(Source:  The Economic Times)

Image Courtesy: ET.com

Just a few months ago, sales of Tata’s  revolutionary Nano was caught stuck in a rut with a less than enthusiastic response from the consumers – a mere 509 units last November.  For a product that was born from an out-of-the-box thinking, Tata Motors badly needed a similar stream of innovative genius on the marketing side to help enliven the sales of  the Rs1-lakh car after posting some dismal sales figures.

Like any successful business house on this planet, a crack team at Tata Motors reworked the execution strategy and put in place a new and unconventional distribution system, which helped Nano sales drive past the 10,000 units mark in April.  According to the ET.com article, this is the highest monthly sales since the car hit the roads in July 2009.

The sales strategy, which includes the formation of crack team, is to take the product close to the consumer on the street:

• Launched 210 ‘F Class showrooms’, each only about 500 sq ft in size and stocking just one car in smaller towns, and hired 1,200 people to man them.
• A tie up with value retailer Big Bazaar, a chain that has 70 outlets in smaller cities and town, to gain traction among the 150 million footfalls the retailer gets every year.

The results are remarkable – Tata is now planning to ramp up the production from 500o units to 10,000 units in the next three months to meet the demand.  I bet some MBA grad out of an IIM really made Ratan Tata proud for making the decision to hire him/her.  Click here to read the ET.com article.

(Source: Autoblog & Autoweek)

Americans may have the opportunity to welcome the Tata Nano to their shores in just over two years, according to a confirmation from David Good, a U.S. rep for the Indian automaker. Before it arrives, Tata assures that the ultra-cheap compact with a base price of just $2500 will be configured to meet all emission and crash standards. If successful, we could see see versions of the Indian microcars running on biofuel and diesel.  This begs the question whether the price point will continue to stay around $2500 even after meeting such stringent safety and emissions requirements? Probably not! It is safe to say that the price would be a little less than $5000  – the expected price of the Euro version.

But who will distribute the teensy Tatas? Well, that’s up in the air right now. A brand-new dealer network for the brand has been discussed. Another option would be selling the Nano through Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships — the Indian automaker owns both, after all.  But this option seems highly unlikely,  according to Stuart Schorr, a spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover, who dismissed the rumours.

A larger European version is slated to debut in 2011, and has an upgraded engine that could get 67 mpg. That car is still expected to come in at less than $5,000.  Tata would be the second Indian company with cars on U.S. streets. Global Vehicles U.S.A. Inc. of suburban Atlanta plans to introduce pickups made by Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. later this year.

(Source:  Autobloggreen & The Economic Times)

Ratan Tata has stuck to his words.  At the premiere for Tata Nano in the Auto Expo earlier this year, Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata had said: “By and large we’ve always been a diesel company so we will have a diesel version that will follow this (petrol) variant soon after.”   Now, after 203,000 firm orders, Indian automaker Tata found out that most buyers had opted for the more expensive variants of the Nano: only 20 percent of orders have been placed for the base model. The consequence is that Tata is experimenting with new strategies for the Nano, introducing new variants to make it even more attractive for the local market. One of the most important features will be the introduction of a new 0.8-liter diesel engine, developed by German company FEV.  According to sources in the auto industry, the small diesel engine will have fuel injection systems developed by Bosch, but the rest of the platform is being developed by Tata Motors and FEV.  A 3-door version hatchback Nano, an idea that was originally rejected, is also in the works. Plans for the European versions are, so far, unchanged, but will surely benefit from the diesel variant.

(Source: Autobloggreen & Financial Times)

Executives at India’s Tata Motors admit that their company is a bit behind the times when it comes to environmental awareness when compared to established players in Europe. “We are behind as far as the world is concerned. There are many Scandinavian companies because they are more conscious of this than the rest of us,” says JJ Irani, a director for Tata’s automotive business. He adds, “We are not shy of learning.”

Img. Source: Flickr

“Tata is new at this game,” Mr Irani told the Financial Times, explaining that the Indian group had not concentrated much on environmentally friendly products until now.

 “What we wanted was the experience of other global conglomerates who have been on this journey before,” he said.

For this reason, Irani and a few of his colleagues are currently visiting a number of large European companies in an attempt to pick up a few pointers on how to improve their eco-credentials. In addition, the group has plans to meet with executives at some of the world’s largest oil companies. Irani hopes these meetings will allow Tata to “catch up faster” than if they were on their own.  Mr Irani said he was taking managers from Tata companies to see how other groups behaved. “We want to see what sort of problems they face and how they deal with it so we can catch up faster.”

Tata has come in for heavy criticism from some environmentalists about the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, but the Indian company retorts that it is more fuel-efficient than a motorbike.

Tata sees a big opportunity because it operates in some of the biggest polluting sectors such as power generation, steel manufacturing and chemicals and carmaking. It has set up a group dedicated to exploring ways of becoming more environmentally friendly and has about 100 people working on it across all its companies.

The Tata managers will also meet some grandees of the oil industry including Lord Browne, the former BP chief executive, and Lord Oxburgh, ex-chairman of Shell.

They will also visit executives at banks Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank as well as Siemens, Europe’s largest engineering group.

On a related note, TATA is releasing its all-electric Indica for the Norwegian market and eventually for the rest of the world. 

Although the all-electric Tata Indica on display at the SAE World Congress in Detroit this week is not the soon-to-be-released model, there’s a lot we can learn from the vehicle – and from TM4’s Eriz Azeroual – about how the technology will be implemented when the new model goes on sale in Norway either later this year or in early 2010 (yes, this is later than previously expected).  A limited number of the Indica’s are already testing in Norway and the TM4 reps are heard saying that Tata Motors is “a cool company. Very aggressive.” Even though they’re most famous for the Nano and apparently wanting to dominate the low-end automobile market, in Europe market they want to be known for electric vehicles.   Norway is a perfect entry point to bring an EV to Europe because there is a high tax on gasoline-powered vehicles. The high cost of electric vehilces isn’t totally equalized by the taxes, but EVs and gas-powered vehicle prices end up being “comparable” in Norway.

(Source:  Autocar via Autoblog/Jalopnik)

Autocar’s review:  Riding on small 12inch wheels and tubeless tyres, the Nano rides surprisingly well. Most bumps are rounded nicely, but as the speeds climb the ride can get a little choppy. The steering has a little vagueness around the centre position, dial in more lock; it feels direct and provides good feedback as well. Grip levels are decent but are limited by the narrow tyres. Straightline stability is also commendable.

Here is the verdict: 

So is it a proper car? Yes, it definitely is. It offers better space than even a Santro at the front, while backseat space is quite decent. Comfort levels are good and it will come with an efficient engine as well. It isn’t perfect; owners will want more power and a 5-speed gearbox. But Tata has achieved what it had set out to do – Affordable motoring for the masses. 

Our good friends at Jalopnik say this after watching the review from Autocar:   The reviewers seem amazed the car is able to drive down the road and not feel like it’s going to roll over at any moment. Sort of like Sarah Palin in Vice Presidential debates, if you set the bar so low you’re only expecting to see a human being able to put a three-word sentence together, you can’t not clear it. Thus, the reviews are filled with notes galore on the tiny wheels, flat seats, and comparisons to the Model T.