NEW DELHI : After failing to meet high expectations with its small car Nano, Tata Motors is planning several new initiatives, including introducing an automatic gear shift version to rev up its sales.
Refuting reports that the company was looking to phase out the earlier model, a Tata Motors spokesman said, “We have in place more initiatives to strengthen the Nano portfolio.” He said the company has already launched the ‘Nano Twist’ in January 2014 to bring in new features sought by customers for a smart city car.
The spokesman said the company was also planning to launch Nano with Automatic Manual Transmission (AMT) technology. Tata Motors had showcased Nano AMT variant with various advance technologies during the 2014 auto expo. The company, which is seeing revival in domestic sales with the launch of compact sedan ‘Zest’ and hatchback ‘Bolt,’ has seen sales of drop in drop in the last fiscal. In April-December 2014-15, the company has so far managed to sell just 11,333 units of Nano, down 18.64 per cent from 13,931 units sold in the same period of 2013-14. Launched with much hype in 2009 with an initial ex-factory price tag of close to Rs 1 lakh for the basic model, the dream project of Tata group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata, failed to live up to expectations.
The company had admitted that Tata Motors made a mistake in the marketing and positioning of the Nano as the ‘cheapest car’. (AGENCIES)
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