Saar: In the month of June 2018, only one unit of the Nano was manufactured.
Once tagged as the ‘Lakhtakiya‘ car of India, the Tata Nano never really lived up to entice prospective customers. And its demand has been falling by the day. In June 2018, Tata Motors produced just one unit of the Nano and sold a total of three. Total sales and production of the Nano in the same month last year stood at 167 and 275 respectively. The story is equally worrying in exports department, where Tata Motors shipped 25 units of the Nano in June 2017 against none in the same month this year.
You don’t need a masters degree in mathematics and economics to understand that Tata Motors has been losing money consistently to keep the Nano in production. The former chairman of Tata Group, Cyrus Mistry, said that Tata Motors did not stop producing the Nano due to “emotional reasons”. It was the brainchild of Ratan Tata and went on sale in 2008. At a later stage, even Ratan Tata admitted that the company made the mistake of promoting the Nano as ‘the cheapest new car’ money can buy in India. At one point in time, Mistry also said that the losses due to the Tata Nano peaked at Rs 1,000 crore.
Tata Motors has said that no decision has been taken yet on the Nano front. The company also confirmed that based on the current situation of the Nano brand, it will be difficult to keep it in production beyond 2019. To revive the marque, in the same form or another, the company will have to invest heavily.
Presently, the Tata Nano is available in six variants – five petrol and one CNG. Both feature a 624cc, 2-cylinder engine, which produces 38PS/51Nm with petrol feed and 33PS/45Nm with CNG. Prices start at Rs 2.36 lakh and go all the way up to Rs 3.35 lakh (both prices, ex-showroom Delhi).
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