Tata Nano Sale Amongst Tata Motors Employees

The latest bid from Tata Motors to boost Tata Nano sale is to press its employees in large numbers. The offer is open for its Tata Motors employees with Rs12500+ as monthly salary and the loan can be availed for a period of 4 years. The rate of interest will be 2% per year against 14% charged on 100% loan for other public. Another advantage is the waiving of processing fees and the scheme comes into effect from the dawn of 2011.

Tata Motors has issued circulars to its employees by which it said the blood relatives of such employees too can avail this offer. The repayment shall be made through deductions from the monthly salary and there are 24000 Tata Motors employees. Under this scheme, the EMI comes about Rs3684 for the standard variant costing Rs1.69 lakhs(Mumbai ex-showroom); it is Rs4956 for the LX variant which costs Rs2.28 lakhs.

The company claims that by this repayment scheme Tata Motors employees can save Rs 48000 – Rs 61000 for the entire loan period of 4 years. In addition the employees may get exclusive facilities depending upon the profile and in particular, zero down payment. However, the company says this is not new offer since the employees are availing schemes for almost all of its products.

The company official said the recent launch of open sale of Tata Nano in 12 cities is doing well and the offer to employees is no way related to clearing of the year end stock. Yet, the fact remains that the Tata Nano sale has fallen in recent months making the company to come out with a series of sale promotion offers – extended warranty, maintenance contract for Rs99 per month, instant loan in 48 hours. The company attributed its decline in sale to the neglect of the semi urban sector.

Tata Nano sale came down to 509 units in November from 9000 units sold five months ago. The dealers of Nano started smiling with the introduction of finance scheme and the units are gradually reducing in the show rooms. There will be fresh orders from January 2011, they said.

Tata To Install Sale Stall For Nano

With more upside down and reverse gear move from its cheapest car fancy, Tata Motors is brushing its eyes to visualize the boost of the car Tata Nano. There has been a deep decline in its sales recently much to the contrary of its initial slogan from its Chairman Ratan Tata, we are at the gates to offer a new version of transportation for the people of India. He was actually initiating the move targeting the two wheeler segment to divert to his cheapest car much akin to Henry Ford’s move with his Model T. Much disappointing to the projected 85% sales for a year, the company faced an all time low sale in November this year just 509 units.

The irony is that the car market has been growing at a rapid pace all through this year. The Rs1 lakh car, as it was branded at the launch, had to undergo a lot of ups and downs especially the fire incidents in its electrical components. This event was highlighted through television news coverage. Though it had not involved any physical injuries, it had made a deep crack in the safety aspect of the car among the customers.

The company had to defend the incidents and convince the customers with a statement that Tata Nano is a safe car with a robust design. In a bid to woo the existing customers and new arrivals, Tata Motors has introduced a safety assurance scheme by offering refinement to the electrical accessories, quoting image engineering. However, the competitors reaped a good volume at the loss of this Nano decline. Maruti, in particular, secured a sale volume of 33000 units of its cheapest mode Alto even at the double price of that Tata Nano. Sensing all these hiccups, Tata Motors is now devising some strategies to revive the market for Tata Nano and the latest one is the Tata Nano Happiness Guarantee scheme. The scheme enables the buyers with extended warranty – for four years from the earlier 18 months- and a maintenance contract for Rs99 per month.

Also the company is aiding to arrange easy finance upto 90% for purchase of Nano at the revised low rates of interest in just 48 hours. The fall in the sale of Nano came from another major cause – the rise in its price- from Rs1 lakh to Rs1.37 lakhs (non-a/c model), since the company claimed the rise in input costs. The airconditioned model costs Rs1.6 lakhs which the car dealers claim that is high compared to the cost of seconds from top brands. Tata believes that Nano could still bring fortune for it though a complete review of the car has not reached the mass. The industry analysts claim that Nano do possess good features at its cost and the existing owners have no sort of regrets. The car can gain potential in coming days if Tata Motors devised any new dimensions. The tussles for Nano now are not recent one, but it faced such problems even before its launch in West Bengal, where it was supposed to install its unit. But unable to resist the local farmers, Tata Motors had to vacate and shift its unit to Gujarat. In addition, the acquiring of Jaguar and Land Rover faced a fall in its sale.
Source: http://living.oneindia.in/automobiles/auto-news/

Tata Nano Design Gets International Awards

Tata Motors’ Nano design has got the an international award- from the Chicago Atheanaeum :Museum of Architecture and Design with the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.ta

Tata Nano design is appreciated for the extra space provided for the passengers which can accommodate four adults. Tata Nano design in detail is that it measures 3.1m long, 1.5 mts wide and 1.6 mts high. Tata Nano designed with least exterior footprint yet it is spacious by 21% than the existing small cars in the markets. With these features, Tata Motors has added some more attractions for promoting Nano – easy and fast track finance within 48hours; in addition there will be manufacturing warranty upto 60,000 kms or 4 years, whichever is earlier.

Much contrary to its early claims, Tata Motors has let the open sale of Tata Nano through dealer network in 12 states in India from this August, which is to be expanded to remaining areas before March 2011.

Car Sales In India Droppes

Despite huge schemes and offers announced by the car makers, the Indian customers are not wooed yet and the result is the slackening in the Indian cars sale. Two reasons are attributed for low pace of indian car sale – poor offer from the companies and bulk volume of purchase during the festival season.

To quote a few, Maruti Suzuki is offering Rs20,000 for its Alto and Rs12,000 for its refined WagonR which seems to be lower than the one offered last year. A Delhi based Maruti dealer exclaimed that this happened to be the highest offer from a car maker yet is lower than the previous year- even to the extent of Rs38,000 cash incentives. This happens in spite of the growing scene in the Indian car industry – 30% rise- to race against China. The actual rise of car sale is 32% (12.66lakh units) till last month for this fiscal and the trend has suddenly changed now a days. The annual sale volume is high for every year but the same for the monthly basis is fluctuating. The comparative sale for October was 1.82 cars against 1.61 units in November.


Dealers of various companies are hopeful of reaping more car sale in India this month due to the price rise announced by the makers. Other major reasons for the slow rate of car sale are the comparative high sale in the last year, the supply constraint for components and increased interest rates. The analysts felt that the actual car sale in India has surpassed the expectation and projections. Yet the final volume by the end of the fiscal will be different, said the Director general of SIAM.

There are a group of people who wait till next month to gain a year long resale promotion. This is true that the vehicle is mentioned under the year of purchase irrespective of the month purchased. The customers are not in a hurry to buy cars in this December even after offered attractive gains. Particularly in Gujarat, this month is considered to be inauspicious for good things. One more reason cited for slow sale was the suspension of dealing between the manufacturers and the dealers during the end of December, for the closure of year end maintenance.

Maruti Suzuki Starts Work On Diesel Engines

Before middle of 2011, Maruti Suzuki may roll down the diesel engine meant for the mid-sized sedan in India. The company’s CEO and MD said the process is being shaped by the company engineers internally and there is hope to deliver the engine before the middle of 2011. The initial brand for which the engine will be fitted will be SX 4 and the current procurement of engines for its Swift, Dzire and Ritz is from Fiat. He disclosed that the sale for October was 1 lakh units, first of its kind, and efforts are on to repeat the feat for this month too.

The net sale during October was 107555 units in the local market against 95148 units in the previous month. This made the net total sale for the period April-October for this year was 628378 units making a rise by 31.4% from the one derived in the same period of 2009.

The CEO said the company feels difficult to maintain the same stint for this fiscal quoting the tough base existed in the last year. He further mentioned that the operation of the second plant at Manesar will be advanced by six months in 2011 and similar will be the third plant much ahead the scheduled 2013. The expansion activities will incur an investment of Rs3500 crore; the JV enables Maruti hold 54.2% in Suzuki and the Gurgaon plant has the annual capacity of 8.5 lakh units. Manesar facility has the annual capacity of 3.5 lakh units making the net annual capacity to 12 lakhs. He announced the annual closure and maintenance of the facility from December 25 to 2nd January2011.

BMW X1 India Introduced

Do you dream of a BMW but are depressed at the high price? Well, now the German car maker introduces the cheapest BMW X1 in India. BMW X1 is scheduled to launch in January 2011. The cost of the car is supposed to be between 22 lakhs to 29 lakhs. BMW X1 India will be assembled in its Chennai plant with an investment of 180 crore.

BMW X1 India will be in both petrol and diesel variant. BMW X1diesel engine will have the power of 177 BHP, torque 350 Nm and 1750 TO 3000 rpm. BMW X1 petrol on the other hand will have the power of 150 BHP, torque of 200 Nm and 3600rpm.


The BMW officials claim that the BMW X1 diesel version takes 8.3 seconds to pick up a speed of 100 kmph while the petrol version takes 10.4 seconds to take on the same speed. Mr Andreas Schaaf president of BMW India said that "The new BMW 'X1' sets the benchmark by bringing together features of a sports activity vehicle with spontaneous flexibility and outstanding fuel economy.”

The BMW X1 India will bring on a new turn in the segment of luxury cars by getting it closer to the general crowd. This January 2011, one of the first luxury car to be launched in the Indian automobile market will be BMW X1 India.

Mini-SUV From Maruti In Two Years

Maruti Suzuki is still an undisputed leader in the Indian car market by retaining 50% share amidst the invasion of global players into it with rapid pace. To increase the more possible volume and to enter the various segment, Maruti is aiming to roll down an SUV to counter the existing players. The vehicle, according to some section of reports, may be on the lines of Suzuki Jimmy which is a diesel with 2-door. However Maruti may convert this into 4-door, it is learnt, to meet the domestic market demands. According to the company sources, this will be one of the seven models proposed by Maruti for the next couple of years.

Other forms will be on the basis of Alto small car, an MPV on the lines of Toyota Innova on RIII concept. For the calendar year 2011, in January there will be Kizashi sedan, in February it will be SX4 diesel, and in March-April it may be refined Swift and the Swift Dzire ranges. Maruti heavily relies on these two last versions to boost its sale volume for regaining the 50%share in the domestic market. This proposition is made in accordance with the projection of 20-25% sale in car in the next few years. An official from Maruti hinted said that the company is exploring all possibilities to fill in the gap and void left by it in other segments, especially SUV and MUV.


The existing models in SUV are Grand Vitara and Gypsy which are petrol versions. The move comes in the wake of Volkswagen entering into a JV with Suzuki, by which Maruti intends to capitalize on engine specifications. The major players in the SUV segment are M&M with Scorpio, Toyota (Innova and Fortuner) Ford (Endeavor) and Tata (Safari). The segment is expected to rise its market share by 70% towards this year end.

All these indications were to have been conceived and confirmed by the company’s MD and CEO.

Toyota gears up to roll out two compact cars in Indian market

After serving the above Rs 7 lakh bracket with its vehicles in the country, Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is all set to expand its reach in the Indian sub-continent with its compact car platform variants including a hatchback and a sedan. The two cars will be showcased at the forthcoming Auto Expo in New Delhi ( from January 5-11) with another 12 models from the company. Other models include the hybrid Prius that the company will be launching at the Auto Expo, along with display of a concept, CNG Innova and Corolla Altis, and two more hybrids from the stable.

Toyota has still not taken a call on which one of the two compact car variants will be launched first in 2011. The compact car platform is a brand new platform called the entry family car (EFC), keeping in focus the Indian market. The R&D for the said platform has been done in Japan, while the manufacturing will take place in India.

The hatchback and sedan will be powered by 1.2 and 1.5 petrol engines, respectively. The hatchback will be competing against the Maruti Swift and Hyundai i20 in the market.

The sedan will compete against Tata Manza and Maruti SwiftDzire category, said Sandeep Singh, marketing deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM). While putting a price to the product is too pre-mature considering one long standing year yet to go, experts expect the hactchback to be around Rs 5.5 lakh and the sedan at Rs 6.5 lakh.

To put things into perspective, a Hyundai i20, a hatchback, in New Delhi with 1.2 litre engine costs approximately Rs 5.3 to 6.3 lakh on-road, while Tata Manza, a sedan, with Saffire (petrol) engine costs approximately Rs 4.8-Rs 5.9 lakh on-road in New Delhi.

Singh said that the feedback the company gets at the Auto Expo will be crucial in the decision of the launch. Further, on diesel variant of the two cars, Singh said that the company is not denying the possibility of having a diesel engine, which are being imported by the company.
Source:[financialexpress.com]

Big plans for the small car

From the time when the Maruti 800 put Indian women in the driver's seat, to the more recent Nano, which put the car within common man's reach, the Indian small car segment has seen a lot of action. But nothing can hold a candle to what 2010 has in store.

To begin with, the segment is heading for a complete makeover. It's time to start thinking international as several global auto giants are planning to launch their small cars in the country next year. Japanese car maker Nissan is way ahead in the race and is reportedly planning to start trial production of its small car as early as this November. Ford Motors' Figo is slated to be launched next year. Toyota is busy setting up a small car plant for its offering that is targeted to hit the showrooms by the end of 2010. And the German Volkswagen is making India-specific alterations to its small car, Polo.

The reason all these automakers are queuing up is the potential of the Indian auto market. A little over 88,000 passenger cars were sold in September 2009 alone. "It is an untapped market. Automobile markets in the US, Europe and Japan are near stagnation. On the other hand, in India, the car and two-wheeler penetration level is at its lowest. This will result in a shift of new capacities and flow of capital to the cost-competitive Indian car market, states research firm Kredent.

Also, considering that 73% of the cars sold in India are small cars, driven by price sensitivity, pundits expect most of the new launches to be competitively priced, at around Rs 3 lakh for the base model. For instance, Ford is expected to price the Figo just below the Rs 4 lakh and Nissan's car is expected to follow suit.

India sells, makes more small cars than

India is emerging as a leader in small cars as declining sales in Western markets coupled with robust growth in Asia rapidly redraw the global map of the auto industry.

It's well known that China overtook the United States as the world's largest car market in 2009. Less noticed is that India will top Japan for the first time in sales of super-compact cars. It overtook Japan as the world's No. 1 producer of basic cars in 2007.

Automakers like Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Volkswagen AG, General Motors Co., and China's Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp. are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the country, hoping to capture a piece of the growing market for tiny, inexpensive vehicles. As they do so, they are quietly transforming India into an export hub for small car manufacturing.

"India is right in the center of the radar," said Michael Boneham, head of Ford India, which plans to roll out its first India-made compact, the Figo, in the first quarter.

More than 892,000 basic cars - the smallest category of passenger vehicle - were estimated to have been sold in India in 2009, up 14 percent from 2008 and surpassing the 708,034 forecast for Japan, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

Unlike China, Russia, and Brazil, where consumers buy a range of cars from basic to luxury, Indians overwhelmingly prefer small, affordable cars.

Nearly half of all cars sold in India fall into the basic category. These are cars so small they're almost nonexistent in the U.S. market. They could be called sub-subcompacts.

A trip down the streets of a typical Indian megacity, where the bulk of car buyers live, makes the reason clear. Drivers squeeze through any remotely plausible opening on the clogged streets, grazing handcarts, bicycles, cars, pedestrians, and livestock.

And executives say most Indians won't spend more than $8,000 on a car.

To manufacture these low-margin vehicles profitably, car makers must localize production.

Auto industry registers robust sales in December

India’s auto industry ended 2009 on a strong note with car and two-wheeler makers reporting robust growth in December sales as increasing economic activity and easy availability of loans prompted buyers to rush to dealerships.

December is traditionally seen as a weak month for sales as customers prefer to wait for the new year to make purchases as cars bought in December attract lower resale prices than than those bought a month later. However, in the past few years car makers have rushed to attract buyers with discounts and other rebates to shore up December sales.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country’s largest car maker reported a 36% jump in sales. The company sold 71,000 units in December, compared with 52,029 units a year ago.

Sales at rival, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, rose 42% to 22,252 units. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd clocked the biggest percentage jump, with sales rising 122% to 22,754 units.

Tata Motors Ltd did not release its numbers.

The growth was also helped along by the base effect when muted growth in one month leads to the next year’s numbers looking stronger then they would have otherwise. Car and two-wheeler sales started falling in October 2008 and continued to do so till February.

Smaller players such as General Motors India and Skoda Auto also reported brisk growth. Sales at General Motors doubled to 8,258 units. Significantly, the Spark, its small car, accounted for 4,147 units. It plans to further strengthen its offering in the small car segment with the launch of the Chevrolet Beat at this month’s New Delhi Auto Expo. Skoda sold 1,113 units compared with 732 a year ago.

Car makers also benefited from buyers advancing purchases due to price hikes, which several companies have said they plan to do in the next few months. Some, such as Ford India Pvt. Ltd, have already announced an increase in prices from January.

Among two-wheeler companies, Hero Honda Motors Ltd ended the year with the company selling in excess of 300,000 units every month in 2009. It sold 375,838 units in December, a 42% increase over the year-ago period. TVS Motor Co. Ltd sold 102,479 two-wheelers in December, compared with 72,355 a year ago, a growth of 42%. India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd’s sales fell 15% to 13,612 units.