Tata Motors to produce up to 80,000 units of the Nano by March 2010

It may have been delayed, but the Rs One Lakh car is coming soon...!

According to fresh reports in the media, the very first units of the much-awaited Tata Nano will roll out from Tata’s Pantnagar facility by the end of February this year. While engines and gearboxes for the Nano will be built at Tata’s plant in Pune, these will be shipped to Pantnagar for final assembly.

Of course, since Pantnagar is only an interim solution till the main Nano plant in Sanand, Gujarat, is ready, Tata Motors will only be able to produce very few units of the Nano – perhaps no more than 6-7,000 cars – by the end of March this year. However, between April 2009 and March 2010, Tata Motors is expected to produce up to 80,000 units of the Nano.

Tata Motors’ manufacturing facility at Sanand is widely expected to be ready by mid-2010 and once the production starts, the company aims to produce 150,000 units of the Nano in the very first year. The company will make an investment of Rs 2,246 crore in the first phase of Nano car project in Gujarat, while shifting and relocation expenses will cost an additional Rs 650 crore. However, while the Sanand plant will be the main manufacturing facility for the Nano, Tata Motors may also continue to assemble smaller volumes of the car at Pantnagar.

With its 625cc, 33bhp twin-cylinder petrol engine, the basic Nano – with airconditioning or any other luxury accoutrements – is expected to cost about Rs 1.20 lakh on road, including registration and insurance costs. The company has plans to launch a diesel version by end-2011, which will be more expensive and the same goes for Nano variants with an AC, automatic gearbox and other luxuries.