And from what we hear on the Nanos testing in and around
Pune, the engine works perfectly.

2. Wiper
Sometimes it's in the details. Ratan Tata's direction to the designers at IDea - to
reduce the wiper count to one has been well-publicised. The usual subtext was
that it neatened up the car's looks. While true, it's a part of the cost-conscious
design that's ensured that careful design ensures lower costs without
compromising useability.

Tata Nano Special - The Factory Factor

In the meantime, a queue of state governments formed to offer the Nano project. While
Dharwad in Karnataka seemed to be winning, Gujarat bagged the Nano project. The new
plant is expect to come at on 1100acres of land at Sanand in 2010. Tata will (re)spend Rs
2,000 Crore (Rs 20 billion) on the new plant. Located 45km from Ahmedabad, Sanand will
be the new home of the project, making an estimated 250,000 cars per annum.

The movement of the plant will have a serious impact on the project in the short term. Had
the plant been running at full capacity, Tata would have been making as much as 250,000
Nanos a year, scalable to 350,000 which would have been far better in the face of what is
expected to be an unprecedented deluge of demand. With the Pune and Pantnagar plants only
able to make a maximum of 5000 Nanos (our estimate), the queues for people who will book
the Nano will be long and tortuous and for once, it will probably not be the manufacturer's
fault.

Reports in the media already suggest that Tata will open bookings only for a month, and this
window will close when one lakh bookings are done. State Bank of India is reportedly the
sole booking agent and while the actual down payment is not known - Rs 70,000 is being
estimated or rumoured - you have to pay Rs 500 to register your booking. No one has ever
done this with a car, as far as we know.

Industry estimates suggest that had Tata had their new plant on stream, the actual number of
potential bookings could be as much as six times that figure!

Tata Nano Special - Future Powertrains

In the months of waiting from the time we have seen the first Nanos at the Auto Expo to now,
Tata has offered a glimpse repeatedly into the future of Nano. Here is all the information on
the powertrain front.

1. The 3-cylinder engine

Tata's plan for a three-cylinder engine for the Nano surfaced with the Nano Europa at Geneva
2009. The logic is pretty simple. The Europa is a bigger car than the Nano and will have far
more mandatory equipment on board - ESP, Airbags, ABS etc. It will also have to run at
significantly higher average and peak speeds than the Indian Nanos, which means a powerful
motor, relatively speaking, becomes essential to the whole package. Tata's 35PS 2-cylinder
parallel twin, one must assume isn't going to cut it. Or, even if it did meet the requirement,
the Nano team obviously thought something bigger would be nice.

In packaging terms, a three-cylinder parallel twin shouldn't add too much to the actual
dimensions of the engine - although we would reckon that almost all of the extra length of the
Nano, is being given over to the space the new motor needs. Perhaps the simplest solution, on
the face of it, is an engine that isn't all-new, but an extension of the current motor. If that
assumption, our assumption, is correct, that this should point to an engine of between 800-
950cc, which should bring the horsepower count up to about 42-48PS. Which should give the
heavier, bigger Nano just enough juice to hit 130kmph. Which is not an incidental top speed,
it's the speed limit on most of Europes auto-routes.

2. The Diesel
Japan is actually the country famous for its small super-diesels. Their kei-jidosha (smallest
car class) vehicles have always had 660cc engines or thereabouts, so a small diesel, in that
sense isn't ground-breaking new technology. However, if we assume that Tata met the same
resistant that they got when they were trying to outsource the development of their 624cc
petrol twin, then the diesel would also have had to be setup in house. Again, the engine
capacity isn't known, but it would be reasonable to assume a similar displacement, since the
space to squeeze the motor is in limited.

Tata Nano Special - Alternatives

For a lakh of rupees here are three alternatives to the Nano

Past sense
Think you can do better than getting a micro-miniaturized hatch for the same amount of
money? Well you may not be too far from the truth.
The economic slowdown and rising interest rates have sent the second-hand market spiraling
downward. All of a sudden, there are a host of options to choose from and don’t be surprised
to find some incredibly sweet deals on cars you've always wanted to own.

Of course, used Alto prices will hit an all-time low and there's never a better time to pick up
this car. Look out for the early 1.0 litre cars, which were absolutely delightful to drive. These
will be even cheaper than a lakh of rupees. Other cars to look out for from the Maruti stable
will be the older Zen and Wagon R. Don’t discount a tempting deal on the Zen Estilo even,
which--though not under a lakh--will certainly be somewhere in that ballpark.
For a few thousand over a lakh, you can even get your hands on a fully loaded Santro. Again,
the litre-class equation weighs heavily since several people want the additional power. Power
steering, power windows et al and it could still be available for a little over a lakh.

But here’s the really juicy bit: second-hand dealers claim to be able to source Hyundai
Accents, Ford Ikons and--if you are really patient--even a late 2000 or early '01 Honda City
for just around a lakh and half, perhaps even lower. Now for a car that large, spacious and
with a very usable boot, the additional tens of thousands are fairly justified.

Tata Nano First Drive

Questions, questions and more questions. How much will it cost? Will it be an
embarrassment of a car? Is it worth two 100cc bikes? Is it half an 800? Will it cause
congestion and choke us all to death? Everybody has something to ask and a lot to say about
the Nano so here are ten things you simply must know about the Nano.

1. It looks fabulous.
Love at first sight, that’s what Tata Motors set out to do (no, really) and Justin Novak,
formerly of the I.D.E.A design house and now with Triton design in Italy (along with most of
the old I.D.E.A crew that worked on all of Tata Motor’s designs), has penned what will
definitely go down in time as a classic. Much like the Beetle and Fiat 500 the Nano is
inherently right, a small car of such appealing lines and a happy countenance that no matter
what your financial ability you will love it. This has the ability to become the ultimate
classless vehicle; something that will appeal to rich, middle class and poor folk alike – and
which could spawn a whole range of cool T-shirts and stuff! Until it becomes a common sight
clogging up our roads (and it will, but that’s not Tata Motors’ fault now, is it?) this will turn
more heads than Bipasha Basu streaking across the road.

2. Interiors are as impressive.

Okay it is all very simple and functional but in such a small car having the speedo in the
centre actually improves aesthetics. And it has the cutest warning light in the world, a little
yellow outline of the Nano with a spanner running across it – beautiful! The standard Nano
gets rexine seats and a single spoke steering but the deluxe version we spent a day in has full
fabric seats (rather good looking with that hole in the headrest much like a rally cars!), a
three-spoke steering wheel with a rim in soft-touch plastics, two-tone grey dash with very
good fit and finish and air-conditioning too. The air-con uses a 60cc compressor but delivers
enough cooling power to cool the voluminous interiors quickly.

Fit and finish, and I kid you not, is very good. Of course having only a few components
means there’s not many panel gap issues to deal with but on that front it actually feels better
put together than the Indica Vista. Having the speedo is the centre obviously means this dash
can be used in left and right hand markets. The central console is flanked by a scooped dash
which can hold nick-knacks and everything has rounded edges to make it safer in a crash.
There is no glove box but there are two cup holders and map pockets in the doors.
The doors are ultra-light (and of course feel flimsy) and have an integrated armrest, door pull
and coin holder. It uses a combination of rexine and fabric and at the front there are power
windows on the deluxe version while the rear gets manual wind down windows. The deluxe
also gets central locking.

How Nano was built

No other car launch in the history of Indian auto industry has received as much global press as the
"people's car", the Tata Nano. For good reason. A report from Business Today

No other car promised to revolutionise motoring as the Nano has. Clever marketing apart, some frugal
and out-of-the-box engineering has gone into the making of Nano. BT's Krishna Gopalan and Kushan
Mitra met the Nano's design team at the Engineering Research Centre in Pune to put together this
report.

It's not yet a week since Ratan Tata unveiled his dream car at the Auto Expo in Delhi to
unprecedented global media, well, hysteria, but at Tata Motors' sprawling plant in Pimpri near Pune,
it's business as usual. There are no 'we've-done-it' banners festooned inside or outside the plant, no
puffed-up chests striding around the facility, or even smug grin on anyone's face. At the south-western
corner of the 160-acre facility, home to the Engineering Research Centre, where a young chief
engineer and his team of 500-odd engineers have slogged over the last four years, putting in 12-14
hours a day, six days a week, there's even less of back-patting. Instead, Girish A. Wagh, barely 37
years old, is thinking five years ahead - he's already got some designs ready for the small car, Nano,
variants that Tata Motors could offer in the years ahead.

Typical engineers? You could say so. But what's atypical about Wagh and his team is their handiwork.
They've just created automotive history, that too out of one of the most unlikely places on earth.
They've taken their Chairman Ratan Tata's dream - much like what Henry Ford had in the beginning of
the 20th century in the US-of offering Indians ultra low-cost cars and turned it into a reality. The
"people's car" unveiled on January 10 at the Auto Expo was stunningly good looking for the price tag it
sports: a bare Rs 1 lakh, or $2,500, for the base model. The feat has so shaken the automotive world-
from Detroit to Stuttgart to Nagoya-that Tata Motors' rivals, who never really considered it as a serious
threat in passenger cars, are scurrying back to their own drawing boards.

That's hardly surprising. At Rs 1-lakh, the Nano is the world's cheapest car and holds out the same
promise as Ford's Model-T did when it was launched in 1908 at a price of $825, and which is to make
motoring affordable to millions of Indians when it hits the road in September or October this year. Even
its 'deluxe' model, featuring air-conditioning and power windows, won't cost more than Rs 1.2 lakh on
road-a good Rs 80, 000 cheaper than the cheapest car currently in the country, the Maruti 800.

A breakthrough car

So, how did a company best known for its lumbering trucks (and much later, its sub-compact car,
Indica) end up designing a "cute-as-a-bug" car that its rivals said could not be built to the target price
of Rs 1 lakh? What sort of out-of-the-box thinking did the engineering team have to do? What were the
rules of car making that they had to rewrite? Before we tell you that, here's a quick look at the team
that built the Nano. The man in charge of the small car project is Girish A. Wagh, who was also very
closely involved with the design of the Ace, a four-wheeler that serves as a load carrier. E.
Balasubramoniam is the Head of Sourcing for the project. The graduate from IIT Madras is 45 years
old and was earlier with Maruti Udyog (now Maruti Suzuki). Nikhil Jadhav, 29, is possibly the youngest
member of the team. Jadhav, an alumnus of IIT Bombay, is the designer on the small car project.
Abhay M. Deshpande is Tata Motors' Assistant General Manager-Vehicle Integration at the ERC.
Deshpande, 44, is in charge of vehicle integration, vehicle performance and chassis design. Vendor
development is what Rakesh Mital, 44, is in charge of. He was earlier with Yamaha Motors.

While the Nano's design has received rave reviews, the team had to go through several iterations
before the style could be frozen. "The entire body was designed twice while the engine was designed
thrice," points out Wagh. If that sounds surprising, the floor was designed 10 times and the seats too
an equal number of times. Wagh recalls that the car's dashboard had two concepts running
simultaneously. Both had detailed designs with respective cost estimates. The one that was eventually
chosen was what the Nano team thought would look more attractive to the customer. "There were two
concepts and we thought the second one added more utility. We went for it since it was also more
contemporary" says Tata Technologies' Industrial Designer, Nikhil A. Jadhav. Some Tata group
companies lent their resources for the small car project and Tata Technologies was one of them.

The car had three concepts to begin with. "We picked the one that we thought looked the best, and
from that we made a full-scale model," says Jadhav. In mid-2005, one model was completed, which
then went through a stage of refinement. This was where the initial volume of the car was defined. "It
was here where we got into details like lamps and doors. From that point onwards, we actually did
another model, which was a second stage model. Eventually, a final refined model was done by
design house, I.D.E.A., which was brought here." adds Jadhav. The style for the Nano was frozen in
mid-2006-exactly a year after the first model was completed. Understandably, this stage was important
since it had to be in line with the cost targets. From then, the story was about engineering
development.

Engineering the Nano

According to Wagh, the prototypes were put in place with that design. Again, it was not as if the job
was done. Tata Group and Tata Motors Chairman, Ratan Tata, felt that a slight change in the front part
of the car was required. "Finally, we ended up increasing the length of the car by 100 mm," says
Wagh. It is not as if there is no room for further change in styling or design. By Wagh's own admission,
there will not be any change in the Nano's exterior although there could be a few changes in the
interior of the car.

While the bit about design and styling took a while, the decision with respect to having a rear engine
was less complicated. "We had decided on a rear engine four years ago. This was with the objective of
getting the best, optimal layout," states the Jai Bolar, Senior Manager (Development), ERC. If there
was one thing from which the focus could not be taken away, it was obviously cost. That was often
easier said than done, since the rising input costs were beyond the company's control. "Rising input
costs made our engineering targets difficult. For example, if steel prices went up, we had no choice but
to reduce the amount of steel in the car," says Wagh. Again, it was important to look beyond costs as
well. "The price of the car is what the customer pays in the beginning. Later on, what matters is the
performance of the car," he adds.

Ideas for the Nano came from unexpected quarters and they were looked at closely before a decision
was taken. For instance, in addition to the vendors, a small group of mechanics was part of the
development phase. This was really a part of the serviceability and accessibility workshop. Wagh
recalls that one of the suggestions was to have an additional opening on the rear floor which would
provide access to the intake manifold and starter. "We were trying to avoid this for cost reasons but the
mechanics were vehement," he says.

The importance of balancing design changes with their respective cost implications cannot be
overstated. Every design, therefore, had to cater to three key requirements-cost, regulatory
requirements and acceptable performance standards. As Wagh puts it, "We did not want to make
something that was an embarrassment of a car." Clearly, while the cost was hugely critical, the
company was unwilling to make any kind of compromise on other areas. Fuel economy, according to
Narendra Kumar Jain, Deputy General Manager (Engines), ERC, is a major driver for selling a vehicle
in India. "It was important, for instance, to ensure that the car could be manoeuvred in the city. If your
car requires less parking, then the material required is also less," he adds.

Of course, there was the advantage of having learnt from the Indica and the Ace. Wagh, whose father
was on the Indica R&D team, was very closely involved with the design of the Ace as well. "Clearly,
the Nano was a tougher cost target. In a commercial vehicle, endurance is of prime importance. It is
also important in the case of a car, but sometimes other aspects like touch and feel are more critical,"
he explains. Possibly, the biggest plus point through the launch of the Indica and the Ace is that the
development process at Tata Motors has matured to a great extent.

Costs, outsourcing and beyond

According to Wagh, every component in the Nano has been studied from a functionality, cost and
performance requirement. There was no other way to reduce costs. From an outsourcing perspective,
the company put in place an Early Vendor Integration Programme. "We had a lot of design inputs from
vendors that either facilitated manufacturing or brought the cost down. This could be for lamps or
seats, for example," says Balasubramoniam. Elaborating on the outsourcing for the lamp, he explains
that the surface was provided. "It was within that surface where the lighting mechanism had to be
made operational" explains Balasubramoniam.

The Nano is completely indigenised, save for the fact that it will be using Korean and Japanese steel
from Posco and JFE to begin with, as Tata Steel's expansion at Jamshedpur is not yet complete.
Importantly, over 85 per cent of the vehicle will come from outside vendors. Tier-I ancillary
manufacturers, based in and around the small car plant at Singur will manufacture complete sub-
assemblies. The logic for this, says Wagh, is to make manufacturing as simple as possible.
Balasubramoniam, meanwhile, has thus been flying all over the country, not only to the three
established 'auto' manufacturing belts in India - the National Capital Region (NCR), Pune,
Aurangabad, Nashik and Chennai - but also to the upcoming small car plant in Singur to plan the
layout of the vendor park. This is with the objective of ensuring that parts between vendors and the
assembly line move smoothly and just in time.

Not surprisingly, the vendors have had it anything but easy as far as the small car project is
concerned. There are those who thought that the pressures on costing were just not working to their
advantage. "We felt that it was not feasible for us to compete for the basic model of the Nano because
the costing was too tight," says Sanjay Labroo, Managing Director, Asahi India Glass, but adds that he
did plan to bid for the 'Deluxe model'.

Those who are on the project think it is worth the effort. "This car is not over-engineered like, say,
German cars are, this is a great example of frugal cost-effective and relevant engineering," says
Surinder Kapur, Managing Director, Sona Group, which has made the steering column and the
transmission. Lumax Industries too was heavily involved in the project. The company made and
designed the head and tail light fixtures on the car. "The opportunity to work on this car also gave our
engineers a chance to showcase their skills, because most other car products are designed abroad
and we just have to manufacture components to a specific blueprint. In this project we designed light
fixtures that meet all regulatory needs, fit the car and are low-cost", says Deepak Jain, Executive
Chairman, Lumax Industries. The company got involved in the project at a very early stage and Jain
thinks that was one major reason by which costs were reduced.

Keeping costs down was a major problem for vendors, and they found innovative ways around it. "A
long-life bulb that might last 10 years adds a lot to the cost, so we fit a standard-life bulb that met
regulatory and warranty issues but kept costs low," explains Jain. "When we figured out that the car
would be rear-wheel drive, we knew that the steering column could be engineered differently since the
front wheels would not hold the weight of the engine. So we kept the steering column hollow," says
Kapur.

Tata Motors, for its part, looked at various ways to cut costs across the spectrum. "For instance, a
normal wheel mounting has four pins while we have three. We have also reduced the thickness of the
bumpers," explains Wagh. That is, of course, apart from the fact that the car has only one wiper
instead of the more conventional two. Electronic sourcing has been another effort to cut costs. Wagh
goes back to a time when Tata Motors was recovering from huge losses - that was in 2001 - when the
company took a lot of initiatives to cut costs. "One of the ways we decided to do it was through e-
sourcing. It was used extensively for the Ace and now for the Nano. It provides good benefits as long
as product specifications are firm," he adds.

By Wagh's estimate, there has been a saving of around 10 per cent as far as the Indica and the Ace
are concerned. The actual numbers for the Nano are still being worked out. As things stand, the
standard version of the car - what is being referred to, as the Rs 1 lakh car in that sense - will not have
an air-conditioner or power windows or a central locking system. That apart, it will not have body-
coloured bumpers or fabric-trimmed seats. All these features are expected to be a part of the deluxe
model.

According to Wagh, in any automotive development programme, the cost reduction continues not till
just the time the car is launched but much beyond that. "Initially, we were looking at cost prevention,
which involved selecting a design concept with the least cost. Today, it is a clear cost-reduction effort,"
he says.

Safety issues

While there has been concern generally on the issue of safety, the small car team outlines the fact that
the Nano caters to safety norms at two levels. "The Nano meets all regulations in the Indian market.
The package protected car also meets all future regulations in Europe as well, which includes offset
frontal and side impact," says Wagh. Environment has been another controversial area, though the
company points out that all norms have been met. "Currently, the car meets Bharat III norms, which
are applicable in 11 cities while it meets the Bharat Stage II norms in the rest of the country. We will
meet the Bharat Stage IV and Euro IV requirements as well," says R. G. Rajhans, Project Manager
(Body Systems), Tata Technologies.

For now, the focus is on getting the car on the road, which Wagh thinks should be possible during the
second half of 2008-09 financial year, that is after September. It is expected that the plant in Singur will
produce around 1,000 cars per day. There are a couple of other things too that are being looked at.

"There are alternate fuel technologies under development such as CNG and LPG", he says and he
even hints that a future model "could have a diesel engine". If that is not enough, Wagh is also working
on technologies that Ratan Tata mentioned in an interview to this publication that the car "in the future
might well have continuously variable or automatic transmission." Wagh adds that the roadmap will be
to have a second generation of the vehicle in the next 5-7 years.

The Nano story, it seems, has barely unfolded.

Indian company Tata to launch Nano on

March 23
Indian automobile company Tata Motors will launch the much-awaited Tata Nano car in
Mumbai on March 23, 2009.

The cars will be on display at Tata Motors dealerships from the first week of April 2009.
Bookings will commence from the second week of April 2009.

Since it’s unveiling on January 10, 2008, the Tata Nano has evoked an unprecedented interest
in the India and abroad, with its website having recorded over 30 million hits in the past one
year and the creation of over 6,000 interest groups and communities.

ata Motors on Thursday said it will launch 'Nano', touted as the world's cheapest family car,
on March 23 in Mumbai and bookings will start from April this year.

The State Bank of India has been made as the booking agent for the much-awaited Nano car.
Speculation is rife that at least first one lakh cars will be sold for Rs one lakh.

Sources state that due to the shifting of the production unit of the car from West Bengal to
Gujarat, it entailed a cost for the company. Due to this reason, there are questions being
raised about the price of the car.

The car was unveiled at the Auto Expo in Delhi in January 2008 and a function on March 23
would mark the car's commercial launch.
"The cars will be on display at Tata Motors dealerships from the first week of April 2009.
Bookings will commence from the second week of April 2009," the company said in a
statement.

The company said that the booking process and other details of the Rs one lakh car would be
announced on the day of launch.

Source: zeenews.com

The Nano Is Finally Launched!

It's been a long wait since the world first set its eyes on Tata's promise to the people in
January 2008 and after the hassles of politicians in West Bengal and the consequent
shift to Gujarat which did delay the project to a certain extent, the Tata Nano has
finally been launched in the Indian market.

The launch of the Tata Nano is nothing short of historic. It's a moment that India, as a
country, has been waiting for and it has also been the sole reason to put India on the global
map for the Nano has brought about the thought of Indian ingenuity along with the fact that
India should be taken seriously as a global small car manufacturing hub. For Tata, the Nano
might just be a dream come true, but the way the cookie has crumbled has lead to the fact that
the Nano is possibly one of the biggest tools in public relations for the entire Indian
automotive industry. The world has waited for this moment with baited breath to actually
witness the launch of a production car so cheap. The Ford Model T might have changed the
way of production and the VW Beetle might have been the original people's car, but the Tata
Nano has stolen all the thunder, for this is a new era and in this day and age Tata has truly re
written the rules of production based on input costs.

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No doubt, this is a moment for every Indian to stand tall, sit proud and show their patriotism
for one man's dream has literally generated a phenomenon. The Tata Nano, a small car, a
cheap car, a car that critics thought could not be made, yet today it too stands tall in the
limelight for the world surely has its eyes on this little machine.

Ex
Trim level/ Ex Showroom Ex
Showroom
Variant Pant Nagar ShowroomMumbai
Delhi
Tata Nano
Rs.1,12,735/- NA NA
Std (BS2 )
Tata Nano Rs.1,20,960/- Rs.1,23,360/- Rs.1,34,250/-
Std (BS3 )
Tata Nano
CX Solid Rs.1,39,780/- NA NA
Paint (BS2)
Tata Nano
CX Metallic Rs.1,42,780/- NA NA
Paint (BS2)
Tata Nano
CX Solid Rs.1,45,725/- Rs.1,48,360/- Rs.1,60,320/-
Paint (BS3)
Tata Nano
CX Metallic Rs.1,48,725/- Rs.1,51,360/- Rs.1,63,320/-
Paint (BS3)
Tata Nano
LX Metallic Rs.1,70,335/- Rs.1,72,360/- Rs.1,85,375/-
Paint (BS3)

The booking amount of the three trim levels will be the same across the country as follows:

Trim level /Variant Booking amount (Rs)

Tata Nano Std. ( BS2 and
Rs.95,000/-
BS3)
Tata Nano CX ( BS2 & BS3)Rs.1,20,000/-
Tata Nano LX ( BS3) Rs.1,40,000/-

The Story Behind Making of Tata Nano

$2500 Car
After a prolonged wait, finally, Nano, the people’s car is made available to the customers of
India. The car priced at only $2000 is the world’s cheapest car ever made. Like the Model T
from Ford in 1909 or the Mini from BMW in 1961, this model may change the perspectives
of ordinary people about owning a car. To know everything about this revolutionary car, read
on.

The Engineering

• four-speed gearbox
• Rear mounted engine
• All-aluminium, two-cylinder, 623 cc, 33 Horsepower
• Multi point fuel injection petrol engine.
• This is the first time that a two-cylinder gasoline engine is being used in a
car with single balancer shaft.
 • rear-wheel drive

The interior is spacious compared to its tiny

looks from outside

Safety Standards

• The Nano’s safety performance exceeds current regulatory requirements

in India.
• Has an all sheet-metal body,
• It has a strong passenger compartment with crumple zones for impact
absorption.
• Intrusion-resistant doors
• Seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, and the rear tailgate glass
bonded to the body.
• Tubeless tyres further enhance safety.

Environment Concerns

• Tailpipe emission performance beats current regulatory requirements

• Has a lower overall pollution level than two-wheelers made in India
• A high fuel efficiency (20 km/liter) ensures low carbon dioxide emissions.
• We think that the carbon footprint will be less if people use this car as an
alternative to their luxury sedans in the city roads.
Variants of the base model

Source

Production capacity

Tata Motors will not be able to manufacture more than 50,000 units in the first year in the
factory of Pantnagar. After the dedicated factory at Sanand is built, it is expected to deliver
250,000 units per year. But the new factory will be operational no sooner than Jan, 2010.
We estimate Tata Motors to sell 50,000 units and 150,000 units of the Nano in FY2010 and
FY2011, respectively

Booking

You can book nano online or through authorized Car Dealers. Booking can also be made
through State Bank of India. This is the first time that they are charging a fee for booking.
The booking fee is a nominal Rs. 300 ($6 approx). You can pay for Nano using netbanking.

Advertising Strategy

Tatas are going in a new creative way for the No TV campaign. They are “looking at
unconventional mediums like web search, viral marketing and innovative public relations-
driven campaigns, where the news in brief is called ‘Nano news’ in some papers and
television advertisement breaks are called ‘Nano breaks.’ There will be many more such
innovations.”
Launch Date

It was unveiled on 10th January, 2008. Being officially launched now after a production
delay of six months due to the Singur Controversy, the car will be on display across the
country at Tata Motors Passenger Car dealerships and other select authorized outlets from 1
April 2009. The delivery of the first lot will start from July.

The Singur Controversy

Having said all these technicalities, it will still be incomplete if we don’t talk about Singur
controversy in a full report of Tata Nano. The project was initially declared at Singur, 40 km
from the West Bengal state capital Kolkata. It had turned into a battleground since march,
2006 because of a controversy. The main reason for the conflict arose from the land
acquisition methods of the government now ruled by CPI(M) which acquired 997.11 acre of
land which was necessary for the project. Some farmers refused to provide land for them on
the question of their livelihood. The opposition party TMC demanded return of 400 acres of
land from the acquired land for the farmers unwilling to sacrifice their land for the project.
After two and half years, and an Rs. 1500 Crore ($3 Billion approx) already invested in the
nearly completely built factory, they had to scrap their plan owing to increased agitation
among a group of people.

On Oct 3, 2008 global auto major Tata Motors announced the plant to be shifted to Sanand,
Gujarat in western part of India. There they have completed the remaining portion of their
work.

In Conclusion…

No matter what, some environmentalists are going against such cheap availability of cars in a
country of 1.2 billion consumers as it can prove to be too much for the nature and the govt. to
cope up with the pollution and traffic load if and after Nano becomes a hit. But, that
shouldn’t refrain us from being proud of what Tata Motors from India have done in
perspective of the global automobile scenario.