Tata Nano: 200,000 Orders and a Waiting List Through 2011
May 05, 2009
By Nick Kurczewski
MUMBAI -- Get ready to wait if you want to buy a Tata Nano, the Indian-built $2,000 four-door billed as "the world's cheapest car."
The Nano might be bargain-basement priced, but the waiting list to buy one is worthy of top-notch luxury nameplates like Ferrari, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. Expect delivery no sooner than early 2011 if you haven't already put your name down to buy one.
According to figures released by Tata Motors, up to 203,000 people have placed orders for a Nano. Deliveries begin in July, with the first allotment of 100,000 customers due to receive their car no later than the last quarter of 2010.
Big Bookings
After making a splashy public debut here on March 23, the Nano officially went on sale from April 9-25. For a fee of around $6, customers could apply to purchase a Nano at more than 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India. Orders could also be submitted online at on the company's special Web site. Tata Motors estimates that the Web site received more than 1 million daily hits during the booking process.
The amount of paid bookings calculates to about 25 billion rupees, or more than $500 million at current exchange rates. Roughly 70 percent of the bookings were financed, with the other 30 percent of applications paid in cash.
Orders Favor "Loaded" Nano
While the Nano has become a media sensation due to its low pricetag, it turns out that the majority of buyers are opting higher-spec models. Tata Motors reports that 20 percent of customers chose the no-frills Nano Standard, 30 percent opted for the mid-level Nano CX, while the remaining 50 percent went with the top-end Nano LX.
The base model of the Tata Nano city car does without power-steering, radio, air conditioning and power brakes. The CX model includes features like power brakes, air-conditioning and a rear parcel shelf. The range-topping LX adds luxury touches like front power windows, central locking, body-colored bumpers and more upscale trim for the seats and door panels. For now, no version of the Nano is available with basic amenities like a radio, airbags or antilock brakes.
"[The Nano] is a new product and a game-changing product," said a Tata Motors spokesperson, while speaking with AutoObserver about the Nano's sales launch. "People from every walk of life have been going into showrooms and checking out the car."
A salesperson at Concorde Motors -- a Tata Motors dealership based in the busy commercial district of Worli, in Mumbai -- told AutoObserver the showroom was "extremely crowded" the days the Nano was on sale. He said the majority of applicants were businesspeople, and estimated the dealership received around 400 applications each day the booking process was open.
World Beater for Sales?
The Nano will initially be built at Tata Motors' factory in the northern town of Pantnagar. With an annual capacity of only 50,000 units, production will fall short of initial demand. A new factory dedicated to building the Nano had been planned for the town of Singur, in the state of West Bengal. But escalating political protests over Tata Motors' land acquisition methods eventually forced the company to abandon the nearly complete factory last September.
A replacement factory for the aborted Singur plant is now under construction in Sanand, in the western state of Gujarat. The Sanand factory will come online by early 2010, according to Tata Motors, and have an annual production rate of 350,000 units. Production could eventually be increased to 500,000 units.
If Tata Motors is able to ramp up production to the full 500,000 unit capacity, the Nano could become one of the best selling vehicles in the world (to go along with its title of being "the world's cheapest car"). For comparison, last year's best-selling vehicle in America, the Ford F-Series pickup, racked up sales of 475,240 units, according to statistics provided by Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com.
The first 100,000 Nano customers will be chosen randomly via a computer system within 60 days of the closure of bookings on April 25. These first 100,000 will receive factory guaranteed price protection, to avoid greedy speculators from upping the cost. Customers who don't make the first cut can remain on the waiting list, but are also free to opt out.
Recent Tata Results
News of the Nano's strong start comes at an opportune time for Tata Motors, which reported a 2 percent decline in sales for the month of April. Domestic sales held steady at 36,257 units, a 1 percent increase over 35,844 vehicles the company sold in April of last year.
However, Tata Motors' exports were down a whopping 45 percent -- though the precipitous-
looking drop amounts to barely 1,000 units. Tata Motors exported only 1,261 vehicles in April, compared to 2,305 vehicles last year.
The company's exports could get an enormous boost in the years to come. Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group and CEO of Tata Motors, has promised that a more powerful and more luxurious version of the Nano will go on sale in Europe by 2011. A U.S. variant -- based on the European model -- is also under development.
Photos by Auto India
1 - Media, including AutoObserver's Nick Kurczewski, took the Tata Nano for a test-drive on India's streets last month.
2 - The interior of the Tata Nano has only the bare essentials -- and no radio.
3 - Tata Motors founder Ratan Tata introduced the Tata Nano in March during a splashy celebration in Mumbai.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 3:58 AM under Companies , Featured , News | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Tata Nano was specifically designed and engineered for India. Indian population on the roads are busy and overpopulated with rickshaws, bicycles, bullock carts & pedestrians etc where such design fit the environment.
In US and Europe, the road population are completely different, thus the vehicle is highly questionable in relation to safety, even with modifications.
Posted by: azali1 | September 17, 2009 at 8:42 PM