My Iris reported that TATA Motors has plans to use its Nano platform to build electric and hybrid cars and to produce more high end models.

TATA Group said TATA Motors should target exports of the car in the developing countries like Brazil, China, Indonesia and Russia where the growth rate is over 10%.

The introduction of Nano was compared to that of the Ford Model T, the car that completely revolutionized the automobile industry. Nano is also expected to create a new distinct category in the auto industry – the People’s car.

A true Indian car, Nano has 97% local content. Before Nano, Maruti 800 was the cheapest car in the Indian market priced at around INR 2 million.

Reporting from New Delhi — With the flash of cameras and oohs and aahs from the crowd, an Indian company Monday launched what is billed as the world’s least expensive car, six years after it was conceived and six months behind schedule.

The Nano will start at $2,200 after taxes and dealer costs, while the more expensive CX and LX models with heat, air conditioning and power brakes will go for as much as $3,800.

None of the models, made by India’s giant Tata conglomerate, carry air bags or anti-lock brakes. But they will meet or exceed all Indian safety standards, company officials said.

“I hope it will provide safe, affordable four-wheel transportation to families who until now have not been able to own a car,” Ratan Tata, company chairman, told reporters.

Amid the applause and homegrown pride at India’s accomplishments, however, some here expressed concern about the environmental impact of a “people’s car” so inexpensive that it will be within reach of millions more people, further clogging the roads and polluting the air.

“At this time, when India is just beginning to motorize, it’s absolutely essential that we grow differently and not become as car-centric as the rest of the world,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, associate director of the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi. “It’s a natural aspiration that people want to own a car, but it’s important to offer public transportation options.”

The initial focus will be on the Indian market and its rising middle class, but the company plans to roll out a more expensive European version in 2011 with air bags and better emissions and safety ratings. It may also consider a model for the U.S. market.

China’s Cherry QQ car sells for about $4,800 and India’s Suzuki Maruti 800 for about $5,000. The least expensive U.S. car is the basic Chevrolet Aveo, with a nearly $12,000 base price. Nissan offers its subcompact Versa model in the U.S. at a base price of $9,999.

Tata Motors, which last year bought Jaguar and Land Rover, has seen its debt soar in recent months, as have carmakers around the world. To help ease its cash squeeze — the company suffered its first loss in seven years last quarter — it is taking sizable advance deposits.

Protests by farmers and a politician’s hunger strike last fall forced the company to shutter its main Nano factory in West Bengal state, delaying the launch by half a year. Since then, the global economy has deteriorated significantly.

Tata said it would hold a lottery starting April 9 for the 1 million applicants vying for the 60,000 or so vehicles expected to be produced in the first year. Those who are selected will be asked to put up a deposit of as much as 80% of the price. Delivery is to start in July.

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Tata Motors on Thursday announced that the much-awaited Tata Nano will be launched at a function in Mumbai on March 23, 2009.

The cars will be on display at Tata Motors [Get Quote] dealerships from the first week of April 2009. Bookings will commence from the second week of April 2009.

Since it’s unveiling on January 10, 2008, the Tata Nano has evoked an unprecedented interest in the country, with its Web site having recorded over 30 million hits in the past one year and the creation of over 6,000 interest groups and communities.

Tata Motors is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that prospective customers can conveniently avail of booking facilities at their locations, across the length and breadth of India. The booking process and other details will be announced on March 23, 2009.

Mumbai-based Tata Motors (NYSE:TTM), a subsidiary of the Tata Group, said today it plans to spend Rs 2,246 crore ($453 million) to start production of its Nano car in the western state of Gujarat, doubling its investment in its low-end, highly efficient vehicle.

The Nano—which is being billed as the world’s smallest, cheapest car—is a gas-powered, manual transmission, four-seated vehicle expected to sell in India for one lakh ($2,500 USD) (see Hyundai introduces competitor to India’s Nano minicar).

Tata chose Gujarat for the Nano plant after violent protests halted construction of the factory in Singur, West Bengal, in August when it was 90 percent complete (see Tata Motors moves Indian Nano plant). In addition to the Rs 2,246 crore to build the new factory, Tata said the shifting and relocation of the Nano plant will cost Rs 650 crore.

Tata now says it plans to roll out the Nano starting in late February from its existing factories in Pune and Pantnagar, with about 7,000 vehicles produced by the end of the fiscal year on March 31. The company then plans to produce 80,000 Nanos in its next full fiscal year.

The Sanand facility in Gujarat is expected to come online in the first quarter of fiscal 2010-11, with Tata aiming to produce 150,000 a year, which was the initial goal for the Nano before problems arose with the Singur factory. The original rollout of the Nano was planned for October 2008.

Last year, Tata said it spent nearly Rs. 1,500 crores ($338 million) to build the Singur factory, 45 miles outside Kolkata. About 60 suppliers collectively spent about Rs. 500 crores ($112.7 million) to locate on the Singur complex (see India’s Tata Motors reveals electric car prototype).

Residents held violent protests demanding the return of 400 acres of land that farmers said they were forced to cede for the factory.

The world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano, may also turn out to be world’s cheapest hybrid version as well. Tata Motors intends to offer micro-hybrid version of Tata Nano with micro-hybrid technology that allows the vehicle to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 10 percent.

According to a leading Indian news channel, Bosch shall provide the micro-hybrid technology to Nano also known as Start-Stop System. This system allows the engine to automatically turn off when the vehicle is not moving. This additional technology may cost another Rs. 4000 to Rs. 6000 to the overall cost but this technology is definitely the cheapest hybrid technology most suitable for the world’s cheapest car.

Most of the countries around the world are getting stricter with fuel consumption and emission norms including Europe and the US. This micro-hybrid technology can b deployed to the vehicles at much lower cost than full hybrid systems. The micro-hybrid technology will also be available in diesel and electric variants of Nano.

source:cartraseindia

Call it coincidence or history repeating itself, the world’s least expensive car ‘Nano’ is likely to be rolled out around the time Ratan Tata celebrates his 71st birthday on December 28, just as the ‘Indica’ was launched a decade ago when he turned 61.
According to informed sources, Tata Motors is working on a plan to launch the ‘People’s Car’, as Tata fondly refers to, to coincide with his birthday with about 10,000 units being readied to be rolled-out from the company’s facilities in Pune and Pantnagar.

Vendor sources also said, already parts for about 12,000 units of Nano have been dispatched to Tata’s both Pune and Pantnagar facilities.

They added that initially only the base model of Nano would hit the roads this year.

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India’s giant Tata Group has found a new home to build the world’s cheapest car, cosseted by assurances that the project’s past traumas with land disputes and political infighting are over.

By choosing to take its “Nano” car factory to the business-friendly state of Gujarat, after abandoning the original site in West Bengal, Tata has sent a message that a stable investment climate is a pre-requisite for participation in India’s economic growth.

In an interview published Wednesday in the Economic Times, group chairman Ratan Tata attacked what he saw as the political manipulation behind protests by local farmers that forced the pull-out from West Bengal.

“Political opposition should be subordinated to the better welfare of the country,” Tata said, suggesting that those who backed the protestors did not necessarily have their best interests at heart.

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