Nano sales cross 10,000 mark

Four months after sales of the Nano touched its nadir at mere 509 units, sales crossed the 10,000 mark in April to 10,002 units , the first time that it has crossed this figure and the highest it has sold since July 2010, when sales crossed the 9,000 mark.

The Indica range sales were 4,250, lower by 53 percent over April last year. The Indigo range recorded sales of 5,282 units, down by 27 percent over April last year. The Sumo/ Safari/ Aria/ Venture range accounted for sales of 3,843, higher by 15 percent over April last year. The company did not give details about sales of Jaguar and Land Rover models but claimed that ‘Jaguar Land Rover sales continued their upward trend’.

Tata Motors’ total sales (including exports) of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles in April 2011 were 64,383 vehicles, a growth of 13 percent over 57,199 vehicles sold in April 2010. The company’s domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for April 2011 were 60,125, an 11 percent growth over 54,062 sold in April last year.

Tatas take Nano vendors on a confidence drive

AHMEDABAD/MUMBAI: Tata Motors has told its vendors on Wednesday that it will raise production of Nano, hoping to build confidence after the small car sold only 509 units in November. Nano vendors, worried over falling sales and cut in production, have met the automobile major's top brass in Mumbai. Tata Motors spokeperson confirmed the meeting but said it was a periodic interaction.

“It was a confidence-building exercise. Vendors were given a sneak preview of demand and supply scenario and projections in the coming months,” said a Nano vendor, not wanting to be identified.

The company said in a separate communication to dealers that it plans to introduce new financing packages to boost sales. Many dealers have refrained from picking up fresh stocks as they were trying to sell existing cars.

The production has come to a near standstill at Sanand in Gujarat and this situation will contnue in January . Tata Motors, however, said in a response: “There is no plan to stop the production of Tata Nanos in January. On the contrary, the Sanand plant is producing as per a plan, the objective of which is to gradually ramp up production. There is a market potential for more than 15,000 cars a month.'

Faced with huge pressure on margins, exclusive vendors of Nano are diverting production to other manufacturers as the domestic car market has been growing at the rate of 25-30 %.

“Our pricing was based on the volumes. With volumes taking a knock since the last few months , our viability is in question,” said a leading north based vendor.

The scompany said that plots had been allocated to 41 vendors at the vendor park in Sanand. The automotive industry normally slows down production at the end of the year as customers prefer to buy cars made in the new year.

Out of the 41 vendors, who have been allotted land in Sanand, very few have fully established their component manufacturing operations, the company said in a response. “Therefore, this kind of production dip was anyway there in our plan,” company executives say

Tata Nano Draws Over 2.03 Lakh Bookings

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Tata Nano Draws Over 2.03 Lakh Bookings

The Tata Nano has drawn over 2.03 lakh fully paid bookings amounting to nearly Rs.2,500 crores.

The Tata Nano website recorded an unprecedented 3 crore (30 million) hits from the date of launch of the car to the closure of the booking period (25th April, 2009), nearly 1 million hits a day. About 14 lakh people walked in to Tata Motors’ Showrooms, Croma and Westside stores across the country to catch a glimpse of the car. A total of 6.10 lakh forms were purchased from the booking centres. 70% of the 2.03 lakh bookings received were financed, while 30% of the applicants booked in cash by paying fully. About 4,000 cash bookings were made online through www.tatanano.com, a first for the auto industry in India. Among the three variants of the car, 20% bookings are for the Nano Standard, 30% for the Nano CX and the remaining 50% for the top-end Nano LX.

As announced on 23rd March, the first 100,000 allottees from among the applicants will be chosen through a computerised random selection procedure, and the announcement will be made within 60 days of closure of the booking. Deliveries will start in July 2009, and are expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2010, while all efforts would be made to ramp up production and deliver earlier.

Simultaneously along with the announcement of the first 1 lakh successful allottees, Tata Motors will also announce the allotment of those booking applicants who have expressed their interest in retaining their bookings with the company even if they do not form part of the first 1 lakh allottees. The retainees will earn an interest on their booking amount, effective from that date. The booking amounts of unsuccessful applicants who have not chosen to retain their booking amounts will be refunded at the same time.

Nano booking to start from April 9

Mumbai, Mar 23 (PTI) 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. PTI

Nano hits Indian roads; fails to deliver on price to customers

Mumbai, Mar 23 (PTI) Tata Nano, touted as the cheapest car in the world, today made its commercial debut but the people's car would cost customers more than the Rs 1,00,000 that Ratan Tata promised.

The Nano will have a price tag ranging between Rs 1.12 lakh and Rs 1.70 lakh for its three variants at showrooms at Pantnagar, where it is produced, though the ex-factory price would be Rs one lakh.

The Rs one lakh does not include costs towards excise duty, education cess, transportation costs and local taxes, besides registration fee, lifetime road tax, insurance fee and parking fee wherever applicable.

In Mumbai, the the Bharat Stage III compliant Nano will cost between Rs 1.34 lakh and Rs 1.85 lakh (ex-showroom) and in the National Capital, it will have a price range of Rs 1.23 lakh to Rs 1.72 lakh (ex-showroom) for the three variants.

"We hope this day we will usher in a new form of transport," Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata told reporters here at the launch of the snub-nosed car, to book which customers need to pay up to Rs 1,40,000.

Tata said the endeavour was never to build the cheapest car but to provide an affordable form of transportation to the average Indian family.

He, however, hastened to add that "we made a promise (of a Rs 1,00,000 car) and that we've kept the promise." (EDS: PICK UP SUITABLY FROM 'TATA' SERIES). PTI

The big impact of small cars

It’s not just the customer who stands to gain from Tata’s foray into affordable motoring. The entire auto industry, both in India and the world, is suddenly looking at new possibilities, says Joy Chaudhuri.

Brief

Suddenly everyone in the world, from New York to Nagasaki, know what a lakh is. In an economic world used to the numerical lexicon of metric millions, the term lakh has suddenly gained currency.


Suddenly everyone in the world, from New York to Nagasaki, know what a lakh is. In an economic world used to the numerical lexicon of metric millions, the term lakh has suddenly gained currency. All thanks to Ratan Tata's ‘one-lakh’ car, the Nano. Reams of newsprint have been devoted to the nuts and bolts of this new car.

The fact is this. The small car is not big news because it’s the cheapest car in the world. This car is not designed around cheap parts or cheap labour. This car brings into focus India’s engineering and design skills, management systems and a new business strategy. This is a showcase of India’s business capabilities and not cheap Indian resources.

Tata looks beyond Tata

One of the key factors in Tata pulling off the price challenge has been its active partnership with its vendors. More than 80 percent of the car is outsourced. Tata has tapped into the knowledge base and resources of its suppliers for solutions rather than try and invent the wheel all by itself.

A number of solutions have come from these suppliers as well. For example, the Nano uses a tailor-made fuel injection system from Bosch. A low-cost version of their full-fledged Motronic system, this version, called Value Motronic, uses a simple ECU with software that is especially tailored for this car. This customised setup allows Bosch to use comparatively basic electronic circuitry. Also heavily reduced are the numbers of sensors that relay information to the ECU. A normal Motronic system may have up to seven or eight sensors, but the Nano makes do with only four basic ones. Bosch cleverly uses intelligent software to predict the outcome of many eventualities. This system costs less than half of what a normal system does.

Lucas-TVS, the company that supplied the alternator and starter motor for the Nano, like other suppliers, had to take a fresh approach in design to meet the demands of price, size and delivery time. The size of the components had to be reduced by 15 percent to accommodate them in the engine. The company had to develop a gear reduction start with a smaller diameter of 60mm and an alternator of shorter length to give 40 amp power for the AC version and 70 amp for the non-AC version.

The fact that Tata Motors has applied for 34 different patents for the small car itself speaks of the innovation that went into the creation of the Nano. The innovations that auto component manufacturers associated with the project have had to adopt has shot the Indian auto component industry onto the global radar. With the automotive industry across the world looking to cut costs, India is now being expected to cater to the growing need of auto components at competitive rates. High-value orders for auto component units are expected to follow the entry of Nano into the market.

The agenda for the vendors supplying components to engine was to integrate components and systems during the design stage itself so as to optimise cost, space and weight, without compromising on efficiency.

Tata Motors' partnership with its suppliers does not end with the design and supply. To optimise logistics in this high-volume venture, the company asked its suppliers to move closer to the manufacturing plant. Fifty-five auto component makers, including 54 from outside West Bengal, will set up auto component manufacturing facilities in the vicinity of the Tata Motors’ small car plant at Singur.

New business model

The Tata Nano is not just a car but a new business model. The way the car is going to be built and sold is a paradigm shift from current models. Tata will produce all the mass items and ship them as kits to assembly plants across the country. These would be low-cost, low break-even plants that any entrepreneur can buy and establish an assembly operation. Since quality control is critical, specially trained personnel would oversee these entrepreneurs. This business model would help Tata penetrate into the remotest part of the country, while creating a new line of business.

Most importantly, Tata has caught the attention and fired the imagination of the automotive world. Some carmakers have publicly attacked the car. Others are burning the midnight oil to develop concepts of their own.

Bajaj too catches the small car bug

Back home, Bajaj Auto has thrown in its hat into the ring. The company unveiled its concept two days before the Tata Nano. The concept car is not the one Bajaj Auto is going to eventually produce. This was essentially a concept, a statement of intent from the two-wheeler giant that it plans to go headlong into the car business.

While Tata’s Nano and Bajaj’s concept share a focus on affordable transportation, there are many differences in the way they approach the problem. Rajiv Bajaj has a different economic philosophy in mind for his future car. And this philosophy does not start off with a one-lakh rupees price benchmark. His key word is total cost of ownership.

With easy finance available from banks, the monthly EMI only accounts for a third of the total cost of ownership. Fuel and maintenance account for the rest of the monthly cost of ownership. While the price of cost goes down as time passes and the price of fuel continues to go up. Since fuel cost has a greater bearing on the cost of ownership than the cost of the car itself, Bajaj believes that doubling fuel economy is far more important than halving the price.

Bajaj is confident about offering stunning fuel efficiency and is looking for a figure of over 30kpl. It might seem like an ambitious target but Bajaj has said that they will be offering some breakthrough technology that will make that figure achievable. Skeptics will do well to remember that Carlos Ghosn, the Renault-Nissan chief, picked Bajaj to bring in the ‘frugal engineering’ a buzzword bandied about by him on the Indian auto industry’s capabilities. Another advantage that Bajaj enjoys is its experience as a bikemaker that is great for cost efficiencies. At the core of it are again, like Tata, the company’s suppliers. Traditionally bike suppliers operate on a value-added pricing mechanism, which is cost plus margin. If Bajaj can upgrade its vendor base from two-wheelers to four, it’ll enjoy a cost efficiency that carmakers have to negotiate hard to win.

Bajaj has another strategy to expand its pie. This platform will spawn both a passenger car and a commercial vehicle. While the commercial version will share the mechanical underpinnings with the car, it will have a ladder-chassis construction as against the car’s monocoque design. The company hopes to launch its ‘Lite’ commercial vehicles in 2009 from the new Chakan plant. It will be offered in different body frames for various application — open-bodied pick-up van, close-bodied delivery van, soft drink, gas cylinder carriers etc.

Bajaj Auto is leaving no technology unturned to make its car to a reality but its not going to be easy. The company has no experience with monocoques and the complex task of manufacturing the ‘body-in-white (BIW) is where it will lean heavily on its alliance with Renault and Nissan. Bajaj will lead the product development with support from Renault and Nissan. On the other hand, Renault and Nissan will bring much- needed manufacturing experience. Bajaj’s tie-up with Renault and Nissan is a “three-way exclusive global alliance to market this car”. Bajaj’s low-cost expertise and Renault-Nissan’s experience in the car business could be a winning challenge. Two companies, one goal, two different ways to get there. And this is just the beginning. What is sure is that the Tata Nano has sparked off not just a whole new class of cars but a whole new way of thinking about cars.

Source: http://autocarpro.in/contents/specialReportDetails.aspx?SpecialReportID=48