Tata Motors aims to launch Nano in US

Tata Motors, which is launching the ultra low-cost Nano car, plans to have a U.S. model in the next three years, its chairman said on Monday.

The United States has certain additional requirements that no other country needs and as result needs some redesign, Ratan Tata said at a news conference.

“I believe within the next three or so years we could develop a version of the nano with options the U.S. market might want to have,” he said.

Source:- news.yahoo.com

Nano hits road bookings start April 9

The booking of the Nano, the Rs one-lakh people’s car from the Tata stable, will begin on April 9 and remain open till April 23.

Announcing this ahead of its launch today, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata told editors that the car, which would have the smallest footprint on the road, will be sold to the first one-lakh buyers at a price to be announced later.

The promise that has been made to sell the car at around Rs one-lakh would be kept despite the fact that commodity prices had shot up, Tata said, adding that the fall in commodity prices now may provide some cushion.

The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early-July, he said, adding that applications for booking of the car would be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India.

State Bank of India would be the qualified banker for collection of bookings in 850 cities, he said.

The car can be booked by just paying Rs 2,999 upfront while the rest can be secured by way of loan, he said.

There would be 15 preferred financiers for the booking whose names would be disclosed in three days.

The initial 50,000-60,000 Nano cars is to be supplied from its Pantnagar plant primarily set up to manufacture Ace trucks, Tata said, adding that the plant to manufacture the Nano at Sanand (Gujarat) is likely to go on-stream by end-this year or early next year.

The first one-lakh customers will be selected by draw of lots from the bookings, he said, adding that those not allotted would have the option to retain their bookings.

The customers who wait for more than one-year will be paid 8.5 per cent interest and those beyond two-years will be paid 8.75 per cent, Tata Motors’ Managing Director, Ravi Kant, said.

No interest would be given to the first one-lakh allotments, Ravi Kant said, adding that the company expects to supply the cars to the first lot in a year’s time.

Tata made it clear that Nano production at Pantnagar was, however, an interim solution after the company was forced to shift its production from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand.

“Personally, to say the least, I feel very excited that we were able to go to the last mile to implement Plan B and launch the vehicle in March this year instead of December (this year) or January (next year),” Tata said.

Tata said that all preferred financiers would roll-out their booking schemes within three days.

The rate of interest on the loan would be decided by the banks that provide the loans, Ravi Kant said, adding that several banks would be providing loans including public sector banks.

The Sanand plant would have a capacity of 2.50-lakh units per annum which could later be expanded to half-a-million, Tata said.

The model would meet BS II, III and IV norms which are equivalent to Euro II, III and IV norms, Tata said.

The four-and-a-half metre car will be emitting less carbon than even two-wheelers and hence, Tata did not subscribe to the view that it would aggravate pollution.

The 624 cc car would initially be available in three variants and can seat four persons comfortably and has the highest mileage of 26.6-kilometre per litre.

The snub-nosed vehicle will be available in one standard and two deluxe versions including A/c and power windows.

Tata said that he plans to export an upgraded version of the Nano to eastern and western Europe, the UK and possibly, the United States as well.

Exports to Europe would begin sometime in 2011 as the car has to meet certain requirements, he said.

“It is more of validation rather than re-designing” as some safety norms particularly in the rear were to be met, he said.

He also made it clear that there is no upper limit for the number of bookings.

Asked what could be the demand for the car, Tata said that the demand for two-wheelers was in the range of 6-7-million units and he expected demand for the Nano to be around 1-million.

When asked if the company would be expanding the production capacity beyond half-a-million by adding capacity in different locations, Tata said that if the demand was positive as expected, then the company would look at it.

The company had originally planned to set up assembly units at various places with quality controls in place so as to make the car available at an affordable price.

Source:- Business Standard

Tata Motors tie-up with Bank of Baroda

In order to provide an added facility of car finance to its customers, Tata Motors has entered into an understanding with Bank of Baroda for financing its range of passenger vehicles.

Bank of Baroda, a public sector undertaking, caters to the needs of industry as well as retail segment. The bank has pan India presence with over 2900 branches spread all over the country. It has recorded over 50% growth in the auto loan segment during the first 11 months of this fiscal.

Bank of Baroda offers car loans up to 85% of the invoice price, for tenure ranging up to 7 years, at a very competitive rate of 10.5% p.a.

This facility will be available at all 2900 branches of Bank of Baroda and 470 sales touch points of Tata Motors. This tie-up will provide a single window for both cars as well as car loans and will make car buying easier for the customers.

Tata Nano Can’t deny aspirations

The unveiling of the Tata Nano is something for which Ratan Tata and the Tata group should be applauded

Avinder Bindra who is CEO of Arx Analytics and Advisory Pvt. Ltd, a financial research and consulting firm Write an article in Mint.

In an earlier article published in Mint, I had questioned whether the Tata group strategy of overseas expansion is in the best interest of the shareholders. However, the unveiling of the Tata Nano is something for which Ratan Tata and the Tata group should be applauded.

Yes, there are detractors galore, whining about the environment, congestion, road safety and so on. What they are missing is that this car, soon to be followed by numerous others, is another step in the economic development of the country. This is similar to the introduction of the Ford Model T or the Volkswagen, which led to the building of highways and autobahns, and to the creation of thousands of jobs.

As someone who faces the issue of congestion while commuting to New Delhi from Gurgaon every day, I see, and am optimistic about, the improvements taking place and the public transportation systems under development. Unfortunately, because of the politicians we elect, India’s development model is the reverse of that of Singapore, South Korea and China, where development follows infrastructure. Here, infrastructure follows development (please spare me the “we are a democracy” refrain). When rural Indians start using the Tata Nano —given Indian creativity they will soon use it to carry farm produce and milk cans to village mandis, to visit relatives or city malls—they will demand better roads and better facilities and the situation will improve.

Road safety is obviously a concern, with or without the Tata Nano. The way to improve safety is not by beating our chests about more cars on the road, but by having the police enforce law. A recent sting operation seems to indicate that New Delhi’s Blueline buses are responsible for deaths almost on a daily basis, because the drivers are being allowed to get away. The recent move to make drunken driving a criminal offence is certainly a step in the right direction, provided it is enforced. To say that road safety will deteriorate because the Tatas might build a million more cars, is disingenuous.

The critics who probably are all comfortably middle class, with pet projects such as protesting some trees being cut by the Metro, don’t seem to understand the aspirations of the people. We all want to have electricity and running water and flushes. We all want to upgrade from bicycles to motorcycles and now to Nanos. We all want our children to get quality education.

Yes, part of that aspiration should also be to leave the world a better place for our children. But to the man who is starving, the priority is to get a job to feed his family, to have a roof over his head and to be able to educate his children.

With education will come a better understanding of the preservation of the environment—an example of this is the reduction in firecrackers during Diwali in New Delhi because of schoolchildren getting educated about the ill effects. This is the path which the developed world has gone through—remember the Industrial Revolution or the corruption of New York’s Tammany Hall era. This does not mean that one condones the destruction of the environment in the interest of development. There has to be a balance between the two. It should not be one at the cost of the other.

To Ratan Tata and his team, I say well done, and wish you the best of luck for your new dream of providing filtered water to the masses at an affordable price.

Source :- http://www.livemint.com

Tata Nano: The World’s Cheapest Car

Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, today unveiled the Tata ‘NANO’, the People’s Car from Tata Motors that India and the world have been looking forward to. A development, which signifies a first for the global automobile industry, the Tata Nano brings the comfort and safety of a car within the reach of thousands of families. It will be launched in India later in 2008. This Tata Nano would be produced at the Singur plant in West Bengal. The car will comply with Bharat III & Euro 4 emission norms.

Stylish, Comfortable:
The Tata Nano , designed with a family in mind, has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy. Yet with a length of 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres, with adequate ground clearance. Tata Nano will be available in two major models standard and deluxe versions with AC.

The car’s dashboard features of Nano are it just have a speedometer, fuel gauge, and oil light. The car does not have reclining seats or radio. The shock absorbers are basic. The lightweight car has only one windshield wiper instead of two.But will have no power steering. The Nano is smaller than a Maruti 800, but has 21 per cent more volume or space inside than the Maruti 800. Mr. Ratan Tata said that the dealer price of the car will be Rs 1 lakh, plus value-added tax (VAT) plus transport charges.

Fuel-efficient engine:
The Tata Nano Car has a rear-wheel drive, all-aluminium, two-cylinder, 624 cc, 33 PS, 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. It have a mileage of 23 km per litre

Meets all safety requirements:
The Tata Nano Car’s safety performance exceeds current regulatory requirements. With an all sheet-metal body, it has a strong passenger compartment, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, and the rear tailgate glass bonded to the body. Tubeless tyres further enhance safety.

Ratan Tata, while launching the Nano, said: “The car will meet all current safety norms and all emission criteria. The pollution it will cause will be lower than 2-wheelers.”

Anand Mahindra, managing director for Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors’ primary competitor, said before the unveiling, “I think it’s a moment of history and I’m delighted an Indian company is leading the way.”
The Nano will go on sale in India later this year with an initial production run of 250,000 a year. Tata says it will offer the Nano in other emerging markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa within four years.

Jagdish Khattar, a former head of Maruti 800 manufacturer Maruti Udyog Ltd., says it’s too early to say whether the Nano will overtake the original.
“It’s a good product but it’s still too early to say whether it will overtake the 800 because it caters to a totally new market segment,” he said while watching a live telecast of Tata’s press conference after unveiling of the Nano.

Tata’s Nano fulfills common man’s dream. It fulfills the need of the common Indian who aspires to move from a two-wheeler to a four-wheeler. So Just Go threw it.

More Detail Comming Soon >>>