Tata Motor’s sensational small car Nano has already swept the Indian roads ever since its launch. As the stint continues, the company projects the number of Nano during the period of 2010-11 to increase by 40000 taking the toll to 1.7 lakhs. The plant in Patnagar, Uttarkhand is giving the temporal relief to the company in manufacturing the required units (the Ace pick up too is manufactured in this plant). Starting December 2009, the unit will be upgraded to manufacture a monthly figure of 5000 (from the current 4000 units) which will be continued till 2010-11.
The helping hand from the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi made the company to concentrate at Sanand where the Nanos would start rolling up from February 2010, by designing 1200 units a month till May after that the number will be 5000 units. With Patnagar unit to feed more units, the net production from both the units will go to 40000 this year. The company believes that the production in Sadand plant will increase to 10000 units from September 2010 and the next three months will feed 12000 units and the last two months (Feb/Mar 2011) will feed 15000 units each. In all the company has targeted the production in Patnagar plant by 2010-11 to exceed 60000 units with the Sadand unit to feed some 1.1. lakhs thereby taking the net production to 1.7 lakhs. As such, the bookings for this Nano are at 2 lakh mark and the company is in a state of obligatory to fill in the slot with more production. But there has been no word yet about the car which are already on roads. Hence 2010-11 will be a crucial and critical year for Tata with regard to Nano, which needs special focus on branding and marketing factors. Only by this targeted period 2010-11, that the future prospects of this car will get real shape, say sources in the industry. Tata has already lost precious time by dwelling in the dispute land row in Singur, WBengal. Instead, the company should have concentrated on the existing unit to increase the production.
As a part of executing specialised versions of Nano, the initial step would be to explore the diesel version -684cc, during the same period. The company hopes that this version will enhance the sale volume, as evident from Maruti Swift. The price factor doesn’t matter much – the ex-showroom Mumbai price is Rs1.85 lakh for petrol while the diesel engine cost of Rs70000 is not on the higher side. If the version comes into effect, then Nano diesel will be the most sought-after car in India. Even the production may increase to 3.5 lakh units by 2011.