ABSTRACT

The automobile industry in India is the ninth largest in the world with an
annual production of over 2.3 million units in 2008. In 2009, India emerged as Asia's
fourth largest exporter of automobiles, behind Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
Some of the major players in Indian automobile industry are Maruti Suzuki, Tata
Motors, Hyundai, Honda and many more.
The launch of Tata Nano by Tata Motors had brought a revolutionary change
in the automobile industry. It has lead to the launch of a new segment, a new entry
level car which is almost half the price of its closest competitor (in terms of price)
Maruti 800. This research project is deals about Tata Nano. Before conducting the
primary research, a lot of books, articles were read on Indian Automobile industry,
Tata Nano and the consumer Behaviour. Then, the primary research was conducted.
The project started with keeping in mind the objectives to be fulfilled. Then
the type of research and the survey was decided.

1
 CHAPTER I

1.1 Introduction

Tata Group operates in seven business sectors: communications and

information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products
and chemicals. They are, by and large, based in India and have significant
international operations. The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was
$70.8 billion in 2008-09, with 64.7 per cent of this coming from business outside
India, and they employ around 357,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been
respected in India for 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics.
Every Tata company or enterprise operates independently. Each of these
companies has its own board of directors and shareholders, to whom it is answerable.
There are 27 publicly listed Tata enterprises and they have a combined market
capitalisation of some $60 billion, and a shareholder base of 3.5 million. The major
Tata companies are Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata
Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Tea, Indian Hotels and Tata Communications.
Tata Steel became the sixth largest steel maker in the world after it acquired
Corus. Tata Motors is among the top five commercial vehicle manufacturers in the
world and has recently acquired Jaguar and Land Rover. TCS is a leading global
software company, with delivery centres in the US, UK, Hungary, Brazil, Uruguay
and China, besides India. Tata Tea is the second largest branded tea company in the
world, through its UK-based subsidiary Tetley. Tata Chemicals is the world’s second
largest manufacturer of soda ash and Tata Communications is one of the world’s
largest wholesale voice carriers.
In tandem with the increasing international footprint of Tata companies, the
Tata brand is also gaining international recognition. Brand Finance, a UK-based
consultancy firm, recently valued the Tata brand at $9.92 billion and ranked it 51st
among the world's Top 100 brands. Businessweek magazine ranked Tata 13th among
the '25 Most Innovative Companies' list and the Reputation Institute, USA, recently
rated it 11th on its list of world's most reputable companies.

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, Tata’s early years were inspired by the spirit of
nationalism. It pioneered several industries of national importance in India: steel,

2
power, hospitality and airlines. In more recent times, its pioneering spirit has been
showcased by companies such as TCS, India’s first software company, and Tata
Motors, which made India’s first indigenously developed car, the Indica, in 1998 and
recently unveiled the world’s lowest-cost car, the Tata Nano.
Tata companies have always believed in returning wealth to the society they
serve. Two-thirds of the equity of Tata Sons, the Tata promoter company, is held by
philanthropic trusts that have created national institutions for science and technology,
medical research, social studies and the performing arts. The trusts also provide aid
and assistance to non-government organisations working in the areas of education,
healthcare and livelihoods. Tata companies also extend social welfare activities to
communities around their industrial units. The combined development-related
expenditure of the trusts and the companies amounts to around 4 per cent of the net
profits of all the Tata companies taken together.
Going forward, Tata is focusing on new technologies and innovation to drive
its business in India and internationally. The Nano car is one example, as is the Eka
supercomputer (developed by another Tata company), which in 2008 was ranked the
world’s fourth fastest. Anchored in India and wedded to traditional values and strong
ethics, Tata companies are building multinational businesses that will achieve growth
through excellence and innovation, while balancing the interests of shareholders,
employees and civil society.
1.2 Values and purpose:
Leadership with trust
Purpose

At the Tata Group our purpose is to improve the quality of life of the
communities we serve. We do this through leadership in sectors of national economic
significance, to which the Group brings a unique set of capabilities. This requires us
to grow aggressively in focused areas of business.
Our heritage of returning to society what we earn evokes trust among
consumers, employees, shareholders and the community. This heritage is being
continuously enriched by the formalisation of the high standards of behavior expected
from employees and companies.

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The Tata name is a unique asset representing leadership with trust. Leveraging this
asset to enhance Group synergy and becoming globally competitive is the route to
sustained growth and long-term success.
1.3 FIVE CORE VALUES

The Tata Group has always sought to be a value-driven organisation. These

values continue to direct the Group's growth and businesses. The five core Tata values
underpinning the way we do business are:
Integrity: We must conduct our business fairly, with honesty and transparency.
Everything we do must stand the test of public scrutiny.
Understanding: We must be caring, show respect, compassion and humanity for our
colleagues and customers around the world, and always work for the benefit of the
communities we serve.
Excellence: We must constantly strive to achieve the highest possible standards in our
day-to-day work and in the quality of the goods and services we provide.
Unity: We must work cohesively with our colleagues across the Group and with our
customers and partners around the world, building strong relationships based on
tolerance, understanding and mutual cooperation.
Responsibility: We must continue to be responsible, sensitive to the countries,
communities and environments in which we work, always ensuring that what comes
from the people goes back to the people many times over.

1.4 A SAGA OF VISION, COMMITMENT AND FORTITUDE:

As much an institution as it is a business conglomerate, the Tata Group is
unique in more ways than one. Established by Jamsetji Tata in the second half of the
19th century, the Group has grown into one of India's biggest and most respected
business organisations, thanks in no small part to its entrepreneurial vision, its
commitment to ideals that put people before profits, and its fortitude in the face of
adversity.

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 CHAPTER II
INDUSTRY PROFILE
2.1 Family Pride
The Tata family of enterprises comprises 98 companies in seven business
sectors. This section lists all these companies under the sectors in which they operate,
besides the two promoter companies of the Group. Visitors can, by clicking on the
relevant links, get a profile of individual companies, their subsidiaries (if any), their
products and services, contact details, etc.

2.2The Seven Business Sectors

ENGINEERING (AUTOMOTIVE):

Tata Auto Comp Systems:

Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: International Automotive, Knorr Bremse
Systems for Commercial Vehicles, Tata Auto Comp GY Batteries, TACO
Engineering, TACO Faurecia Design Centre, TACO Hendrickson Suspension
Systems, TACO Interiors and Plastics Division, TacoKunststofftechnik, TACO
MobiApps Telematics, TACO Supply Chain Management, TACO Tooling, TACO
Visteon Engineering Center, Tata Ficosa Automotive Systems, Tata Johnson Controls
Automotive, Tata Toyo Radiator, Tata Yazaki Auto Comp, TC Springs, Technical
Stampings Automotive.
Tata Motors:
Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Concorde Motors, HV Axels, HV
Transmissions, Nita Company, TAL Manufacturing Solutions, Tata Cummins, Tata
Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, Tata Engineering Services, Tata Precision
Industries, Tata Technologies, Telco Construction Equipment.

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ENGINEERING SERVICES
Tata Projects, TCE Consulting Engineers, Voltas
ENGINEERING PRODUCTS
TAL Manufacturing Solutions, Telco Construction Equipment Company, TRF
MATERIALS:

COMPOSITES
Tata Advanced Materials
METALS
Tata Steel :
Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Hooghly Met Coke and Power Company,
Jamshedpur Injection Powder (Jamipol), Jamshedpur Utility and Service Company
Limited (JUSCO), Lanka Special Steel, mjunction services, NatSteel, Sila Eastern
Company, Tata Blue Scope Steel, Tata Metallic, Tata Pigments, Tata Refractories
Tata Ryerson, Tata Sponge Iron, Tata Steel (Thailand), Tata Steel KZN, Tayo Rolls,
The Dhamra Port Company, The Indian Steel and Wire Products, The Tinplate
Company of India, TM International Logistics, TRF
ENERGY:

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POWER
Tata BP Solar India
Tata Power
Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Tata Ceramics, Tata Power Trading, North
Delhi Power Limited
OIL AND GAS
Tata Petrodyne
CHEMICALS:

Rallis India
Tata Chemicals
Tata Pigments
PHARMA
Advinus Therapeutics
SERVICES:

HOTELS AND REALTY

Indian Hotels (Taj group)
Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Taj Air, Roots Corporation (Ginger Hotels)

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THDC
Tata Realty and Infrastructure
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Tata AIG General Insurance, Tata AIG Life Insurance, Tata Asset Management Tata
Capital, Tata Financial Services, Tata Investment Corporation.

OTHER SERVICES
Tata Quality Management Services, Tata Services, Tata Strategic Management Group

CONSUMER PRODUCTS:

Infiniti Retail
Tata Tea
Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Tetley Group, Tata Coffee, Tata Tetley, Tata
Tea Inc
Tata Ceramics
Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company
Titan Industries
Trent
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND COMMUNICATIONS:

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INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Nelito Systems
Tata Consultancy Services
Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: APONLINE, Airline Financial Support
Services, Aviation Software Development Consultancy, CMC, CMC Americas Inc,
Conscripti, HOTV, Tata America International Corporation, WTI Advanced
Technology.
Tata Elxsi
SerWizSol
Tata Interactive Systems
Tata Technologies
COMMUNICATIONS
Tata Sky
Tata Teleservices
Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra)
Tata Communications
Tata net
INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION
Nelco
Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Tatanet

2.3 Tata Sons

Tata Sons is the promoter of the major operating Tata companies and holds significant
shareholdings in these companies. Tata companies are commonly referred to as the
Tata group and the Chairman of Tata Sons as Chairman of the Tata group.
About 66 percent of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts
endowed by members of the Tata family. The largest of these trusts are the Sir
Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, which were created by the sons of
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the Founder.

Areas of business
The company's principal activities are:

 To hold investments in operating companies and support their growth.

 To promote new enterprises.

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Tata Sons is the owner of the Tata name and all Tata trademarks, registered in India
and around the world. These are used by various Tata companies under a licence from
Tata Sons as part of their corporate name and/or in relation to their products and
services. The terms of use of the group mark and logo by Tata companies are
governed by the Brand Equity and Business Promotion Agreement, entered into
between Tata Sons and Tata companies.
Tata Business Excellence Group, a division of Tata Sons, assists Tata companies in
their business excellence initiatives through the Tata Business Excellence Model,
Management of Business Ethics and Tata Code of Conduct. Tata companies are
supported in their efforts to achieve world-class standards in all aspects of operations
through group-level processes and systems that encourage and enable business
excellence as contemplated under the Tata Brand Equity and Business Promotion
Agreement.

Group Chairman

Natarajan Chandrasekaran (53) is Chairman of the board of Tata Sons, the holding
company and promoter of more than 100 Tata operating companies with aggregate
annual revenues of more than US $100 billion. He joined the board of Tata Sons in
October 2016 and was appointed Chairman in January 2017.

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Chandra also chairs the boards of several group operating companies, including Tata
Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Indian Hotels and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
— of which he was chief executive from 2009-17.
The Tata group companies include 29 publicly-listed corporations with a combined
market capitalisation that exceeded US $120 billion at the start of 2017.
His appointment as chairman followed a 30-year business career at TCS, which he
joined from university. Chandra rose through the ranks at TCS to become CEO and
managing director of the leading global IT solutions and consulting firm.
Under his leadership, TCS generated total revenues of US $16.5 billion in 2015-16
and consolidated its position as the largest private sector employer in India and the
country’s most valuable company. TCS has also been placed among the ‘Big 4’ most
valuable IT services brands worldwide, ranked as one of the World’s Most Innovative
Companies by Forbesand recognised as a Global Top Employer by the Top
Employers Institute across 24 countries.
Chandra embedded a culture of customer focus and innovation at TCS.
In addition to his professional career at Tata, Chandra was also appointed as a director
on the board of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, in 2016.
Chandra is an active member of India’s bilateral business forums including USA, UK,
Australia and Japan. He served as the chairman of NASSCOM, the apex trade body
for IT services firms in India in 2012-13.
His business leadership has been recognised by several corporate and community
organisations, and he has received numerous awards, including:

 Business Leader of the Year at the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence 2016
 CNBC TV 18 Indian Business Icon 2014
 CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2014 (business category)
 Best CEO for 2013 and 2014 by Business Today
 Best CEO 2010-15, Institutional Investor’s Annual All Asia Executive Team
rankings
Chandra has been awarded several honorary doctorates by leading Indian and
international universities, including an honorary ‘doctor of letters’ from the Regional
Engineering College, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, where he completed a master’s degree in
computer applications before joining TCS in 1987.

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Chandra is an avid photographer, and a passionate long-distance marathon runner. In
April 2017, he ran the London Marathon, thereafter completing the World Marathon
Majors. The World Marathon Majors include the marathons in New York, Boston,
Chicago, Berlin, Tokyo and London.
Born in 1963, Chandra lives in Mumbai, with his wife Lalitha. Their son, Pranav, is at
university.

Chairman Emeritus

Ratan N Tata was the Chairman of Tata Sons, one of the two promoter holding
companies of the Tata group, from 1991 till his retirement on December 28, 2012. He
was also chairman of the major Tata companies, including Tata Motors, Tata Steel,
Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Chemicals,
Indian Hotels and Tata Teleservices. During his tenure, the group’s revenues grew
manifold, totalling over $100 billion in 2011-12.
Mr Tata is also associated with various organisations in India and overseas. He is the
chairman of two of the largest private-sector-promoted philanthropic trusts in India.
He is a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry. He is
the president of the Court of the Indian Institute of Science and chairman of the
Council of Management of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He also serves
on the board of trustees of Cornell University and the University of Southern
California. Mr Tata serves on the board of directors of Alcoa, and is also on the
international advisory boards of Mitsubishi Corporation, JP Morgan Chase, Rolls-
Royce, Temasek Holdings and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

12
Mr Tata received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell in 1962. He worked
briefly with Jones and Emmons in Los Angeles before returning to India in late 1962.
He completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in
1975.
The Government of India honoured Mr Tata with its second-highest civilian award,
the Padma Vibhushan, in 2008. He has also received honorary doctorates from several
universities in India and overseas.

2.4 Board of Directors

 Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Executive Chairman

 Vijay Singh
 Nitin Nohria
 Ronen Sen
 Farida Khambata
 Venu Srinivasan
 Ajay Piramal
 Amit Chandra
 Ralf Speth
 Bhaskar Bhat
 Saurabh Agrawal

Management - Tata Motors

Name Designation
Ratan N Tata Chairman Emeritus
Guenter Butschek Managing Director & CEO
Ralf Speth Non Executive Director
Falguni Nayar Non Exe. & Ind. Director
Om Prakash Bhatt Addnl.Independent Director
Designation
Name
N Chandrasekaran Chairman & Non-Exe.Director
Satish Borwankar Exe.Director & COO
V K Jairath Non Exe. & Ind. Director
N Munjee Non Exe. & Ind. Director
Hanne Birgitte Sorensen Independent Director

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 CHAPTER III
COMPANY PROFILE

Tata Motors Limited is India’s largest automobile company, with consolidated

revenues of Rs.70,938.85 crores (USD 14 billion) in 2008-09. It is the leader in
commercial vehicles in each segment, and among the top three in passenger vehicles
with winning products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. The
company is the world’s fourth largest truck manufacturer, and the world’s second
largest bus manufacturer.

The company’s 24,000 employees are guided by the vision to be “best in the manner
in which we operate best in the products we deliver and best in our value system and
ethics.”

Established in 1945, Tata Motors’ presence indeed cuts across the length and breadth
of India. Over 4 million Tata vehicles ply on Indian roads, since the first rolled out in
1954. The company’s manufacturing base in India is spread across Jamshedpur
(Jharkhand), Pune (Maharashtra), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand)
and Dharwad (Karnataka). Following a strategic alliance with Fiat in 2005, it has set
up an industrial joint venture with Fiat Group Automobiles at Ranjangaon
(Maharashtra) to produce both Fiat and Tata cars and Fiat powertrains. The company
is establishing a new plant at Sanand (Gujarat). The company’s dealership, sales,
services and spare parts network comprises over 3500 touch points; Tata Motors also
distributes and markets Fiat branded cars in India.

Tata Motors, the first company from India’s engineering sector to be listed in the New
York Stock Exchange (September 2004), has also emerged as an international
automobile company. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has
operations in the UK, South Korea, Thailand and Spain. Among them is Jaguar Land
Rover, a business comprising the two iconic British brands that was acquired in 2008.
In 2004, it acquired the Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, South Korea’s
second largest truck maker. The rechristened Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles
Company has launched several new products in the Korean market, while also
exporting these products to several international markets. Today two-thirds of heavy
commercial vehicle exports out of South Korea are from Tata Daewoo. In 2005, Tata

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Motors acquired a 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera, a reputed Spanish bus and coach
manufacturer, and subsequently the remaining stake in 2009. Hispano’s presence is
being expanded in other markets. In 2006, Tata Motors formed a joint venture with
the Brazil-based Marcopolo, a global leader in body-building for buses and coaches to
manufacture fully-built buses and coaches for India and select international markets.
In 2006, Tata Motors entered into joint venture with Thonburi Automotive Assembly
Plant Company of Thailand to manufacture and market the company’s pickup
vehicles in Thailand. The new plant of Tata Motors (Thailand) has begun production
of the Xenon pickup truck, with the Xenon having been launched in Thailand in 2008.

Tata Motors is also expanding its international footprint, established through exports
since 1961. The company’s commercial and passenger vehicles are already being
marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia,
South Asia and South America. It has franchisee/joint venture assembly operations in
Kenya, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Russia, Senegal and South Africa.

The foundation of the company’s growth over the last 50 years is a deep
understanding of economic stimuli and customer needs, and the ability to translate
them into customer-desired offerings through leading edge R&D. With over 3,000
engineers and scientists, the company’s Engineering Research Centre, established in
1966, has enabled pioneering technologies and products. The company today has
R&D centres in Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Dharwad in India, and in South Korea,
Spain, and the UK. It was Tata Motors, which developed the first indigenously
developed Light Commercial Vehicle, India’s first Sports Utility Vehicle and, in
1998, the Tata Indica, India’s first fully indigenous passenger car. Within two years of
launch, Tata Indica became India’s largest selling car in its segment. In 2005, Tata
Motors created a new segment by launching the Tata Ace, India’s first indigenously
developed mini-truck.

In January 2008, Tata Motors unveiled its People’s Car, the Tata Nano, which India
and the world have been looking forward to. The Tata Nano has been subsequently
launched, as planned, in India in March 2009. A development, which signifies a first
for the global automobile industry, the Nano brings the comfort and safety of a car
within the reach of thousands of families. The standard version has been priced at
Rs.100,000 (excluding VAT and transportation cost).
15
Designed with a family in mind, it has a roomy passenger compartment with generous
leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Its mono-volume
design will set a new benchmark among small cars. Its safety performance exceeds
regulatory requirements in India. Its tailpipe emission performance too exceeds
regulatory requirements. In terms of overall pollutants, it has a lower pollution level
than two-wheelers being manufactured in India today. The lean design strategy has
helped minimise weight, which helps maximise performance per unit of energy
consumed and delivers high fuel efficiency. The high fuel efficiency also ensures that
the car has low carbon dioxide emissions, thereby providing the twin benefits of an
affordable transportation solution with a low carbon footprint.

In May 2009, Tata Motors introduced ushered in a new era in the Indian automobile
industry, in keeping with its pioneering tradition, by unveiling its new range of world
standard trucks called Prima. In their power, speed, carrying capacity, operating
economy and trims, they will introduce new benchmarks in India and match the best
in the world in performance at a lower life-cycle cost.

Tata Motors is equally focussed on environment-friendly technologies in emissions

and alternative fuels. . It has developed electric and hybrid vehicles both for personal
and public transportation. It has also been implementing several environment-friendly
technologies in manufacturing processes, significantly enhancing resource
conservation. Through its subsidiaries, the company is engaged in engineering and
automotive solutions, construction equipment manufacturing, automotive vehicle
components manufacturing and supply chain activities, machine tools and factory
automation solutions, high-precision tooling and plastic and electronic components
for automotive and computer applications, and automotive retailing and service
operations.

Tata Motors is committed to improving the quality of life of communities by working

on four thrust areas – employability, education, health and environment. The activities
touch the lives of more than a million citizens. The company’s support on education
and employability is focused on youth and women. They range from schools to
technical education institutes to actual facilitation of income generation. In health, our
intervention is in both preventive and curative health care. The goal of environment
protection is achieved through tree plantation, conserving water and creating new
16
water bodies and, last but not the least, by introducing appropriate technologies in our
vehicles and operations for constantly enhancing environment care.

With the foundation of its rich heritage, Tata Motors today is etching a refulgent
future.

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 CHAPTER IV
TATA NANO CAR
4.1 Introduction

Tata Nano is a rear engined, four-passenger city car built by Tata Motors,
aimed primarily at the Indian Market. The car has a fuel efficiency of around
26 kilometres per litre on the highway and around 22 kilometres per litre in the city. It
was first presented at the 9th annual Auto Expo on January at Pragati Maidan in New
Delhi, India. The Nano had its commercial launch on March 23, 2009 and a booking
period from April 9 to April 25, generating more than 200,000 bookings for the
car. The cars started to be delivered to customers after July 17 2009, with a starting
price of Rs. 1,00,000. This is cheaper than the Maruti 800, its main competitor and
next cheapest Indian car priced at Rs 184,641. Tata had sought to produce the least
expensive production car in the world — aiming for a starting price of Rs 100,000.

4.2 Design

Ratan Tata, the Chairman of Tata Motors, began development of the world's
cheapest production car in 2003, inspired by the number of Indian families with two-
wheeled rather than four-wheeled vehicles. The Nano's development has been
tempered by the company's success in producing the low cost 4 wheeled Ace truck in
May 2005.

Contrary to speculation that the car might be a simple four-wheeled auto

rickshaw, The Times of India reported the vehicle is "a properly designed and built
car". The Chairman is reported to have said, "It is not a car with plastic curtains or no
roof — it's a real car".

To achieve its design goals, Tata refined the manufacturing process,

emphasized innovation and sought new design approaches from suppliers. The car
was designed at Italy's Institute of Development in Automotive Engineering — with
Ratan Tata requesting certain changes, such as the elimination of one of two
windscreen wipers. Many components of the Nano are made in Germany by Bosch,
such as fuel injection, brake system, Value Motronic ECU, ABS and other
technologies.

18
The Nano has 21% more interior space (albeit mostly as headroom, due to its tall
stance) and an 8% smaller exterior compared to its closest rival, the Maruti 800.
Cost cutting features:

 It has no power steering

 The base model has only three lug nets on the wheels instead of the usual four
 The base model has only one side view mirror
 Some use of plastic and glue in place of welded steel
 Manually operated side windows
 Air conditioning/heating not part of base model
 Airbags not part of base model

4.2 Pricing:

Tata initially targeted the vehicle as "the least expensive Production Car in the world"
- aiming for a starting price of Rs. 1,00,000 despite rapidly rising material prices at
the time.

As of August 2008, material costs had risen from 13% to 23% over the car’s
development and Tata faced the choice of:

 Introducing the car with an artificially low price through government subsidies
and tax-breaks
 Forgoing profit on the car
 Using vertical-integration to artificially boost profits on cars at the expense of
their materials industries
 Partially using inexpensive polymers or Biodegradable Plastic instead of a full
metal body
 Raising the price of the car

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THE NEXT PEOPLE'S CAR:

Tata Motors' plans would produce, in real terms, by far the cheapest car ever
made.
An Indian car may soon earn a parking place in history alongside Ford's Model T,
Volkswagen's Beetle and the British Motor Corp.'s Mini, all of which put a set of
wheels within reach of millions of customers after they rolled onto the scene. Tata
Motors is developing a car it aims to sell for about $2,500 the cheapest, by far ever
made.
# Source :(NYSE: TTM - news - people)
There is a lot riding on its small wheels. If the yet-to-be-named car is a success when
it goes on sale next year, it would herald the emergence of Tata Motors on the global
auto scene, mark the advent of India as a global center for small-car production and
represent a victory for those who advocate making cheap goods for potential
customers at the "bottom of the pyramid" in emerging markets. Most of all, it would
give millions of people now relegated to lesser means of transportation the chance
to drive cars.
It is a hugely ambitious project rivals have called it impossible for any company. But
it is audacious for one that hadn’t even built cars a decade ago.

20
For decades Tata Motors has been India's largest commercial vehicle maker the Tata
logo appears on buses, dump trucks, ambulances and cement mixers. Sturdy as
elephants, they are a fixture of the Indian landscape. Owners inevitably paint the
exteriors in a cheerful riot of bright red, green, orange, blue and yellow and line the
un-air-conditioned cabs with teakwood to keep them cooler in India's searingheat.
However ubiquitous, Tata's trucks faced a problem after the Indian government began
reforms that opened the Indian economy in 1991: the huge cyclical swings in demand
typical for commercial vehicles. To diversify, Tata would enter, at great expense, the
less volatile passenger car market.
Before the reforms Indian customers had so few choices that Tata was
sheltered. When demand tailed off it just worked down a waiting list, and there was
never a need to concern itself with customer desires. Sure enough, after the economy
slumped in the late 1990s just when expenses for developing the passenger car hit
home Tata truck and bus sales plunged by 40% and Tata Motors lost $110 million in
fiscal 2000. It was the first red ink seen since 1945, when the company was founded
to make locomotives. Executives were stunned. "It was corporate India's biggest loss,"
says Ravi Kant, managing director of Tata Motors. "The crisis changed us. We told
ourselves, 'Never again.'"
But Tata Motors, part of India's largest conglomerate, first had to reset its
ways. Like many Indian companies protected for decades from foreign competition,
Tata had gotten to 2000 still fat and slow.
Change started with a spring 2000 meeting at the Lake house, a bungalow across the
street from the company's main factory in Pune, a three-hour drive east of Mumbai.
Kant, then in charge of the commercial vehicle division, needed fresh ideas instead of
rigid resistance, so in an experiment, he called a meeting of 20 of his most promising
young Managers all under 35 years old. "I have a problem," he said in his matter-of-
fact tone. "The company is bleeding." He asked for ideas on how to stop the gush of
red ink. Okay, they told him, trim costs.
Girish Wagh was there, just 29 then. He remembers the shock of what came
next. "Ravi Kant said that 1% in cost cuts would be a rounding error. He asked for
10%!" says Wagh. "Never had we thought of such a target." Every single year until
then costs had gone up, not down. Kant told them to present a basic plan that very
afternoon, in front of him and Alarmingly all their bosses.
21
They worked frantically. By the 3 p.m. meeting, their wildest ideas were on the table.
Taken together, they added up to 6.5%. "A breakthrough!" Kant remembers thinking.
But that's not what he said. "Please go back and think again," he told them. He needed
10%, not 6.5%. "You've got three weeks." The young team took some measures even
as it scrounged for more. In came benchmarking, purchasing from Internet auctions,
and outsourcing parts to more efficient suppliers and boosting revenue by selling
Tata-made dies to other companies. Meanwhile, the Pune factory's veteran boss
bought into the project.
The transformation of Tata Motors had begun with the searing loss in 2000,
but it continued with a return to profit in the fiscal year ending March 2003. By then it
was producing two cars models and selling a bit abroad. Today, after buying or
partnering, the company has vehicle projects around the globe and exports 11% of
output, mostly to South Africa.
Efficiency is way up: It now takes between 12 and 15 minutes to change a die
on the passenger car assembly line, down from two hours in 2000. The company's
break-even point for capacity utilization is one of the best in the industry worldwide.
Between 2000 and 2006 nearly 6,000 workers left the company with early-retirement
deals. Meanwhile, the once radical e-sourcing idea has become routine for Tata,
which ran 750 reverse auctions on Ariba in the past year to bring down purchasing
prices by an average of 7% for everything from ball bearings to the milk served in the
company cafeteria. Tata Motors listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2004.
After thousands of changes, in the quarter ending December 2006 Tata earned $116
million on revenue of $1.55 billion. Annual revenue grew to $5.2 billion for the fiscal
year ending in March 2006. Analysts worry that high product development costs and
rising commodities prices could lower profit margins for the next few quarters.
The changes at Tata Motors are coming as India itself is transforming. With
economic growth charging along at 9% last year, more and more Indians can afford
cars. But on the highway from Mumbai to Pune, the new cars zoom past wooden carts
filled with construction materials and pulled by ponies, camels, elephants or even
people. Roadside markets offer chickens and geese those chosen are slaughtered on
the spot and usually carried home on motor scooters. Outside the Tata Motors gates in
Pune, a woman in a flowing red sari balances a 3-foot-wide basket on her head. It
holds snacks and drinks and serves as a roving roadside shop.

22
Inside the company gates is a modern factory complex. In one building, just past a
small statue of the beloved Hindu elephant god Ganesha, robots pick up pieces of
sheet metal and feed them into a series of 30-foot-tall stamping presses every ten
seconds until the left-side door of a Tata Safari suv is formed. In a building nearby,
workers in navy-blue uniforms use computer-aided designs from Tata engineers to
create tools and dies used to make those sheet-metal stampings. Tata Motors boosts its
revenue by making dies for Jaguar, Ford, General Motors and Toyota too, just as it
does by allowing the made-in-India Mercedes to be run through its paint shop.
# Source : (NYSE: GM - news - people) & (NYSE: TM - news - people)
Workers at the Tata Motors factory have been trained in Japanese manufacturing
techniques that call for continuous improvement. A worker building Safaris noticed
that each day on average, one front grille was ruined when a worker leaned over to
work on the engine and accidentally scratched the grille with his belt buckle. Cost:
about 2,500 rupees $57 a day, or $17,000 a year. Tata designed a simple protective
cover for the grilles, plus a slip-on fabric cover for belts and watches that is now used
to cut down on expensive waste at each of Tata Motors' factories. Cost: about 25 cents
per vehicle.
That's the sort of thing that Girish Wagh, one of the breakfast-meeting whiz
kids, was working to foster when Kant called him in unexpectedly in December 2000.
Kant needed someone to take on a risky project to extend the truck line beyond the
sturdy Tata mainstays. Kant wanted one cheap enough to compete with three-
wheeled, motorized rickshaws and even considered building a small, three-
wheeled truck. Before starting the project, Wagh did something no one at Tata Motors
ever had: He talked to customers. The three-wheeler men inevitably insisted on a
cheap, dependable truck that could go from village to market carrying, say, 200
chickens, a ton of onions or potatoes, or 2,000 eggs. One night, as sunset approached,
Wagh stuck with one rickshaw driver. "I kept asking the question. Why? Why? Why
do you want a four-wheeler?" Wagh remembered. Finally, he got the real answer. It
turned out it wasn't really a problem of chickens or eggs. "If I had a four-wheeler, I
would have better marriage prospects in my village," the young man said. Drivers of
three-wheelers are looked down upon in India. Wagh realized that four wheels had
emotional, not just practical, appeal.

23
 When Tata Motors brought out the bare-bones Ace truck in May 2005 for just
$5,100, it had a monster hit: The company sold 100,000 in 20 months. To try to keep
up with demand, it offers the truck only in white to save the time it takes to change
colors in the factory paint shop. Tata is building a new factory that will be able to turn
out 250,000 a year starting this month.
So when Tata Motors needed someone to take charge of the company's most
ambitious plan yet to build the world's cheapest car ever Ravi Kant, who by then had
become the company's managing director, again turned to Wagh. Wagh remembers
what he learned marketing the little truck. "People want to move from two-wheelers
to four-wheelers," he says.” Today they can’t afford it.”
More and more can, but Indian car buyers today represent a tiny slice of a
potentially giant market India has just seven cars per 1,000 people. India's auto
industry has grown an average of 12% for the past decade, but just 1.3 million
passenger vehicles were sold in India in the fiscal year ending March 2006. That
means a billion Indians buy about the same number of cars in a year as 300 million
Americans buy in a month.
If four wheels cost as little as two wheels, that could change fast. About 7
million scooters and motorcycles were sold in India last year, typically for prices
between 30,000 rupees and 70,000 rupees, about $675 to $1,600. Tata is targeting a
price of 100,000 rupees one lakh, in Indian terms of measurement or about $2,500 at
current exchange rates, for its small car. That sounds impossibly cheap in the West
but remains three times higher than India's annual per capita income.
Within a few years 2 million of those motorcycle owners may trade up to buy
the Tata car, Figures McKinsey and Co. partner Ramesh Mangaleshwaran in Mumbai.
Trying to build a car cheap enough for motorcycle buyers seems to make sense now
but seemed crazy several years ago when Ratan Tata, longtime chairman of Tata
Motors and scion of the nation's giant Tata Group conglomerate, first mentioned his
dream of building a one-lakh car in 2003. "They are still saying it can't be done," he
says, insisting that it can and will. "Everybody is talking of small cars as $5,000 or
$7,000. After we get done with it, there will hopefully be a new definition of low-
cost.”
Many low-cost car producers have set up shop in India, and McKinsey
believes it could become a global hub for small-car production the way the U.S. is for
pickups. Hyundai and Suzuki (other-otc: SZKMF.PK - news - people ) build their
24
small cars in India, and Toyota is considering an India hub. Passenger vehicle exports
grew by 13% last year to 192,000, according to J.D. Power and Associates, with
Hyundai exporting more than 110,000. A one-lakh car is unlikely to be sold in the
U.S. But it wouldn't be aimed only at India, either, Ratan Tata says. Bottom-of-the-
pyramid markets would be the best fit: places like Africa, Southeast Asia and maybe
eastern Europe and Latin America, Wherever income levels mirror India’s.
The cost target is tough, but there are plenty of other hurdles at home. India's
inadequate roads, for one. Roads and highways are being built nationwide, but if India
goes car crazy, maddeningly slow traffic is inevitable for several years. By far the
biggest struggle in India is political. The People's Car factory is already caught in the
crossfire, as politicians and pressure groups squabble over forcing destitute farmers
off their land for a project expected to bring 10,000 jobs to industry-hungry West
Bengal. The company signed the final deal with the state last month and has begun the
property's boundary walls, land leveling, and road and building plans. "We've lost
four months," says Ratan Tata. So far. He is still personally driving the People's Car
project. It is a rear-engined, four-door, four-seat car that will get around on 33hp more
pep than the Model T or the VW Beetle had when they drove onto the scene. The
cheapest versions won't have air-conditioning or power steering, but Tata hopes its
cute looks will make up for missing creature comforts just as happened with the VW
Beetle and the Mini long before it.
Tata Motors has not released a photo of its prototypes, but Ratan Tata, a
trained architect with a penchant for designing consumer goods, sketched its outlines
for a reporter's eyes only. He drew an egg-shaped car with a ceiling high enough to
handle his tall frame. He pointed proudly to the air intake scoop in front of the rear
tires and the vertical taillights similar to those found on the Tata Indica. Under the
front hood it will have a small storage space, "like an overhead bin" on an airplane,
Tata says. "It is not as small as a Smart," he says. "It is not a car with plastic curtains
or no roof it's a real car."

25
TATA NANO - THE LITTLE CAR THAT MIGHT CHANGE THE WORLD

4.4 TECH SPECS:

Length : 3.1 m
Width : 1.5 m
Height : 1.6 m
To seat :4
Engine : 643cc, 2-cylinder, all-aluminum
Power : 33 BHP
Position : Engine, battery at rear end
Boot : In front
Fuel : Petrol
Fuel injection : MPFI
Fuel consumption : 20 kmpl.
AC : Only in deluxe version
Passenger side mirror : No
Power steering : No
Price : $2500 at dealer + VAT + transport cost. Base version
approximate on-road price: $3000
Tyres : Tubeless tyres.
Body : All-steel
Safety features : Crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts,
2 A-Pillars
Suspension : Independent front and rear
Seldom do we see cars that rewrite the history books even before they are seen
running around on the roads. And hardly ever do we see cars that vow to put the
nation on four wheels. The Tata Nano is one such car – a car that has been in the news
for quite a few years, for reasons good and evil. Nano is a car which has breathed into
life due to one man. Give credit to Mr. Ratan Tata for his determination to build a low
cost family car that has come true, finally! Took long it did, but the Nano came in a
beautiful form. Touted as world’s cheapest car by a far cry, Nano has been the talk of

26
the town around the globe. Head honchos of big organizations have been pouring in
by numbers to have a look at this engineering masterpiece. We bring you some
interesting bits.

Looks:

Numbers first.
Length 3100mm
Width 1500mm
Height 1600mm
Wheelbase 2230mm.
Ground Clearance – 180mm
You will be wondering why I am talking about the dimensions of the Nano, since all
of you know that it is a rather compact and tiny machine. It is because I have good
reason to talk about the dimensions. You see, the Nano is going to be faced with
Maruti 800 as its main rival. But you could throw in the Alto and Zen Estilo to mark
out some design and packaging aspects. Just to get things in perspective, Nano is over
230mm shorter than 800 in overall length but the wheelbase advantage of 155mm
over the offering from Maruti makes sure that the Nano is more accommodating than
the 800. Tata has managed to squeeze out a 60mm advantage in width and Maruti 800
falls short of about 100mm in height. So in essence, you get more legroom, better
shoulder room and room more than enough for a turban, if you wear one! But before
you enter inside, you are bound to gape in admiration at the beautifully crafted curves
of this micro car. I personally feel that the front has a lot of Zen Estilo written on it,
but manages to look really funky and cool.
The mono-volume design establishes a sea of change from the two-box layout of the
800. What it ensures the Nano with is extremely short overhangs and tight packaging.
For a car of this size and image, the Nano is an extremely sexy looking car with
futuristic design cues. The bonnet line is steep and unites together with the bumper in
a seamless way. Though there is no ‘grille’ per se, the front has a smiling look which
accentuates the ‘happy’ feeling. The fog lamps are incorporated in the bumper which
has a distinct air dam running across in between them. In profile, the Nano resembles
Mitsubishi’s latest small car ‘i’. The rear of the Nano is somewhat recognizable. The
tail lamps are inspired from elder sister, Indica. So this is a very compact hatchback,
yes? No my friend, you are massively wrong. Even I was dumbfounded when I

27
discovered that the Nano cannot be called a hatchback – a word so true to the way the
small cars are. The reason for this is because it does not have a hatch! The tail gate
cannot be opened owing to it being joined together with the boot sill. This makes
accessing the engine a pain in the bottom. But a hatchback it will be called still. The
back side of the Nano is made attractive by the mid mounted exhaust pipe which
peeps out of the aggressively designed bumper.

The ultra-secret people's car for India - the Tata Nano - is here. How will this car
change the way India, and the developing countries drive?

 It will help India's huge two wheeler popular upgrade to a four-wheeler

 Very affordable - priced a bit higher 2 125cc motorcycles in India
 If popular, will clog roads in the cities
 Establish a huge volume market that cannot be ignored by any large car
manufacturer
 40 patents by Tata Motors during development

Here are the pictures from the unveiling of the Tata Motors' small car to be sold at a
price of US $ 2500 approx. (Rs. 1 lakh.). The Tata Nano was unveiled at the 9th Auto
Expo in New Delhi, India.The Nano is disruptive tech - make no mistake.
The world's car manufacturers have expressed all shades of opinion in the run-up to
the Tata Nano. Suzuki has said that it is impossible V W said it is not what they want
to do. DaimlerChrysler said they think it is an important market Tata is trying to tap.
There was no way Tata could design a car the conventional way. So went at it on a
clean slate. And seems to have pulled it off. The rear engined car will have a small
boot for luggage storage in the front. In the process of developing the Nano, Tata
Motors has added 40 patents to its kitty.

This car, if it becomes a hit, will make every auto company change the way it
works and look at the volume market. Not only in India, but in entire Asia and
every third world country. Offering mobility for the masses is big business. The VW
Beetle did that, and so did Henry Ford.

Environmental Impact
In India, a car like this can crowd the streets, forcing the government to improve
infrastructure - and as the evolution of the Western industrial society demonstrates,
28
affordable cars can be a major force for change. But till that happens, this is a car that
can seriously crowd the streets - and make life a bit tougher in the short-term.

The car will have a two-cylinder 624-cc petrol engine with 33 bhp of power.

It will also have a 30-litre fuel tank and four-speed manual gearshift. The car
will come with air conditioning in the deluxe version, but will have no power steering.
I know, that's pathetic power by American and Western standards. But Indian
maximum legal speeds are way lower than them - and Tata Motors anyway claims
that the car is as fast as the Maruti 800, India's original People's Car that changed
things a couple decades back. And there are a million or more of them on the streets
of India already. The car will have front disk and rear drum brakes. The company
claims mileage of 22 kmpl in city and 26 kmpl on highway.
The $ 2500 is the dealer price - the actual price on the road might be approx Rs.
$3000. The car would be commercially launched in the second half of 2008 and
would be produced at the Singur plant in West Bengal.
The car launched is being avidly watched by the auto industry around the world.
As attractive as the Nano is on the outside, the same cannot be said for the interior.
The plastics feel cheap and it is here that you begin to feel the concern towards
the price that Tata was aiming at. The rudimentary knobs and switches point towards
the use of materials which would be better off in tractors twenty years old! Dreary and
uninspiring by any measure, that’s what one can say about the interior quality and
looks. What impressed me though was the layout. Spacious and functional, the
dashboard has a curved look which can prove beneficial when it comes to storing
items. The Chevy Spark started it for the small cars and the Nano continues on what
seems to be the current trend. The instrument binnacle is mid-mounted and the centre
console has a swooping form which houses all the important knobs and air con vents.
Speakers for the audio system have been incorporated on the rear bench just under the
seat area.
The speedo is calibrated to a top whack of 120kmph though we shall reserve
our statements on that till we test the car thoroughly. Cash saving activity has gone a
bit too far with the sun visor, there’s only one! Please Tata, please, have mercy on the
people who will sit on the passenger seat, only to find no sun visor to protect their
skin from sun or no vanity mirror for women (men too, going by the current fashion!)

29
to put the make-up on. The centre console, forming a crest in the middle of the dash,
can be worrisome if you happen to be as tall as Rajpal Yadav. The seats have
integrated head restraints, like in the hugely popular, Hyundai i10. Yes the Nano will
be deprived of a lot of creature comforts but to satisfy your salivating mouth, Tata
will offer the top end version with air con, power windows and power steering. This
car is destined to be exported too, so provision for ABS and airbags will also be there
for sure. The floor mounted four-speed gearbox wasn’t smooth as silk but would give
the 800 something to take inspiration from. Roominess is what this compact car from
Tata is all about. Four average sized Indians will find themselves enjoying their ride.

4.3 Safety

Passes crash tests. Side impact test yet to be done, but Tata is confident about
it. It has 2 A-pillars on one side to better meet safety norms. No airbags. Airbags are
still not a required feature in India. But you have crumple zones, intrusion-resistant
doors, seatbelts and anchorages.
A four wheeler is safe than a scooter. So to begin with, the huge two wheeler
population of India gains a safety benefit. But will it pass the safety requirements of a
large car or even a high technology compact? Unlikely. But that is not the objective -
it is to improve the safety of four-member families like this one that rides scooters and
at risk every day.
And so here it is. If Tata Motors is right, we could be witnessing a serious
disruptive force and one that might kick-start India on to a high growth path.
Successful mass market mobility does that to a country.
4.4 Mechanicals:

Everyone, and it does not discount the motoring journos, expected the ‘One
Lakh Car’ to have a plastic body. But boy did Tata play it big there! Contrary to
everyone’s belief, the Nano is a metal-bodied car with four full-blown doors to ease
the ingress and egress. This is a uni-body construction but makes use of a sub-frame
which adds to the strength in addition to providing support for drive train and
suspension units. The suspension has a story of its own altogether! Well, Tata
engineers said that since the rear-biased weight distribution led to some scary
moments while testing the car, they had to optimize the suspension setup and add a
fair amount of other eccentric but equally helpful technical add-ons like fatter rear

30
tyre while the battery box and fuel tank are placed right underneath the arse of front
occupants.
The engine is what has been the buzz word around the car. It is an all-
aluminum two cylinder engine displacing 624cc with two valves per cylinder driven
by a single overhead camshaft. The bore and stroke are nearly similar giving it a
‘square’ form. Making the Nano move will be the power of 33 horses which will peak
out at 5500rpm while 48Nm of turning force will be supplied at a meager 2500rpm
which should help the drivability of the car. The Nano will transmit its small amount
of power via a 4-speed cable operated gearbox with the fourth being an overdriven
ratio. Tata is working on developing an automatic gearbox as well but that will not be
available when the car gets launched later this year. In addition to the 624cc petrol
engine, the Indian auto giant might also bring out a common-rail diesel engine
(700cc) which might be of the same architecture as the one seen on Tata Ace.
As it was famous, Tata’s One Lakh Car will not exactly be that. Not a one lakh
rupee car it will be. The base version, when it will come to a parking halt will see you
shed close to 1.2lakh while the one which will sit in between with some necessary
creature comforts will be priced in the vicinity of 1.5lakh. The top end might retail for
close to 2.0lakh, we speculate.

Quick Specs:
Price : 1.2lakh onwards
Engine : 624cc, in-line, twin-cylinder
Power : 34PS@5500rpm
Torque : 48Nm@2500rpm
Gearbox : 4-speed manual, Cable operated
Top Speed : 95-100kmph (Speculated)
Fuel Efficiency : 20kmpl (claimed)
Length : 3100mm
Width : 1500mm
Height : 1600mm
Wheelbase : 2230mm
Ground Clearance : 180mm
Fuel Tank Capacity : 15lt.
Kerb Weight : 600kg.

31
 Tata Motors takes forward its initiative to support primary and secondary
education in Singur
Taking forward its initiative to support the cause of primary and secondary
school education in Singur, Tata Motors today helped a primary school in Joymollah
upgrade its infrastructure. The company provided desks, benches, chairs, tables,
cupboards and electrical fittings in addition to educational and sports material to the
school, in the presence of school authorities, officials from the panchayat and local
administration, Tata Motors' officials, school students and residents. Tata Motors had
flagged off its education initiative with a similar activity in a primary school in
Ruidaspara, Beraberi recently.
As part of its initiative, Tata Motors recently set up a computer laboratory in a
high school in Beraberi, and has provided 5 computers, 5 CVTs (stabilizers) and 5
computer tables and chairs to the school. The computer laboratory was inaugurated by
Mr. Prosenjit Chakraborty, Block Development Officer. The company has planned
similar programmes to upgrade school infrastructure in the project area.
This initiative is part of Tata Motors’ comprehensive community development
programme for Singur, in line with the company’s practices in other locations. The
three focus areas in Singur are – Health, Education and Livelihood. The programme
includes: a) training, according to an individual’s educational qualifications and skill,
to improve their employability; b) training women for employability – through
facilitation of cooperative societies – to produce a diverse range of items, which could
be used in the Tata Motors plant or the vendor plants; and c) social development in
the Singur area, through community centers, and support for primary health, provision
for drinking water, primary/secondary education and adult education. As part of its
health initiative, Tata Motors has been regularly conducting health camps in Beraberi
and Joymolla, where patients receive treatment and medicines. Till date, over 54
health camps have been conducted, where over 10,170 villagers were treated.
Tata Motors recently inducted a batch of around 100 youth as apprentices at
the Singur plant. This batch comprises youth from Singur villages and from various
ITIs of West Bengal. 16 local youth, educated in state-run Industrial Training
Institutes (ITI) have been appointed as employees at the Singur plant from October
2007. 300 others are undergoing training. On successful completion of the training
programme, the trainees will take the trade tests to qualify for trade certificates issued

32
by the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and will become eligible for
apprenticeship training at the Singur plant and vendor facilities.
Tata to ride Nano to Geneva Motor Show
Tata Motors' Nano, easily the world's most talked-about car these days, will
make its international debut at the 78th Geneva Motor Show in the first week of
March. The five-door hatchback that costs just Rs 100,000 ($2,500), making it the
world's cheapest, was unveiled in January this year at the Auto Expo here. Nano
would be among Tata Motors' exhibits at the show, a company spokesperson said
here.
Sales of Nano, nicknamed the people's car for its affordable pricing that will
make four-wheelers available to millions of middle-class people who hitherto rode
two-wheelers, is expected to start in the second half of this year.
Although the car has its share of critics, it has undeniably put India on the
global automotive map and has triggered a race among leading car makers to match
the Nano price-point. Already, car manufacturers Renault and Nissan are eyeing a
$3000 car.
The Nano, which Tata Motors has said meets all safety and emission norms,
will share the limelight with top marques from around the world that are expected at
the show. This year's edition of the Geneva Motor Show will mark the 11th year of
participation for Tata Motors. Tata Motors' Nano, easily the world's most talked-about
car these days, will make its international debut at the 78th Geneva Motor Show in the
first week of March.
# Source :The Economic Times — February 7th, 2008

33
 CHAPTER V
5.1 Conclusion
 Target Market
The target market for Tata Nano compromises of all those who own only a two-
wheeler and have an aspiration to own a four-wheeler one day. (Only 28
respondents owned only a Two-wheeler and out of those 28 respondents, 22 have
shown interest in Tata Nano) New Drivers & people who have a liking towards
small cars also come under Tata Nano’s target customers.
 USP
Tata Nano’s USP is its Price tag and the very fact that it’s a people’s car which is
economical and affordable.
 Closest Competitor
Tata Nano’s closest competitor is Maruti 800 followed by Maruti Alto. But the
competition spectrum varies on the basis of the utility of the car and the reason
behind customer’s decision.
Nano will also face tough time from Second hand car market.
 Utility
The usage of Tata Nano is either a Small family car used for short distances or the
first car for those who are shifting from two-wheelers or the first car for new
amateur drivers at home.
 Future
Tata Nano’s future depends upon its Price tag because its USP is its price. A slight
increase its price can create problems in the future. Other than this, Nano’s future
also depends upon its utility. Nano used as taxi can harm its brand image and
disturb its customer’s sentiments.

34