The coolest small car in India? The Tata Nano, no doubt!
The Tata Nano has most things the average Indian car buyer looks for – fuel efficiency, spacious interiors and low cost. And yet, the going hasn’t been easy for Tata Motors’ tiny wonder car. Given our penchant for associating the size and price of a car with its owner’s social standing, many prefer not to buy a Nano simply because of what neighbours, friends and relatives would say or think about the purchase.
Ratan Tata’s brainchild, the Nano actually is the perfect city car. Its small size means that it’s easy to manoeuvre through crowded streets and it’s easy to park. Also, the car has been designed in a way that maximises cabin space – the Nano’s ingenious packaging means that it is at least as spacious as some bigger cars like, say, the Wagon R or the Santro.
The Nano’s rear hatch cannot be opened up, so access to the boot is limited. The boot is also, admittedly, smaller than what you’d find in a Maruti 800 or Alto. However, for many who only use their cars in the city, the fact that you can’t fit two suitcases in the Nano’s boot is not really much of a limitation. There’s enough cabin space to seat four people comfortably and stow all your shopping bags from the local supermarket and, for many, that’s all that they need.
While sales of the Nano were slow to begin with, things have been picking up in recent months. In April this year, Tata Motors sold more than 10,000 units of the Nano across the country – this was the first time the Nano’s monthly sales figure crossed the 10,000 units mark. But to put things in perspective, while this is more than twice the number of Indicas that Tata Motors currently sells every month, it’s also less than half the number of Altos that Maruti sells every month.
To build on the momentum they’ve gathered in recent months, Tata Motors is now planning to launch a diesel-engined variant of the Nano, which is likely to be launched in the country towards the end of this year. It will be about 20% more expensive than the petrol-engined Nano but then it’ll be a high-tech piece of machinery, with a twin-cylinder diesel engine featuring a common-rail fuelling system developed by Bosch and even a small turbocharger developed by Honeywell. The Nano diesel is likely to be the most fuel-efficient car in the country, with a real-world mileage figure that may be as high as 32-35km/l. With this, the only other thing left on most city car buyers’ wish lists might be an automatic/CVT transmission, which will make driving on crowded city streets completely hassle-free.
While Tata Motors are looking at ways of building on the Nano’s success story, other manufacturers are also looking at getting into the segment. Bajaj Auto, perhaps in collaboration with Renault-Nissan, is almost certain to launch its Nano-competitor in India in 2012. And companies like Fiat, Hyundai, Maruti and General Motors India are also said to be developing their own iterations of a small, fuel-efficient and low-cost city car. In the meanwhile, the Nano certainly seems to have proven its detractors wrong – the small car is looking all set to graduate to the big league in the near future.
