Ta Ta Nano? Is The World’s Cheapest Car On Its Way Out?
Is this the end of the Tata Nano, as we know it?
Tata Motors Ltd.’s smallest car is much more than just four wheels and metal. For the company’s patriarch, Ratan Tata, it was a dream. Perhaps, it still is.
It first came alive when Tata put pen to paper to draw a caricature of a scooter covered by the body of a car. It was reportedly inspired by a common occurrence in a city like Mumbai–a family of three sitting on a scooter underneath a flyover, trying to stay out of the rain.
But, going by the management’s latest plan, the Nano as you know it could be phased out.
On Thursday, the company said it would be moving to a flexible modular platform strategy, bringing its current six platforms down to a grand total of two. While the company did not categorically state that the Nano would be phased out, it did not deny it either. Tata Motors’ Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer chose not to answer a direct question posed by BloombergQuint on the issue.
I will not answer the question on Nano’s future. We have the passenger vehicle strategy, we have a clear idea of which are the market segments we would like to be in because we consider these segments as the ones which offer us the opportunity of getting profitable growth and gaining market share in the Indian market. We will take a decision and announce it as we get to it.Guenter Butschek, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tata Motors
The question arises because the nature of the two platforms, showcased at the press meet on Thursday, makes it quite obvious that a car with a rear-mounted engine, like the present Nano isn’t likely to feature in the car maker’s plans from 2018 and onwards.
Alex Mathew and Aayush Ailawadi went to Mumbai’s crowded Bandra suburb and put the car to the ultimate test–vox populi.
“What are the first three words that come to mind when you see a Tata Nano,” they asked several people, and got a plethora of responses like “convenient”, “affordable”, “cheap”, “spacious”, “rickety”, “unstable”, “unsafe”, and “under-powered”.
But, one thing was certain, while some loved the Nano, and others hated it, there was no one who ignored it.