India's Best Selling Car 2011 - Tata Nano

Tata Nano, the small car from the Tatas, is projected to become India's second best selling car
next year, according to market research firm JD Power. According to a report by JD Power, Nano has been projected to become India's second best selling car next year.

By 2017, the top three models will be the Alto, Nano and Maruti Suzuki Wagon R, according to the report. Currently Alto is the highest selling car brand in the country, selling on an average of 25,000 units every month.

As per the report, the combined sales of mini and sub- compact vehicles would be 9,97,000 units in 2010, increasing to 3.14 million units by 2017. The size of the Indian domestic passenger car market stood at over 15 lakh units in 2009-10 and it is growing at a rate of about 30 % every month in this fiscal.

Tata Motors had launched the Nano, touted as the world's cheapest car, in 2009 and is currently delivering the first lot of one lakh cars to the customers. It produces the car from Sanand in Gujarat and the facility has an installed capacity to produce 2.5 lakh units annually.

JD Power also adds that the challenge for producers of low-cost cars in India will always be to keep production costs low, while meeting rising consumer aspirations. The government offers tax incentives to the small car buyers to promote fuel efficient mode of transportation. Cars that do not exceed four meters in length and are powered by 1200cc petrol or 1500cc diesel engines are levied 10 % excise duty compared to 22 % for other vehicles.

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Tata Nano new plant at Sanand, in Ahmedabad - Inaugurated by Narendra Modi

Tata Motors' brand new plant for the Tata Nano at Sanand, in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat, was inaugurated today by the Honourable Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi, in the presence of the Chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Motors, Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Ministers of the Gujarat Government, top officials, vendor and supplier partners, dealers and associates of the company.

The plant's inauguration marks the culmination of the company's goal of making the Tata Nano freely available to hundreds of thousands of families, desirous of the car. The capacity of the plant, to begin with, will be 250,000 cars per year to be achieved in phases, and with some balancing is expandable up to 350,000 cars per year. Further capacity expansion has also been provided for in this location.

 

                                                                Tata Nano Car Photo
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Tata said, "We are happy that the Tata Nano has found its home at Sanand in Gujarat. We would like to thank everyone who has made this possible, particularly the Honourable Chief Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. We would also like to thank the people of Gujarat on this occasion. I am glad that we will now be able to manufacture the Tata Nano at a plant, set up in record time by the Tata Motors team who have and continue to receive full support from the Gujarat administration. This will now allow us to better meet the strong demand for the Tata Nano across the country."

Deliveries from the plant, including BS4 Tata Nanos, will begin this month. The output, supplemented by the facility at Pantnagar (Uttarakhand), will in the immediate phase complete pending orders from the booking process of 2009.

Built in a record time of 14 months starting November 2008, the integrated facility comprises Tata Motors' own plant, spread over 725 acres, and an adjacent vendor park, spread over 375 acres, to house key component manufacturers for the Tata Nano.

In line with latest world-class manufacturing practices, the Tata Nano plant has been equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. They include sophisticated robotics and high speed production lines. Conscious of the critical need of environment protection, the plant has energy-efficient motors, variable frequency drives, and systems to measure and monitor carbon levels. These are supplemented with extensive tree plantation, sustainable water sourcing through water harvesting and ground water recharging and harnessing solar energy for illumination.

In November 2008 itself, simultaneously with the construction of the plant, Tata Motors also began its community development activities in the area. These initiatives, encompassing 20 villages in a 20-km radius, are on health, education, employability and environment enhancement. The initiatives have already led to provision of drinking water for about 10,000 residents, sanitation for about 600 households, competency upgradation of about 140 primary school teachers, employability enhancement for about 500 men and women. The company is committed to developing the area, converting it into a beehive of inclusive growth.

The plant has already directly employed 2,400 individuals. The recruitment exercise covered about 156 ITIs in Gujarat. As the capacity is increased, the project, along with the vendor park, is expected to generate about 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.

At the vendor park, plots have already been allocated to 41 vendors. More will be accommodated subsequently. Vendors, accounting for about 80% of the value of components to be sourced from the park, have already begun construction. In the interim, they will supply the plant from their existing facilities in the country.

To celebrate the inauguration of the plant, a fleet of Tata Nanos driven by prospective customers, who participated in an online contest on tatanano.com, began a country-wide drive, called the Nano Superdrive, from Sanand today. The drive was flagged off by Mr. Tata. The drive will cover 15,000 km touching 36 cities across the country, before converging at Sanand on June 28. Glimpses of the drive, with images and blogs, will be available on www.tatanano.com.

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Tata Nano - Selected Zigwheels Car of the Year

Tata Nano has successfully reversed the waves of skepticism it faced during its release and traveled on to win accolades and prizes one after another. Having successfully established itself as the "people's car" the Tata Nano is now riding high on people's accolades. The latest feather in the cap of Tata Nano comes in the form of the 2009 Economic Times Zigwheels Car of the Year.


It wasn't easy. The little Tata Nano faced competition among others from bigger and pricier brethren like Toyota Fortuner, Fiat Grande Punto, Mahindra Xylo, and the Mercedes-Benz E-class.

But if you talk about class, then the classless Tata Nano has been voted as first class by the people. The Tata Nano topped not only due to its dramatic designing but for its relevance to India and its place in the heart of its admirers.

To take their decision, Zigwheels ensured that unbiased opinions were received from the largest possible audience base, and also made use of the media prowess of the Times Group. The Zigwheels.com Viewers Choice Opinion Poll had a huge response from all corners of the country and unanimously, Tata Nano was selected the Zigwheels Car of the Year for 2009. This award, following close on the heels of the ICOTY awards firmly establishes the superior appeal of Tata Nano not only in terms of price and popularity, but also in terms of innovative technology that has been able to deliver promises.

And has Zigwheels states on its site with open sympathy that the Tata Nano "of course could have easily been the Car of 2008 had it not run into messy political tussles, but the small soldier had enough steam in its idea to carry on even with major setback."

As Zigwheels points out "It would be an understatement if we were to say that the Tata Nano was the most awaited car in India - because as things went, the entire globe had their eyes fixated on the gates of the Tata Motors factory prior to the car's launch earlier this year and for good reason."

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