Tata Nano: Tiny, Cheap Car Launches This Week

MUMBAI, India — Tata Motors said it will launch its ultra-cheap Nano car in Mumbai on Monday _ a vehicle meant to herald a revolution by making it possible for the world's poor to purchase their first car.

But few predict the snub-nosed Nano will be able to turn around the company, which has been beset by flagging sales and high debt, anytime soon.

The Nano, which is priced starting at about 100,000 rupees ($2,050), is a stripped-down car for stripped-down times: It is 10.2 feet (3.1 meters) long, has one windshield wiper, a 623cc rear engine, and a diminutive trunk, according to the company's Web site.

It does not have air bags or antilock brakes _ neither of which is required in India _ and if you want air conditioning, a radio, or power steering, you'll have to pay extra.

Tata Motors has been hard-hit by the global downturn. Commercial vehicle sales, its core business, have been decimated as India's growth slows, and consumers have had trouble getting affordable car loans.

The company declared a loss of 2.63 billion rupees ($54 million) for the October to December quarter, and it has been struggling to refinance the remaining $2 billion of a $3 billion loan it took to buy the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co. in June.

Even the launch of the Nano has been scaled back.

The car is arriving six months late because of violent protests by farmers and opposition political party leaders over land, which forced Tata to move its Nano factory from West Bengal to the business-friendly state of Gujarat.

Company officials have said it will take at least a year to complete the new factory, and until then, Tata will only be able to produce a limited number of Nanos from its other car plants in India.

Tata Motors hasn't yet given details on production volumes, but most analysts doubt the company will be able to make more than about 50,000 cars in the next year _ a far cry from the 250,000 the company had planned to roll out initially.

Vaishali Jajoo, auto analyst at Mumbai's Angel Broking, said even if Tata Motors manages to sell 250,000 Nanos a year, it will only add 3 percent to the company's total revenues.

"That doesn't make a significant difference to the top line. And for the bottom line, it will take five to six years to break even," Jajoo said.

Still, in this new age of global thrift, the Nano sounds appealing to more than just the struggling farmers and petty businessmen across India that Tata initially had in mind for the car.

"What do you think the chances are that the Nano will come to America? Personally, I'd love one," Steven Smith, whose first car was a Volkswagen Dune Buggy, wrote recently on the Nano Facebook page.

Tata Motors unveiled the Tata Nano Europa, a slightly more robust version of the Indian model, at the Geneva Motor Show this month, with a planned launch of 2011. But the company has no plans to bring the Nano to America anytime soon.

Comments

[JimBozo]

06:46 PM on 03/23/2009

Back in the late '60s, I drove a Fiat 600. It did the job, and was actually fun to drive. As in all Italian cars, "the driver always goes first class, no matter how cheap the car." When traffic was jammed, I'd whip it up onto the sidewalk, and scamper to the next corner. Never got caught, either.

[markinaz]

04:21 PM on 03/23/2009

OMG. Why can't people just walk to where they need to go. Even a bike is better for both health and the environment. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

[LADawson]

02:06 AM on 03/24/2009

Stephen Wright said: Everywhere is within walking distance, if you have the time.

Might work in some places, but in the US, suburban sprawl has made walking everywhere pretty unrealistic. The average person in a populated area in the US commutes an hour a day. Imagine how much longer that would take if they were walking? Not likely to ever happen on a large scale. Better public transportation would go a long way to help, but still, we've been spoiled for a long time having our own private modes of transportation. Not many people would want to give it up.

[marlovian]

03:34 PM on 03/23/2009

Cool - a hard top Lambretta. Would I get one to do my local shopping? Absolutely. A 300 mile trip on the Ohio turnpike. Probably not.

[dausone]

02:22 PM on 03/23/2009

Interesting, I haven't seen any 623cc scooters with airbags or crumple-zones. Essentially thats what this vehicle is except it seats four and is probably a whole hell of a lot safer than scooters.

[SouthJerseySteve]

01:17 PM on 03/23/2009

Try parking the Tata next to a big Chevy Suburban in the mall --- it will be "tata" to the driver when you try to back out of the parking space and get mowed down by a Hummer SUV.

[taiwanjohn]

01:56 PM on 03/23/2009

Well, first of all, the Tata will not be sold in the USA because it doesn't meet our EPA standards. But the similar-size Mercedes SMART cars are hitting the US market now, and they have the full compliment of airbags and crumple-zones to make them safe even up against the average SUV.

And they also feature excellent visibility and superior braking power due to their smaller size and weight. So they have a much better chance of avoiding a run-in with your SUV-driving lummox altogether.

--jrd

[Bluemarbles]

02:08 AM on 03/24/2009

I love my SMART car! I keep a bigger vehicle for driving across the state when needed- interstates are too insane. In order for small cars to catch on in a big way, we need law enforcement to rack up a lot of revenue pulling over the idiots that tailgate at high speeds. Driving behavior has become increasingly dangerous over the past few decades. I'm starting to feel like an old person talking about the good old days... when people knew how far their car needed to safely be behind the vehicle in front... and cars stopped for red lights..... and people weren't talking on phones while driving. (God help us).

[iliv2ride]

08:02 AM on 03/24/2009

Indian emission standards are amongst the strictest in the world. And since the EPA norms are so lax, the Nano will have no trouble meeting them. The trouble is with the safety standards. However, the European export version (dubbed the Nano Europa) will no doubt meet those standards, is much better looking, and will have more equipment on offer. And given Tata's bad financial situation, they will sell it anywhere they can.

Here's a link to picture of the Nano Europa: http://indianautosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tata_nano_europa.jpg

But dont expect it to sell for $2000. The on-road price for one of these, with all options, not incl. ABS or airbags is almost $3000. I'm guessing that the final price, if they decide to sell it in the US, will be at least $4000 or more likely $5000. That's still half the price of the cheapest car sold in the US, the Chevrolet Aveo, and it'll get you 55mpg.

[deepfreezevideo]

03:18 PM on 03/24/2009

That's because you don't know how to drive.
Don't blame the car.

[deepfreezevideo]

01:14 PM on 03/23/2009

"But the company has no plans to bring the Nano to America anytime soon."

Tata should rethink that notion, because Americans will be needing to rethink their finances real soon, and a car like the Nano might be all that they can afford.

[abius83]

01:08 PM on 03/23/2009

The European model that will launch in 2011 will have air bags, ABS and power steering and windows. It will be more robust and priced slightly higher and is called the Nano Europa. These things are required in Europe. So i dont see how some are lame enough to think that Tata would launch a car with none of the above that is required to pass inspection in Europe. The current model does not have any of these since they are not required in India i guess. Even after buying the car you dont feel safe enough to take it on the highway - you can use it inside the city and is still a lot more of a bargain at 3K dollars.

[PlayTOE]

10:37 AM on 03/23/2009

I would like to see the Nano, priced at ($2,050), available in my country.
There is a car people can afford.

[frantaylor]

10:49 AM on 03/23/2009

"It does not have air bags or antilock brakes"

Until they fix these shortcomings, it is not going to sell well, if at all, in many countries.

[Tom95134]

11:59 AM on 03/23/2009

Without airbags it won't even make it past inspection.

However, if it was electric I think it could be imported and sold as a "Community Vehicle" and then, with the addition of airbags, as a city car. If the price of making it electric added another $1,000 I would buy one for running back and forth to the market and doing short errands.

[tbirdalum]

12:58 PM on 03/23/2009

I grew up driving a 1940 Ford and it did'nt have air bags or anti-lock brakes. Cmon, folks, we don't have such things on motorcycles either. The object here is a cheap form of transportation. You'd think that GM, Ford, or Chrysler would work with these folks and bring it here and turn their companies around. No, they're waiting for a bailout.