Tata Motors To Bid Adieu To Nano From April 2020
Some of the automaker’s existing products would be discontinued with the onset of BS-VI norms.
Tata Motors Ltd. has no plans to invest and upgrade Ratan Tata's dream car Nano to meet BS-VI standards, a senior company official said Thursday indicating that the production and sales of the vehicle would stop from April 2020.
"Nano is produced at our Sanand plant (Gujarat)... in January new safety norms came, in April some more new norms will come and in October new safety norms will come and BS-VI is going to happen from April 1 of 2020, so all products may not meet (BS-VI norms) and we may not invest in upgrading all the products...,” Mayank Pareek, President of Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors, told reporters. “Nano is one of them."
The entry-level car, brainchild of Ratan Tata who envisaged giving a safer and affordable alternative to families riding on two-wheelers, received lacklustre response from the Indian consumer.
It was launched in 2009 with an initial price of about Rs one lakh.
Pareek also indicated that some of the existing products of Tata Motors would be discontinued owing to the BS-VI norms. However, he did not specify them.
On BS-VI vehicles, he said it was a challenge for auto makers as the Supreme Court guidelines do not allow car registrations other than BS-VI after April 1, 2020.
"Basically today we (Tata Motors) have 5 or 6 products (in passenger vehicle segment),” he said. “They will be refurbished and modified. BS-IV stock should become zero by April 1, 2020."
Pareek said during the last 36 months, Tata Motors outperformed the market.
For April-December period, the company grew by 22.4 percent while the industry grew by 4.4 percent.
According to him, the last festival season wasn't good in terms of car sales as there was "stress" in the liquidity market due to delays in people getting loans.