Back to my blog now, well.. where do we start off with regard to the Tata Nano? Seems to be quite a difficult and long story to trace, doesn't it? After all the delays and controversies plaguing its launch (remember the Singur episode which put Tata behind schedule by almost 6 months), it finally happened on March 22nd, 2009. I still remember watching the unveiling of the Tata Nano way back in January last year on the TV, at the 9th Auto Expo, 2008 held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, the chairman of the Tata group, Mr. Ratan Tata said, “I observed families riding on two-wheelers – the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. Tata Motors’ engineers and designers gave their all for about four years to realise this goal. Today, we indeed have a People’s Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, to be fuel efficient and low on emissions. We are happy to present the People’s Car to India and we hope it brings the joy, pride and utility of owning a car to many families who need personal mobility.” And so began the journey- to build the world's cheapest and most affordable car- The Tata Nano.
Ratan Tata at the unveiling of the Tata Nano, 9th Auto Expo, New Delhi, January 2008Those words meant a lot. They said it all. For everyone out there who was criticising and cursing the fate of luxury car brands Jaguar and Land Rover for falling into the hands of a 'Sub-standard Indian company which had little or no brand value' (the international opinion of Tata Motors till last year), this was a befitting reply. Ratan Tata has gone where no car-maker has gone before. Just to achieve the feat of building that tiny engineering marvel at the cost of a 2-wheeler and to present it before the world required guts- not only to put tons of money into such a project and believe in his own engineers' efforts, but also to realize that the company could actually make a profit by selling that car at that low rate. This speaks volumes about the 'Mega' amount of planning and engineering effort that has gone into the 'Nano'. I will speak about the cost saving methods involved in the production of the Nano and how Tata has managed to price it so cheap and still earn some bucks out of it; but let's put that off till later in this post.
As Ratan Tata said, "A Promise is a Promise" (referring to keeping the price below 1 lac rupees). As of March 2009 the Nano (cheapest variant) was priced at Rs. 1,23,000 (ex-showroom Mumbai), cheaper than the Maruti 800, its main competitor and next cheapest Indian car priced at 1,84,641 Rupees. It has an 8 percent smaller exterior size but a 23 percent larger interior space compared to the 800. If you have any doubts about its interior space and the comfort it offers to its passengers, rest assured you won't be disappointed. However, the major turn-off would probably be the lack of boot-space so that virtually eliminates the possibility of a family of 4 driving away on a weekend holiday with their baggage. But the Nano wasn't built to be a weekend getaway car. Where it does exceedingly well is in the city. The City is where its home is. And most of its buyers are bound to be either urban dwellers looking to buy their first car (and hone their driving skills), those wanting to shift from their 2-wheelers to 4-wheelers for safety reasons (as Ratan Tata himself quoted) or rural folk who want to be able to afford a good car to use in and around their homes.
A picture below shows the interiors of the Tata Nano. Sure, it doesn't look as swanky as the cockpit of an Audi A8 or Mercedes S350, but hey it does its job pretty well! The centrally mounted console houses an analog speedometer and a digital fuel gauge and tripmeter. Seems like a pretty basic layout.. but at this price, who's complaining?
Tata Nano InteriorsBefore we move onto further aspects of the Nano, let us take a look at the technical specifications it puts forward to us:-
Tata Nano Technical Specifications
Make: Tata
Model: Tata NANO
Body Type: Hatchback
Number of Doors: 4
Seating Capacity: 4
Fuel Efficiency
City Mileage: 20-25 kmpl
Highway Mileage: 26 kmpl
Fuel Capacity: 15 litres
Fuel Type : Petrol (Diesel Version will be introduced later)
Fuel Injection: Multi Point Fuel Injection (MPFI)
Engine and Physical Specifications:
Length: 3100 mm
Width: 1500 mm
Height: 1600 mm
Engine: All-aluminium, Rear Mounted, Rear Wheel Drive
Capacity: 623cc twin cyliner
Power: 33PS @ 3000 RPM
Torque: 40Nm @ 4000RPM
Emission Norms: Euro-IV, Bharat Stage-III compliant
Safety Norms: Frontal Crash Tested
Versions: Std, CX, LX
Gearbox: 4-speed manual (+ Reverse)
Wheelbase: 2230mm
Ground Clearance: 180mm
Kerb Weight: ~ 600kg
Extra Specs
Acceleration - (0-60 kmph) - 8.42 secs
Top speed - 105 Kmph
Colours: Red, White, Blue, Gold, Yellow and Silver
If you're wondering whether the Nano comes with anything other than 4 wheels, a cheap chassis, cheap seats, a steering wheel and accelerator, clutch & brake pedals, you are mistaken. The equipment list on offer is way beyond what one could have anticipated when the car was announced last year this time. Take a look at some of the goodies the 3 models carry with them and I promise, you will be shocked.Tata Nano Standard:
- three colour options
- single-tone seats
- fold-down rear seat
Tata Nano CX:
- five colour options
- heating and air-conditioning (HVAC)
- two-tone seats
- parcel shelf
- booster-assisted brakes
- fold-down rear seat with nap rest
Tata Nano LX:
- five colour options
- heating and air-conditioning (HVAC)
- two-tone seats
- parcel shelf
- booster-assisted brakes
- fold-down rear seat with nap rest
- complete fabric seats
- central locking
- front power windows
- body coloured exteriors
- fog lamps
- electronic trip meter
- cup holder in front console
- mobile charger point
- rear spoiler
Getting down to the technical specs, at first sight, you might wonder how on earth you would end up getting 25 km to a litre of petrol- sounds marvellous doesn't it? After all, it is the world's 'Most Fuel Efficient Car'- another feather in the cap of Tata. The trick to this is having a rear-mounted engine. The engine itself is 623 cc in displacement and the car weighs just around 600 kilos. The power to weight ratio is hence almost that of a normal road car. It is definitely not an arrow in character but it serves the purpose of getting from point A to point B in city traffic. And that is all you will ever need. No questions asked. The rear mounted engine meant that the boot would be shifted to the front. Not that you could call it a boot, though. It is just a storage space for the spare wheel (stepney in common language) and also accommodates the fuel pipe. Very thoughtful, but inconvenient if you're considering a luggage transfer without affecting interior passenger comfort. But hey! you can't have your cake and eat it too.. And especially so at the price of 1 Lac Rupees!
The front bonnet houses the 5th (spare) wheelThough currently, all the 3 models of the Nano will run with the 623cc MPFI petrol engine, speculations are on the rise that Tata will soon introduce a Diesel version, most probably a smaller capacity Multijet Diesel engine which it will garner access to, from its Indian JV partner Fiat Motors. Tata has plans of exporting the Nano's diesel variant to other markets even before it hits the Indian roads. Remember the phenomenal success of the Fiat Multijet engine in India (in the form of astounding sales figures of the Maruti Swift DDiS). Even the new Indica Vista is powered by this Multijet engine but its sales figures have shrunk, thanks to cheap build quality and other performance, refinement and quality issues that have always bugged the Indica since time immemorial.
The 623cc mill of the Nano produces 33PS of power, mated to a 4-speed synchromesh gearbox, which should be quite sufficient for manouvering in and out of our city roads and the horrendous traffic. You can't expect to beat a Ferrari in this car, but this is more than what you can get at that price-point. As mentioned earlier, the power-to-weight ratio offers quite a competitive bhp/tonne figure, which should brush aside all fears of being stranded on a slope or some such imaginary situation you could think of, where the lack of power could pose a problem. But the power problem would be non-existent as long as you stick to the city. Or maybe I missed out a point. With 4 people in the car and the A/C switched on, the car would definitely grunt, snort and protest when the throttle is floored. But I doubt you can expect much more from a 600cc engine. It offers a decent top speed of a 105 kmph, although how soon that speed figure will come up on your speedometer is another question ;-)
A very small turning radius of 4 meters makes it probably the most manouverable car in the country (or perhaps in the world). I was a bit taken aback during the press launch when I found that the feature list of even the top end variant (the Nano LX), did not include a Power Steering. However, the reason for this is- the front of the car is not heavy (unlike other cars which have a front-mounted engine assembly) and the lack of a power steering wouldn't really matter. The steering is supposed to be extremely nimble and responsive. Where the lack of the power steering will show, is only during tight U-turns, requiring more effort from the driver.
Space-wise the Nano doesn't disappoint. It easily seats 4 people, and the 5th person could be squeezed in too, albeit with a little difficulty. Safety and emission norms are adhered to, according to the company statements. It seems to have passed most Crash tests with good ratings. (Otherwise how would you expect them to be able to export it to European countries? ;) )
The Interiors are quite spaciousThe car is currently being manufactured at Tata Motors’s Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand. The dedicated plant for Tata Nano is coming up at Sanand in Gujrat which is going to be ready by 2010 and will have an annual capacity of 3,50,000 cars.
Earlier in the post, I had promised to show you how the Nano achieves its cost saving methods and still be a profit-maker for Tata Motors. "A promise is a promise" (a.k.a Ratan Tata). So here they are :-
- The Nano's boot does not open, instead the rear seats can be folded down to access the boot space.
- It has a single windscreen wiper instead of 2
- Some exterior parts of it are glued together, rather than welded
- It has no power steering
- It's door opening lever is much simpler
Made-in-Germany components - Some components of the Nano are made in Germany by Bosch, such as Fuel Injection, the Brake system, Value Motronic ECU, ABS (not present on Indian variants) and other technologies. As I speak now, Tata is carrying out rigorous testing on the Nano, to find out more areas for enhancements to produce a better product.
Firstly, you will need to buy an application form for Rs 300/- from any of the following locations between April 9th and 25th, 2009. There will be exclusive counters where you can purchase the applications. Most of these seem to be showrooms of the Tata chain of products (barring SBI).
- Select SBI branches
- Tata Motor Dealerships
- Croma Outlets
- Westside stores
- Tata Indicom Exclusive Stores
- World of Titan Showrooms
The booking amount for all the 3 variants will be the same throughout India:
Tata Nano Std : Rs. 95,000
Tata Nano CX : Rs. 1,20,000
Tata Nano LX : Rs. 1,40,000
Tata Nano Std : Rs. 1,31,028
Tata Nano CX : Rs. 1,59,027
Tata Nano LX : Rs. 1,79,278
Tata has tie-ups with a few financial institutions and banks to provide the facility of a loan with EMI payback, for those who want to avail a loan to pay the booking amount (and for the car cost itself).
Now assuming that is also done, there would be millions of chaps out there like you, who would have done the same thing. So how does Ratan Tata satisfy everyone and keep up his famous 'Promise'? Simple... read on... A computerised lottery or lucky draw is carried out within 60 days of closing of the booking window (60 days from April 25th, for the first batch) and the first 1,00,000 successful applicants are handed over their respective allotment letters. These lucky buggers would be the first 1,00,000 owners of the Tata Nano in India. If you're not lucky enough to get through the first lucky draw, Tata promises to get the allotment done in the second batch of shipments for these 'retainees' to prevent unlucky guys from waiting infinitely. It also gives 8.5% of interest (per annum) on the booking amount, to those unlucky ones. Should you get impatient by the time the first lot arrives (and assuming you are not in the first 1,00,000) you always have the option of getting a refund of your booking amount and cancelling the application (I wonder though, why someone would want to do that when they are promised an allotment in the following cycle and an interest on the booking amount for the waiting tenure)
In a nutshell, the Nano is one hell of an engineering miracle- to be able to put together this entire package and sell it at such a cost (When did we last see a more practical solution to all our commuting woes?)- which is why everyone wants a piece of cake from this segment of the market now. Bajaj is planning a cheap car in collaboration with Nissan-Renault sometime in 2010 and Maruti plans to slash prices of its existing base models such as the M800 and the Alto, to compete with the Nano. I am sure there will be many more competitors to follow Tata. This is one instance where Tata has proved its engineering superiority to the world. Agreed, neither can the Nano be as refined, well-built and trouble-free as a Toyota, nor can you expect it to compete with a Honda Accord in luxury, comfort or reliability. But at that price point, it is way too tempting for anyone to resist giving it a second thought. One last word- God save our (already flooded) roads once the deliveries begin!So when will YOU be booking for a Nano? ;)
Note: I have written this blog post based on some information sources. However, if you have any suggestions and/or corrections in the information or statistics that I have put up (if it is wrong in some areas), feel free to leave me a few comments and I would gladly correct those parts.
Hope you enjoyed reading this post! :)
KK
