New Delhi: Tata Nano, one of the much-hyped low-cost cars for two-wheeler owners, is all set to a get a major facelift next year and will be launched as a ‘Smart City Car', Girish Wagh, senior vice-president, Tata Motors, has said.
“We are carrying out multiple interventions to improve the product as well as its image to ensure that the Nano lives up to its promise,” Wagh said on the sidelines of launch of Zest, a compact sedan from the Tata stable with 29 new product features.
According to Tata Sons' Chairman-Emeritus Ratan Tata, “Nano was able to create global excitement and put India on the map of creating a $2,500 car which everyone said couldn't be done. When we announced the product, we had 300,000 orders and a waiting list of close to two years.”
He adds that loss in the Nano's market share was largely due to its relocation. “In the year we lost in moving from Singur to Sanand, much of the excitement died. People started thinking the product wouldn't come; it gave competitors a chance to badmouth our product. So, in hindsight, it was prudent to move because it wouldn't have been possible to operate in the hostile environment but we lost the excitement around the product in the marketplace, which affected its longer-term market,” he adds.
Tata Nano was unveiled at the New Delhi Auto Expo in January 2008, and made its market debut in 2010, delayed by the relocation.
On June 18, 2014, the company suspended production of all non-powersteering Nano variants at Sanand, Gujarat. In order to clear existing stock and concentrate on the in-demand powersteering variant of Nano – Twist, the company stalled the production of Tata Nano CX and LX variants.
Reports suggest that the car maker is now focusing on Nano's facelift version. Currently pre-production trials are being carrying out. Full fledged production is expected to start later this month or early next month.
There are also reports suggesting that the new Nano will have some changes in the body as well as in the engine. Tata motors will soon roll out Nano with automated manual transmission (AMT).
Tata Motors' Sanand plant has an installed capacity of 250,000 cars per year, of which it was currently utilising only 25 per cent, because of lack of demand for the Nano.
