Mr. Ratan Tata has gone on the record to say that the Nano is being refreshed to realize its full potential. The People’s car, was an engineering marvel and a marketing disaster. Known as the world’s cheapest car, it was a dream come true for the two wheeler drivers to afford a car. But, Mr. Tata’s dream of providing a motorcyclist with a car did not go as he expected contributing to various factors. But, everyone learns from their mistakes, and Mr. Ratan Tata is not a man who gives up that easily. He feels that the Tata Nano needs a fresh breath of life to realize its full potential.
Many factors like plant transfers, certain issues with dealerships and insufficient publicity were the reasons for its failures. For some, they didn’t like the tag of ‘The cheapest car in the world’. Talking about cheap, even the pricing was a factor as it exceeded more than Rs one Lakh, the users had to constantly upgrade the car at different points which eventually started touching two lakhs. The safety of the vehicle was also a concern for many users. Tata Motors modified all the Nano cars for additional safety without charging anything from the customers. But by that time, the customers lost their interest in the vehicle. The marketing and distribution of the car was also a problem because they didn’t have a proper advertising budget.
The Tata Nano’s launch was delayed more than a year due to the plant being shifted from Singur in West Bengal to a site in Gujarat after protests by local farmers and residents over the land acquisition process. By the time the plant was in full capacity, the momentum was lost.
It’s been four years since the Nano was launched and Ratan Tata feels that it is time to refresh the vehicle. He said that they will be looking into all the issues that the car currently faces before launching the facelifted version. The launch date however, is still not specified.
Mr. Cyrus Mistry, the ex head of Tata Motors has started work on revitalizing the Tata Nano, to make sure that it succeeds in its second life.
Check out more pictures of Tata Nano Europa, below the jump.
Also see – Spied – Tata Nano in different avatars across India
Tata Motors is likely to launch Nano CNG and diesel variants in 2013
Source – LiveMint
