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  • Tata GoldPlus Nano finally debuts – clad in 80 kg of gold, 15 kg of silver and 10,000 semi-precious gems

    In Cars, India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 47 comments

    The edition was announced some time back, but now it has finally made its official debut – the Tata GoldPlus Nano, all Rs 220 million (US$4.6 million) worth of compact car, was unveiled in Mumbai yesterday.

    Working on the idea that nothing succeeds like excess, the one-off Nano’s exterior is completely covered by 80 kg of 22-karat gold, 15 kg of silver as well as 10,000 semi-precious stones and gems. It’s all good enough to make the US$220,000 D.C. Design Nano a poor man’s choice. And let’s not even bother to count how many basic Nano‘s you could get for the price of this one.

    Unfortunately, all that glitter can’t be bought – the car is to be used for branding and promotional purposes by GoldPlus Jewellery, which happens to be part of Titan Industries, which is a Tata Group company. GoldPlus happens to be the largest jewellery retail chain in Tamil Nadu.

     

  • Tata opens dedicated plant to cope with Nano demand

    In India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 22 comments


    In a move that will help clear backlog, Tata Motors has opened a new plant that will build the “world’s cheapest car” in the western Indian state of Gujerat. The Sanand factory will initially produce 250,000 units of the Tata Nano per year, with plans to eventually ramp up annual production to 350,000.

    After the hype surrounding the Nano’s launch, demand was high and Tata collected 206,703 orders during the initial sales period last April. From this, 100,000 customers were chosen by a lottery. Deliveries of the cars began in July, and up till April 2010, 33,875 units have been accounted for.

    The original dedicated Nano plant in Singur, West Bengal, was delayed after the automaker halted construction due to violent protests by farmers who originally worked on the land. Tata abandoned the near-complete facility in October 2008 and began building the Sanand facility on a 445-hectare plot.

    One of the possible reasons Tata cannot take its own sweet time is that the ultra-cheap Nano will have some rivals soon. The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Bajaj Auto are teaming up for a $3,000 car that is projected to hit showrooms in 2012. They have earmarked a plant in Maharastra that will have a production capacity of 400,000 vehicles a year. Bajaj is a huge company that produces motorcycles and auto rickshaws.

    The basic Nano, with one wiper, no radio or air conditioning costs $2,615 in New Delhi. A better equipped version will go on sale in Europe late 2011.

     

  • Tata Nano to get world’s smallest common-rail diesel engine designed by Bosch

    In Cars, India, Tata Nano / By / / 17 comments

    Automotive component giant Bosch is banking on India’s booming auto market. The German company will invest Rs 2000 crore ($430 million) in India from now till 2012 and hopes to manufacture two million common-rail units a year by 2013.

    How is this figure possible? A big chunk of that two million will be for the Tata Nano. Bosch has announced that it’s developing a common-rail diesel system for the Tata Nano. Called the Bosch CRS 1.1, it’s speculated to be part of a single cylinder unit sized about 550-650 cc, with 25 to 30 bhp and adequate torque, according to reports. So far Bosch has supplied Tata with the Nano’s front and rear drum brakes, starter, alternator and fuel injection system.

    After Germany, India is the next biggest recepient of Bosch’s R&D funds, which totalled €3 billion in 2009. About 15 per cent of Indian made Bosch components are exported, mainly to Europe and South Korea.

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  • OUTRAGEOUS: The $220,000 Tata Nano!

    In Cars, India, Tata Nano / By / / 73 comments

    A Tata Nano that’s more expensive than a Lamborghini Gallardo? As outrageous as that might sound, Mumbai based D.C. Design’s version of the world’s cheapest car is set to cost $220,000 or 10 million rupees, which is quite some distance away from the 100,000 rupee (1 lakh) price the Nano was designed to fulfill.

    “We would like to keep the cost low but with the technology and the amount of work we will be putting into the car, the 10 million rupee price tag will be justified,” said Dilip Chhabaria, head of the specialist car refitting group that has worked for Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Anil Kapoor

    Much of D.C.’s Nano will be bespoke. The car’s basic silhouette will be retained, but everything else will go. The standard two-cylinder 624cc engine will be replaced by a 1.6-litre engine and the car will roll on 20-inch wheels. To accommodate the new engine, the rear seats will make way. D.C is targetting a top speed of 200 km/h.

    “There will be a lot of tech wizardry in it, plenty of IT-enabled equipment. The idea is to give the world a feel of what India’s IT and automotive industries are capable of when working in synergy,” Chhabaria added.

    The image above is of an earlier styling concept. The mega-money Nano prototype is expected in two months.

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  • Slow Nano delivery leading to cancelled bookings

    In Cars, India, Tata Nano / By / / 21 comments

    The Tata Nano was launched to great reception back in March, but around 15% of the 207,000 Indians who put down names in the order book have cancelled their bookings, as delivery of the “Rs 1 lakh car” is taking too long, according to Hindustan Times. 100,000 initial applicants were chosen randomly to be first for deliveries from July on.

    “A number of those who expect to get their Nanos around March 2010 or later are cancelling bookings,” said Krishan Bansal, proprietor of Raghuvanshi Enterprises in New Delhi. “There are other new cars in the market for which people don’t have to wait,” said another dealer. “People don’t mind shelling out a bit more to get their car immediately.”

    Tata shrugged off concerns, saying that some cancelled bookings was not unusual. “The capacity of our Pantnagar plant is limited but we plan to deliver 100,000 cars by the last quarter of 2010,” said a spokesman.

    Indian consumers looking for a small car have plenty of options on the way. Honda will launch its New Small Concept and Toyota has promised a compact car for the upcoming India Auto Expo. Of course, there are also current favourites from Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai.

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  • Tata Nano officially goes on sale, delivery in July!

    In Cars, India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 92 comments

    Tata Nano

    The Tata Nano is officially here and on sale! Bear in mind this is the Indian domestic market version and not the larger, more well-equipped version that was showcased as the Tata Nano Europa recently.

    The Indian version of the Nano will go on sale from the 1st of April onwards at Tata Motors Passenger Car dealerships and other select authorised outlets, available in 3 variants – Standard, CX and LX, with a 24,000km or 18 month warranty. The cheapest one is priced at 1 lakh as promised, but only when it leaves the factory, after that it gets some other costs tagged on including shipping, taxes and registration.

    The Tata Nano has its engine mounted at the back, a 624cc 2-cylinder aluminium multi-port fuel injection engine mated to a 4-speed transmission. The engine produces 35 PS at 5,250rpm and 48Nm of torque at 3,000rpm, with a top speed of 105km/h.

    Not much power, but the car weighs only 600kg. It can negotiate a maximum of a 30% grade incline. Fuel efficiency is rated at 23.6 km/litre, certified by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) under mandated test conditions – this is said to be the most fuel efficient petrol car in India.

    Tata Nano

    The Nano measures just 3,100mm long, with a width of 1,500mm and a height of 1,600mm. Tata claims despite it having the smallest exterior footprint of any car in India, it is 21% more spacious than the smallest car available today.

    The Standard is very bare, with 3 colour options, single-tone seats and a fold-down rear bench. If you notice, it doesn’t even have side view mirrors. The CX adds 2 more colours, climate control, two-tone seats, a parcel shelf, boost-assisted brakes, and a fold-down rear seat with a nap rest.

    The highest grade LX model adds complete fabric seats, central locking, front power windows, body-coloured bumpers and etc, fog lamps, an electronic trip meter, a front console cup holder, a mobile charger point, and a rear spoiler.

    There is limited capacity at the moment, as Tata’s Sanand plant is not ready yet in terms of capacity. The State Bank of India will be managing the Nano’s bookings. Application forms will be sold at Rs. 300 from 30,000 locations in 10,000 cities – Tata Motors Passenger Car dealerships, State Bank of India and its branches, its subsidiaries and associates, other preferred financiers, and outlets of Westside, Croma, ‘World of Titan’ and Tata Indicom exclusive stores.

    Tata Nano Interior

    After one obtains the form, he can either pay the entire booking amount themselves or seek financing of the booking amount. Financing is available from 15 financial institutions, where a Nano can be booked for Rs. 2999.

    After 60 days of the closure of bookings, Tata will use a lottery system to allocate the first 100,000 cars to be delivered in phase 1 of the delivery process. Deliveries will start in July 2009.

    If you do not get selected for the first phase of delivery, unlike here where your booking fee gets stuck for ages if your car takes a long time to get delivered, customers will be eligible to interest on their booking fees – 8.5% for retention period between one year to two year and 8.75% for a retention period of more than 2 years.

    Look after the jump for a full gallery of the Nano.

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  • Tata Nano Europa: a high-spec Nano for Europe!

    In 2009 Geneva Motor Show, Cars, India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 63 comments

    Tata Nano Europa

    Tata has unveiled a more regularly-specced version of the Tata Nano that it intends to sell in more sophisticated markets such as Europe. It will be a car that has all the creature comforts that you’d expect, unlike the 1 lakh version that it intends to sell in India which will be stripped bare of even an air conditioning unit.

    This high-spec version has been exhibited at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show and is called the Tata Nano Europa. While the Indian Nano rides on a wheelbase of 2,230mm, the Tata Nano Europe has a stretched 2,280mm wheelbase and measures 3,290mm long and 1,580mm wide (the Indian Nano is 3,100mm by 1,500mm). It’s actually shorter both in terms of length and wheelbase compared to the Kancil but is wider. Powering the Nano Europe is an inline-3 fuel injection engine mated to a 5-speed automatic and it will also come with a power steering system.

    027687600_1236086671
    035500100_1236086732
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      Tata Nano Europa Viva Kancil
    Length 3,290mm 3,575mm 3,365mm
    Width 1,580mm 1,475mm 1,405mm
    Wheelbase 2,280mm 2,390mm 2,280mm

    Other features that the Nano Europa will get include ABS, ESP stability control and airbags, which already places it above many small cars in terms of equipment, especially the presence of stability control. Of course with all of this extra features the price will be far from the original pricetag that gave the Nano its “1 lakh car” nickname, but I doubt the European customer will accept driving something as bare as the Indian Nano. Who knows, we could even end up having this Nano Europa sold in Malaysia by the new Tata franchisee, whoever they may be.

    Tata of course has other aces up its sleeve for Europe, and it begins to make sense why they acquired Jaguar once you see what else they are exhibiting at Geneva, coming soon right after this story.

     

  • Nano target market may face difficulty with loans

    In Cars, India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 6 comments

    Tata Nano

    I think we now know why Maruti’s low cost car was revealed to the banks earlier this month, they were probably pitching it to the banks to see if they would grant loans for people who want to buy it!

    Banks in India are saying that they would only grant loans to buy the Tata Nano to second time car buyers instead of motorcycle owners who are looking to upgrade to a car. “We will not look to finance the purchase of the Tata Nano for those who already own a motorcycle but are stretching their budgets to buy a car. We have faced numerous problems of motorcycle loan defaults,” said an unnamed banker in an interview with Business Standard in Mumbai.

    Rates to finance the Tata Nano are also expected to be higher at 18 to 19% instead of a usual new car interest rate of 13 to 14%, although it is still lower than the usual used car interest rate of 22%. This is because usually low income owners that buy such cars usually have their finances stretched to the limits every month, especially in the wake of astronomical fuel prices. This is also why Proton cars usually have higher interest rates than foreign makes in Malaysia.

     

  • Tata Nano affects used car prices in India

    In Cars, India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 11 comments

    Tata NanoAccording to a report by Marinews, it seems that the impending launch of the Tata Nano has had a bad effect on the used car market in India, with used car sales dipping between 15 to 30 percent because buyers are waiting for the Tata Nano to be launched before deciding whether to buy a Nano or a used car.

    Even used car values are affected, with cars like a 6-year old Maruti 800 dipping in value by 30% from 110,000 rupees to 75,000 rupees and a 5-year old Hyundai Santro’s 200,000 rupee value down to 165,000 rupees. Values of small cars that are usually purchased by budget-concerned buyers are generally hit the most, because of the fear of an impending rise in fuel prices. Some of these buyers would have to go back to bikes.

     

  • Tata Nano to get US$10 airbag?

    In Cars, India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 36 comments

    Tata Nano

    The Tata Nano is a no-frills car, but one of the more well-equipped, pricier versions of the Tata Nano will feature dual front airbags. And with luck, they’ll only increase the cost of the car by a minimum. Autoliv IFB India on the request of Tata is trying to develop a US$10 airbag for the Tata Nano, less than 10 times the price of airbags in other compact cars which cost around US$150 per airbag.

    Swedish-American company Autoliv currently supplies 28% of the world’s airbags. In our market, an Autoliv joint venture with a Japanese company called Autoliv Hirotako Sdn Bhd supplies airbags for Proton, and the upcoming Perodua MPV.

    Given that even these normally priced airbags sometimes do not work completely as intended and may end up injuring or killing occupants rather than saving them, are US$10 airbags really safe to use?

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