Nano booking to start from 9th April

The booking of the Nano, the Rs one-lakh people's car from the Tata stable, will begin on 9th April and remain open till 23rd April; the delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early-July.

Announcing this ahead of its launch on Monday, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata told editors that the car, which would have the smallest footprint on the road, will be sold to the first one-lakh buyers at a price to be announced later.

The promise that has been made to sell the car at around Rs one-lakh would be kept despite the fact that commodity prices had shot up, Tata said, adding that the fall in commodity prices now may provide some cushion.

The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early-July, he said, adding that applications for booking of the car would be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India.

State Bank of India would be the qualified banker for collection of bookings in 850 cities, he said.

The car can be booked by just paying Rs 2,999 upfront while the rest can be secured by way of loan, he said.

There would be 15 preferred financiers for the booking whose names would be disclosed in three days.

The initial 50,000-60,000 Nano cars is to be supplied from its Pantnagar plant primarily set up to manufacture Ace trucks, Tata said, adding that the plant to manufacture the Nano at Sanand (Gujarat) is likely to go on-stream by end-this year or early next year.

The first one-lakh customers will be selected by draw of lots from the bookings, he said, adding that those not allotted would have the option to retain their bookings.

The customers who wait for more than one-year will be paid 8.5 percent interest and those beyond two-years will be paid 8.75 percent, Tata Motors' Managing Director, Ravi Kant, said.

No interest would be given to the first one-lakh allotments, Ravi Kant said, adding that the company expects to supply the cars to the first lot in a year's time.

Tata made it clear that Nano production at Pantnagar was, however, an interim solution after the company was forced to shift its production from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand.

"Personally, to say the least, I feel very excited that we were able to go to the last mile to implement Plan B and launch the vehicle in March this year instead of December (this year) or January (next year)," Tata said.

Tata said that all preferred financiers would roll-out their booking schemes within three days.

The rate of interest on the loan would be decided by the banks that provide the loans, Ravi Kant said, adding that several banks would be providing loans including public sector banks.

The Sanand plant would have a capacity of 2.50-lakh units per annum which could later be expanded to half-a-million, Tata said.

The model would meet BS II, III and IV norms which are equivalent to Euro II, III and IV norms, Tata said.

Source:-ddinews

Tata Motors enters tie-up with Bank of Baroda

In order to provide an added facility of car finance to its customers, Tata Motors has entered into an understanding with Bank of Baroda for financing its range of passenger vehicles.

Bank of Baroda, a public sector undertaking, caters to the needs of industry as well as retail segment. The bank has pan India presence with over 2900 branches spread all over the country. It has recorded over 50% growth in the auto loan segment during the first 11 months of this fiscal.

Bank of Baroda offers car loans up to 85% of the invoice price, for tenure ranging up to 7 years, at a very competitive rate of 10.5% p.a.

This facility will be available at all 2900 branches of Bank of Baroda and 470 sales touch points of Tata Motors. This tie-up will provide a single window for both cars as well as car loans and will make car buying easier for the customers.

Ratan for Tata, ta-ta to the rest

In Mid-day Neha Puthran & NVSN Murthy write article on tata nano
Ratan Tata is India’s shining jewel.

Ratan Tata is India’s shining jewel. He has done the country proud by producing the Nano, the world’s cheapest car which will go a long way in solving the common man’s transport needs.

He has given us Indians reason to be proud of the Made in India label. For more than 900 million Indians, who live ordinary lives, this is a rare moment. Tata is our Henry Ford.

Ford’s T model car came out in 1908. Exactly 100 years later Tata’s Nano repeats history. Ford made affordable cars for Americans selling it for $500 (Rs 20,000) compared to the present price of Tata Nano $2,500 (Rs 1 lakh).

He is one of the few entrepreneurs who successfully put India on the world business and corporate map.

He took the first step towards giving our industries an entry into the international market and projecting India as a global player by acquiring Corus Group, making the Tatas, the fifth largest steel producer in the world.

Author : Neha Puthran.





Whether the government awards the Bharat Ratna to Ratan Tata or not, he is already one to the people of India for the priceless services he has been rendering to the society and nation since decades. His recent one-lakh car is only a tip of the iceberg.

Today, Tata is synonymous with professional management, staff welfare, human relations, employee care, product quality, cost-effectiveness, customer care, availability, reliability, dependability, fair play and social service.

His companies have employed millions, generating billions in revenue for the nation. Thus Tata has been shouldering social and national responsibilities.

He has also enforced an equal opportunity policy in his company that does not exist even in government organizations.

Author : NVSN Murthy


Source : http://www.mid-day.com

Tata Motors launches Nano

Tata Motors Ltd launched the world's cheapest car on Thursday 10 Jan 2008 ceremony at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi
This Tata Nano would be produced at the Singur plant in West Bengal. It would be launched in the market during the second half of the year 2008.
The Nano will be available in three variants which are standard and two deluxe models with AC. The standard car would be available for Rs 1 lakh (ex-showroom), while VAT and transportation costs are extra. Tata Motors invested Rs 1,500-1,700 crore (Rs 15-17 billion) in the small car project. The car will comply with Bharat III & Euro 4 emission norms.

Details of the Nano:

Ratan Tata, while launching the Nano, said: "The car will meet all current safety norms and all emission criteria. The pollution it will cause will be lower than 2-wheelers."

The Nano is smaller than a Maruti 800, but has 21 per cent more volume or space inside than the Maruti 800. Mr. Ratan Tata said that the dealer price of the car will be Rs 1 lakh, plus value-added tax (VAT) plus transport charges.

The car's dashboard features of Nano are it just have a speedometer, fuel gauge, and oil light. The car does not have reclining seats or radio. The shock absorbers are basic. The lightweight car has only one windshield wiper instead of two.

It will sport a 30-litre fuel tank and 4-speed manual gearshift. Nano has a 624cc engine and a mileage of 23 km per litre But will have no power steering. It will have front disk and rear drum brakes. The car will be available in three colors Red, Yellow and Silver.

The Nano, designed with a family in mind, has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy.


Rajiv Bajaj speaks on Tata's small People's car:


"My skepticism about the Tata car is not about Tata's ability to put it together but to put it together at the price of Rs 1 lakh. It is not fair to say that Rs 1 lakh is the ex-factory price -- our two-stroke directly injected three wheeler, which is nowhere close to a car, costs close to Rs 1 lakh to the customer. I still haven't heard them (the Tata's) say it will be profitable."


As in my view Mr.Ratan Tata's Nano fulfills common man's dream. It fulfills the need of the common Indian who aspires to move from a two-wheeler to a four-wheeler.