Back in the early s, close to engineers and designers spent four years developing the car. Their achievement was was recognized with a prestigious Edison Awards in for best new product under the transportation category. The Nano faced obstacles even before the first ones reached consumers. Its original factory, in Singur, West Bengal, was mired in controversy after issues over land acquisition came up in Local farmers claimed that the site, which sits by an expressway linking the cities of Kolkata and New Delhi, was made up of forcibly acquired plots.
Mamata Banerjee, a popular politician in the state, went on a day fast to oppose the factory and violent protests broke out in the area.
After two years of political opposition and judicial wrangling, Tata Motors decided to move the plant to a dedicated facility in Sanand, in the western state of Gujarat. But it was only able to set that up in In the meantime, orders piled up. To deal with the backlog, Tata Motors introduced a lottery system for the first , buyers, with remaining customers were put on a waiting list. Consumers were frustrated and the car got some bad press. Safety issues posed another speed bump. A handful of early owners reported their cars emitting smoke and catching fire.
On the sidelines of the launch of the Nano, Mayank Pareek quoted to the PTI told the PTI that their plant in Sanand, Gujrat was still officially the production facility for the Nano, but two sets of safety and fuel compliance norms are expected to hit starting in April, that will see an end to many products from the Tata Motors garage. Pareek confirmed that one of the products on the list is the Tata Nano. In an ideal world, the Tata Nano was envisaged as being a safer more comfortable option to those families that could only afford a two-wheeler.
Which brought about the pricing challenges of launching the car at Rs 1 lakh! The Nano still soldiered on, with updated better dynamics and even more youth-focused features, and even then it was not enough to keep it relevant on the sales charts.
They will be refurbished and modified. The compact car was the brainchild of Ratan Tata, the former chairman of Tata Group. He came up with the idea of an affordable car after he saw a family of four unsafely traveling on a rainy road in a two-wheeler. The launch was received with fanfare in India and grabbed global attention. Read more: India's cash move nearly wipes out Tata Motors profits. Several international awards were bestowed on the tiny vehicle for features such as fuel efficiency, low emission levels, adhering to all the regulations of that time and yet bundled at an affordable price.
However, the Tata Nano faced a barrage of troubles from the start. Political issues and bad public relations resulted in a sharp increase in production costs. In July , Tata Motors announced that it manufactured just one unit and sold only three cars in the previous month.
Additionally, Tata hasn't exported a single unit in The company said Nano, once hailed as the "people's car," will henceforth be produced only on demand.
Sales of the Nano started strong, as nearly 70 percent of all the , total cars sold occurred in the first three to four years after it was launched.
The factory, located in Sanand in the western state of Gujarat, was chiefly set up for Nano with a production capacity of , units annually. It has gradually progressed to making other vehicles for Tata Motors, India's third-largest automaker.
Pranav Prabhu, a businessman based in southern India, was among the first customers to purchase a Nano in , and he still drives it. Read more: India protests record-high fuel price hikes. Even after clocking 50, kilometers, Prabhu told DW he is impressed by the car's overall performance over the years. I was even surprised when I found it could hit kilometers per hour during my long-distance travel," he said. Many Nano customers agree it was a roomy car that performed well for its price and had reasonable leg room despite its compact appearance.
Nano drivers also enjoyed its small size for driving in crowded cities.
0コメント