Nano boredom: Dealers want a refreshed variant

New Delhi: Ratan Tata’s dream car, the Nano, has not really had a dream run since its launch in 2008. And in the opinion of the company’s dealers and vendors, no significant uptick is expected unless Tata Motors refreshes the product.

So unless Tata launches new Nano models or spends a significant amount of money in marketing and promotional push, his aspirations for the Nano may remain a mere pipe dream.[caption id=“attachment_426838” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  New look is a must for Tata Nano to rise. Reuters[/caption]

The company has been working on a diesel Nano for many months now.

But the less-than-expected sales of the petrol Nano could well hamper development and launch of the diesel variant too, which is slated for launch in the next 12-18 months. Dealers, who are already suffering because of a wide gap between Tata Motors’ initial projections of Nano petrol sales and the actual offtake, are wary of committing large supplies for the diesel variant.

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Some reports have suggested earlier that Tata Motors is projecting a demand of 2.5 lakh diesel Nanos every year but vendors obviously do not believe these numbers and hence the company’s difficulties in sourcing parts to develop the diesel variant. There has also been talk of a CNG variant but again, the company has not given a clear timeline for its launch to dealers.

A tier I supplier to Tata Motors pointed out that despite the car’s quality issues and not-so-happy public perception being a thing of the past, only about a fifth of the production capacity is being utilised at Sanand even now. This manufacturing plant in Gujarat has an installed capacity to make 20,000 cars a month.

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Nano’s cumulative sales between April and June were flat at 22,140 units and it sold another 5485 units in July.A Delhi-based Tata Motors’ dealer says, “In my personal opinion, Tata Motors should not expect too much from the diesel variant. The acquisition cost of a diesel car is higher than petrol and then it provides savings only when it is used daily for long distances. If you are a Nano customer who will use it only to go from your home to your shop or office nearby, it won’t work out to be as viable a proposition as the petrol”.

Another dealer based in Gurgaon says sales for his dealership have been averaging about 20 Nanos a month for the last one year and no uptick is seen till the festival season, when Tata Motors may announce attractive schemes to lure buyers.

This, despite existing attractive finance schemes launched by Tata Motors which allow a customer to take the car home for less than Rs 20,000 down payment and EMIs which remain well below the Rs 4,000 mark. There are special incentives too for two wheeler owners wishing to upgrade to the Nano.

He says people who walk in to his showroom mostly do look at the Nano-even if they have to come to buy a different Tata car-but frequently ask if there are more variants of the world’s cheapest car which will be available anytime soon.

“A sort of boredom has come to be associated with the Nano. Unless new launches happen, new platforms are developed around the Nano, this situation is likely to persist.”

A few weeks back, Tata Motors became the first company to launch merchandise of a car on Ebay. So now you can buy Nano-branded Titan watches and dry-fit T-shirts, Nano shaped pen drives, mouse, scale models, caps and key-chains among other things.

The company claims that the Tata Nano Facebook page has a fan base of over 1.6 million. If only all of it translated into sales as well! Not just buyer apathy, Tata Motors may have to contend with tougher competition too when the new Maruti Alto is launched before Diwali this year.

A vendor who supplies parts to both Maruti and Tata Motors said that Maruti will begin full scale production of the new Alto-which will replace the current Alto F8 (older Alto, not the K10)-next month in Gurgaon. This could further hamper sales of the Nano somewhat even though price points of the two cars are different.