MUMBAI — Amid camera flashes and the occasional shoving match between photographers, specifications and on-sale dates for the highly anticipated Tata Nano were finally announced at two elaborate media events here on Monday.
“We have made a promise and we have kept that promise,” Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, said during the first press gathering, held in the Taj Hotel.The promise Mr. Tata was referring to was his ambitious goal to build a car with a starting price of only 100,000 Indian rupees ($2,000 tata nano). While the Nano does meet its highly aggressive (and what many industry experts once deemed as totally unrealistic) price point, some hurdles remain to be cleared.
The Nano has been nicknamed “The People’s Car” because its starting price will make it accessible to more Indians than any other new car on the market. But the ultra-cheap, ultra-compact Nano comes with no frills. It runs on a 623-cc 2-cylinder engine with about 30 horsepower. Power steering and power brakes are optional on the base model. Airbags, antilock brakes and even a radio aren’t available at all.
The official launch of the tiny four-door car, however, was hardly lacking in pomp and ceremony. And perhaps lost amid the canapés and five-star service of the Taj Hotel (which is owned by the Tata Group and was a target of last year’s terrorist attacks) was the fact that, despite appearances, the Nano isn’t exactly on sale yet.
The first models arrive in dealer showrooms in early April. Application forms to register to buy the car will be accepted from April 9-25. And for the first time in company history, Tata Motors will charge a fee (about $6) to anyone who applies to buy the car.
First deliveries of the Nano to customers will occur in July. This news comes after what has already been more than six months of production delays. Political protests over the company’s land acquisition methods forced Tata to abandon a nearly complete factory built for Nano production in the state of West Bengal. Rather than risk provoking the situation, Tata decided to base Nano production elsewhere.Source: NyTimes
