[rajeev k]

Unsold Nanos in a yard at Thiruvananthapuram

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Unsold Nanos in a yard at Thiruvananthapuram

That's a very sad visual. Am even more surprised they let it rot (rust rather) and haven't cleared the space allowing plants to grow. Am sure those Nanos are home for some reptiles now.

However, Tata motors site still lists Nano among other passenger vehicles, as recent was yesterday (13 Aug 2018).

[bhpfaninblr]

End of an era of poorly engineered vehicles - the indica and the Indigo. The horror stories of these vehicles will take a long time to erase. Good moves by Tata recently with the Nexon. Indica and Indigo history is their most difficult roadblock

[tushky]

Originally Posted by bhpfaninblr

End of an era of poorly engineered vehicles - the indica and the Indigo. The horror stories of these vehicles will take a long time to erase. Good moves by Tata recently with the Nexon. Indica and Indigo history is their most difficult roadblock

Actually it is totally opposite. It was Indica and Indigo which saved Tata motors in late 90s and mid 2000 era. Yes, Indica may not be a Marvel of engineering but certainly not poorly engineerd.

[gkrishk]

The Indica (1998-2018) is the first modern car to be designed by an Indian company and sold more than 910000 units as of 2008. The platform on which it was built gave rise to more than 1.2 million vehicles(Wikipedia).

Not a mean achievement!

[whitewing]

Indica is THE backbone of the taxi market currently, but there was a time when it had advance booking for personal use.

Still remember the time when an uncle of mine got one of the initial Indicas in my town, despite the gaps and not so nice finish served them well for over a decade. By which time it had become a rattlebox, but even then was not expensive to maintain AFIK.

Both the Indica and Nano were an important milestone for the Indian automobile industry. Thankfully the road ahead seem to be better.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by bhpfaninblr

End of an era of poorly engineered vehicles - the indica and the Indigo. The horror stories of these vehicles will take a long time to erase.

Do you have enough data to support this comment? If you do then please substantiate here.
Otherwise avoid making statement like this in the future.

[locusjag]

Is it just me, or did Tata build all these cars with a benevolence not seen in most other manufacturers?

The Indica, Indigo and Nano had these two features in common -
* Provided lots of room - The competition for instance, in contrast to these cars, seldom was able to provide room for 3 people to sit shoulder-to-shoulder in the backseat. This suited our Indian families so well. I used to ferry 6 adults and 2 kids even over long distances in my 2008 Swift 6 years ago. I should've just gotten an Indica back then...
* Built to a cost - but this is what backfired on them since the Indian automobile buyer is aspirational. As the line went in the immortal Fight Club, the Indian buyer was more inclined "to spend money they didn't have, in order to impress people they didn't know" by buying cars they wanted and not by buying cars that suited their wallets and actual needs.

The Tatas laid the foundation for the development of Mumbai as we know it when Shri Jamsetji Tata began setting up Power Stations in the 1900s. The Tatas have planned, built and have been maintaining an entire township (Jamshedpur) just so that their TISCO employees would have a nice life once they get home from work. Ratan Tata envisioned the Nano so that Indian families would stop overloading families on their 2-wheelers and would move on to a comparatively safer Nano...I am convinced that they have really tried to do good for us. This conviction of mine is cemented by my experiences in Jamshedpur, where I completed High School. They have my gratitude. I still haven't seen public libraries anywhere else in the country where students get that many free and high quality resources to complete their assignments.

Am I saying that the Tatas are not-for-profit? No. But have they gone the extra, unasked-for mile to do good in their spheres of influence? Yes.

With the current crop of newer cars, I see Tata Motors giving up on their benevolence. From providing affordability for customers and planning their own Return on Investment (RoI) through high turnover targets, Tata Motors are going on a different trajectory where they'll reap better RoI through the higher margins per car with aspirational cars like the Nexon, Hexa, Harrier etc.

It's a departure from their usual order of business and it's good for the customers as they simply want to shell out more money on all the good things in life. The volumes they planned for earlier with low-priced cars simply never happened and they've bled for a long time. So this change is good for Tata as well - they deserve to make some money now, after all. With the mule called Indica's platform still living on underneath the Bolt and the Nexon, it's almost as if the thankless mule is the gift that keeps on giving.

[AdityaDeane]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Unsold Nanos in a yard at Thiruvananthapuram

This is a really heart wrenching sight. Do I see a Tata Estate (White) and Tata Sumos (Maroon) and Indicas in there as well? Don't know what would have happened to this place after the recent floods in Kerala.

As amongst the first few owner's of Tata Nano Twist XT in Dehradun, and having completed almost 38K Kilometers in these 4.5 years, I am all praises for this little wonder from Tata Motors. I have even put up an ownership thread (here - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ip-report.html)

I consistently get around 19-20KMPL even though my travel is just about 2Km one side 4 times a day, and very occasional long drives now. Earlier I used to live in Mussoorie and Thatyur (Tehri Garhwal) and had to traverse on the hilly terrain in my car almost 100Kms on 1 side every weekend to be with my family down near Dehradun Airport. But the car has never let me down, not even during snowfall in and around Mussoorie. Maintenance costs are minimal, I have never had a break down and never been stranded on the road due to any mechanical failure. The music system is a boon to keep the NVH in control. People keep complaining that it is an underpowered car, but I have taken it to 110KMPH (engine cuts off at 105 and the rest is due to momentum) even with all 4 on board. I have taken my car to New Delhi, Saharanpur, Srinagar (Garhwal). Except for the drum brakes heating up and not providing very effective ABS like braking, it sometimes overtakes even bigger cars and surprises them on the highway, I have not faced any issues even on highway driving.

I have seen people with much expensive faster cars not going beyond 40-50KMPH in the city or on hilly roads, while I putter around at 60-70KMPH without any problem due to compact dimensions and a responsive fuel efficient engine powering this lightweight car. I kept telling my service center guys that if Tata Motors launched a Tata Nano AMT with Safety Features, I would happily exchange my Nano for that, even with the same looks and design.

I was very hopeful when I saw the interiors of Tata Pelican and news that it will be Nano's updated model, but alas it has been discontinued and the future cars on Alpha platform will start at 3.8 meters, so Nano will either get bigger and better, or Tiago will remain the cheapest Tata offering in the market on those 2 new platforms (Alpha and Omega).


Tata Pelican Interior Spied

Only because of my 15 month old Baby have I started to look for bigger safer options, and probably an Automatic because Dehradun traffic has started turning like Delhi now and I am not getting younger by the day so knees start to pain by prolonged depressing and releasing of Clutch, moreover my wife can't seem to learn effectively on the manual transmission, so thinking in the lines of Ertiga VXi AT now, otherwise I love my Nano and would like to buy one again with AT and Safety Features if Tata brings out one in a few years as my beater car.

R.I.P. Tata Nano, you will be missed by all your owners and we look forward to your resurrection on the new platform with a new name and better features in a few years down the line, probably even as Tata Hornbill!

[AdityaDeane]

Just saw this news article from May 2018 online, (Link - https://www.indiatimes.com/technolog...es-346173.html)

Tata’s Nano may not have been the revolution it promised to be, but it’s become a solid base for entrepreneurs trying out new things. It has been converted into a self-driving autonomous vehicle, and has now been turned into a hybrid.

Delhi based Transysco Instruments has turned the Nano into an plug-in electric hybrid car. Gone are the four doors, replaced now by powered gull-wing types that were seen on Mercedes SLS and more recently the Tesla Model X.

Now dubbed the Pixy, the car is now a two seater lifestyle vehicle instead of a four seater family car as originally intended. The car’s drivetrain has been replaced by a hybrid system consisting of a 1200 W electric motor that is powered by five 12V batteries. Company’s founder and CEO Lalit Kumar says that the car can run up to 200 kms on battery power alone and hit a top speed of 60 km/h.

The Nano’s original 623 cc engine has been replaced by a 250 cc unit and is claimed to give it an efficiency of 30 km/l and achieve a top speed of 80 km/h. Also gone is the manual gearbox, replaced by an automatic unit.

The car has been shortened to fit in those upwards opening doors and looks quite compact. The wheelbase now stands at 1,720mm as opposed to the Nano’s 2,230mm. No wonder then that the rear seats were ditched.

So how much does all this cost? Transysco says the vehicle will cost Rs 5 lakh when it goes on sale.

Just wondering, with the Indian Government having shown interest to allow Conversion of Petrol/Diesel Cars to Electric (Link - http://www.zeebiz.com/automobile/new...-rejoice-60352), how feasable will such a move be for existing car owners?

How much do such Electric Motors cost? For a 2.69Lakh car (the price when I bought my Twist XT), if the conversion itself costs 1.5-2 lakhs, then it'll make no sense. Can any BHPians advice, how feasible are such conversions?

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by AdityaDeane

Just saw this news article from May 2018 online, (Link - https://www.indiatimes.com/technolog...es-346173.html)....

Originally Posted by AdityaDeane

This is a really heart wrenching sight......R.I.P. Tata Nano, you will be missed by all your owners and we look forward to your resurrection on the new platform with a new name and better features in a few years down the line, probably even as Tata Hornbill!

I share your disappointment at the Nano's demise, Aditya! A small RE/RWD runabout is a thing of joy & I have mentioned this elsewhere in the forum. So yes, I too was very disappointed to read about the Nano's end.

And your happy ownership experience (specially in the hilly region of Uttaranchal) with the Nano underlines the poignancy of the bad news.

But the fact that the Nano's hopeful resurrection (in different avatars as you have pointed out!) is certainly cause for cause for celebration. Even if the new start-up is offering an EV conversion for elderly cars (I run a 2004 Scorpio!) for 1 Lakh or thereabouts as I read elsewhere, I still feel that a Nano EV as demonstrated by Transysco is worth it! At least it will have the assurance an OEM warranty!
Of course assuming that all this comes true and the public is actually able to lay hands on their EV/EV hybrid!

[ashutoshb]

Originally Posted by ashutoshb

So, I want a small city car and I zeroed in the Nano XT. Facts such as the production has ended, resale value in the future, etc., do not matter to me. I have always liked it and I don't intend to sell it, would rather keep it as a collector's item.

No dealer has one in stock in the National Capital Region (I have checked with everyone). Some do have XTAs. I even checked with a couple of dealers in Uttarakhand. Same story there too.

I have now emailed Tata Motors customer care, to help if they can find a dealer which has an XT in stock, even if its a couple of hundred kilometres away.

Let's see if they can help me out.

That Jalopnik article did make an impact

Here is a follow up on my quest for buying a Nano.

Like I said earlier, no dealer in and around Delhi / NCR region, even in Uttarakhand, had a Nano in stock. And no one is taking an order for a new one, despite what Tata Motors has been saying officially.

Only Concorde Motors in Delhi had one 2018 XTA left. I decided to go for it.

I might be the last 'new' Nano buyer in this region. Might as well be the last new one on tbhp too.

Irrelevant, but here is, over the years, how many Tatas me and my family has bought: 3 Safaris, 1 Safari Storme, 1 Sumo Grande, 1 Indigo, 12 Indicas (cabs), and now soon joining the list will be the Nano.

I am taking delivery day after tomorrow. Will share the photos soon.

[Enobarbus]

Originally Posted by ashutoshb

I am taking delivery day after tomorrow. Will share the photos soon.

Hearty congratulations Ashutosh. Wish you many miles of merry motoring on the micro mobile.

We too have 8 Tatas in my extended family and we have no reason to complain. My FIL's first generation vista is still going strong after nearly 1.6 lakh kilometers, most which are done on half roads or off roads. It is a legend in his village, undertaking tasks that included carrying agricultural equipment and produce.

[ashutoshb]

Got the Nano home. Like I said earlier, this must be the last new Nano sold in the Delhi-NCR region.

A brief drive home and I already wonder, why did it become such a failure. Why were people not buying it. It's such a great package.

Then I remembered all the discussion on the forum. It was never a fault of the car. Bah! People and their stupid double standards.

Will post more photos and details on her own ownership thread.

[Senna4Ever]

Originally Posted by ashutoshb

Got the Nano home. Like I said earlier, this must be the last new Nano sold in the Delhi-NCR region.

Congratulations on the purchase! I would if I could.

Given it is one of the last in the region, i am curious when was this actually manufactured? (Sales figure of recent months only indicate the dispatches not actual production)