[Maverick79]

May be the retail sales are more.
I mean the Dealer ship to Customers sales.
What ever the company reports say is wholesale figures only.

Of-course, they are also not so big nos in the last few months.
Some where around 1000 nos.

My two cents..

Hope this great Frugal Engineering marvel will see some light soon. Albeit in a different avatar( Read E - Nano)

Regards,
Maverick79

[Rodie09]

Car buying is a serious decision in India. A potential customer assesses a product on all aspects and compares it with whatever similar dough can buy.

Now this could be my personal opinion, but I think a lot of people would be on this side as far as reasons are concerned:

1. Too cutesy. Does not have the car like persona that everyone is so used to. Even the younger lot (boys and girls) do not want something like this. Prefer an old M800 above this. Only middle aged females and may be seniors could be the interested audience.

2. Engine Note - Don't need to say much here.

3. It is something un-conventional. Engine, boot, wheels, shape, etc. I don't buy a car everyday, so why take the chance. Stick to the proven things.

4. Cheap Tag - Though it may not be very cheap on the road, it has been riveted in everyone's heads that it is cheap. Does not work in a status conscious society like India.

Way forward - Dont see much hope in its current avataar. Needs to be re designed as a bare minimum.

Though it's a very practical car, the above reasons far overshadow the practicality.

[R2D2]

What follows is strictly IMO and no offense meant to anybody least of all Nano owners.

It's a cute car, but that's the only good thing I can say about it. As for why it's not selling, even in a country that is extremely value conscious, there's something about this car that turns off potential buyers. For middle class families that want to move up from a two wheeler to a car, a major step up on the 'image' ladder, a car in the price bracket of a good two wheeler or even an autorickshaw (about Rs 1-2L) won't be considered. For the money Tata expects for a well kitted Nano, most would rather pay extra and go in for the tried and tested M800 or one of its newer avatars. And we all know Maruti's products are reliable and their after sales support is excellent.

And that awful engine is a smoother version of Greave's single cylinder diesel rickshaw engine. Even a Bajaj 4 stroke rickshaw engine sounds better.

The Nano's teething troubles (read catching fire) haven't helped its image one bit instead only serving to reiterate the age old image of a Tata vehicle = unreliable. We owned a Safari once upon a time. After that experience we don't even consider any Tata Motors offering as a choice. TM does try hard to please its customers but it's probably too late..at least it is for my family.

If Tata Motors persist in producing a non-starter it can only be due to the insistence of it's 'Father' the grand old man of the group. What an ego!

I foresee the same fate awaiting Bajaj Auto's 'car' should it see the light of day.

PS - Sorry Tata Motors but in my view this car is a DOA. It needs to be discontinued. The El Cheapo & unreliable tag have killed it before it even got off the ground.

[blackasta]

However sad it might sound, the current Nano needs to be sunset, alongwith the Nano name.

TATA should continue using the platform, use completely different body panels for a completely new car, do away with the idiosyncrasies related to Nano (dissimilar wheel size etc.) , make amends using what it has learnt from the Nano project (which is enormous learning btw!), and launch the new car as a 'value' (read sub Tiago segment) or 'niche' (read electric) segment vehicle.

If Tiago / Tigor / Hexa numbers are an indication, public is ready to accept a well made car from TATA.

[PNTLovesNano]

I have the Tata Nano Twist XT version bought in 2014. My regular workhorse had been the 2011 Alto which has clocked 75K till date and it was my first car and still in my garage. In the last month, Alto had to undergo 10K service and it was in garage for some 4 days. I had never taken the Nano cutie on long drives and this alternative changed the narrative. Because of lack of options, I took the Nano from Bengaluru to Mantralayam (400kms), then Bengaluru to Tirupathi in single day, and Bengaluru to Chennai (twice). What I found was that the fatigue that I felt in Alto post driving 250+kms was non-existing in Nano. Yes, the Nano is an hour slower on the long drives. But there is absolutely no fatigue in Nano at all. Long term maintenance of Nano is still an unknown thing for me. Together Alto+Nano have served me really well and I intend to keep both of them with me forever. Of course, that makes the next car almost an impossibility. Hopefully, I will not need another. Hence, its great for me to know that Nano would not be discontinued inspite of the poor sales. I only hope that the car deserves its numbers.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

The car is excellent. The market isn't for it. In India we don't buy a large car and a small city run-about.

You nailed it, though I think that there is a larger market of such people than you suspect.

I bought mine in 2013 and it is now part of a three car garage - I am lucky to also have a Gypsy as the third car in a horses for courses selection.

In 2014, I drove in it to Goa to see its capability, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Instead of the usual 8 hours drive, it took me 9 hours but no fatigue. I will not take it on the highway again; since I have options, I don't see the need to take the extra risk.

When I drive in Pune city, I never think beyond the Nano - never. Effortless to drive, thread through traffic, and park. Reliable so far, there is little to go wrong. Interiors are now very livable - the 2013 car marked a step change and even the 4 speaker OE audio system is quite decent with a very useful BT function. I picked my body colour to get the black interior trim I wanted, and in 2017 it still looks mint.

FE is average - 16-18 km to the litre. Fine for me, but not frugal enough for a two wheeler commuter to switch, even if a used Nano was to be bought.

The market for people like me will only increase as we age and as cities get congested everywhere. Tata has an excellent platform that just needs some tweaking and marketing to the right segment. The attempt to capture the "its awesome" crowd was doomed to fail from wrong segmentation.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

......... Tata has an excellent platform that just needs some tweaking and marketing to the right segment. The attempt to capture the "its awesome" crowd was doomed to fail from wrong segmentation.

Couldn't have put it better! Wrong segmentation & marketing (cheapest car in the.....) are certainly responsible for its current dire straits. I've always had a soft spot for RE/RWD runabouts, its mostly heart & not head, tho' I've stuck my neck out before with my absolute conviction that RE/RWD is a good deal more robust & durable than a comparable FE/FWD example.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by shashanka

I've always had a soft spot for RE/RWD runabouts, its mostly heart & not head, tho' I've stuck my neck out before with my absolute conviction that RE/RWD is a good deal more robust & durable than a comparable FE/FWD example.

I should have mentioned this too, you are 100% correct.

If for no other reason, the car deserves to survive.

The only other car of this configuration available in India costs close to a crore: a Porsche. Nano brings you a membership of a privileged club for peanuts.

And one marketing approach that Tata has completely missed is reverse snobbery of the kind that was so well exploited by makes like the original Mini/Swatch/Levis/Gap and many others.

[indivic]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Couldn't have put it better! Wrong segmentation & marketing (cheapest car in the.....) are certainly responsible for its current dire straits. I've always had a soft spot for RE/RWD runabouts, its mostly heart & not head, tho' I've stuck my neck out before with my absolute conviction that RE/RWD is a good deal more robust & durable than a comparable FE/FWD example.

To this day if anyone asks me why I have the Nano as my primary car, this is the reason I give them. I tell them I cannot afford a Porsche and hence this car.

[greenhorn]

I have a friend who drives a first gen Wagon R. He sticks to it because even though he can upgrade, he finds any bigger car a downgrade because you cant stick the car into the spaces and gaps like his current one. He is currently looking to upgrade to an auto for city use, and looking at celerio/kwid/Tiago. I suggested the Nano auto, which he said he had test driven a friend's extensively. He said he loved the car, except for the bit that it feels like it has no frontal protection, and he felt it was like driving an omni, and not particularly confidence inspiring.

[Sawyer]

Just because the Wagon R has the lump of the engine in front that the Nano does not, is meaningless for frontal protection; poorly designed, a frontal impact could have the engine block being part of what crushes the driver's chest.

The only way to know is the crash test data that takes into account all aspects including crumple zones in real life crashes with a dummy. I don't know about actual results, but I would not be surprised to see both cars fare poorly in a crash test.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by indivic

To this day if anyone asks me why I have the Nano as my primary car, this is the reason I give them.
I tell them I cannot afford a Porsche and hence this car.

I'm sure some gear-head TATA Ace & Bajaj Auto-Rickshaw owners are saying the same thing too

Originally Posted by greenhorn

He said he loved the car, except for the bit that it feels like it has no frontal protection, and he felt it was like driving an omni, and not particularly confidence inspiring.

Interesting take on the whole FE / RE "debate", I've never thought of this aspect.

In a FE car, you have the engine & transmission in front of the passenger cell & having a forward momentum proportional to the speed of the car.

In a frontal impact, that can be a positive thing, sort of like having a heavy shield moving at speed in front of you.

In a RE car, the engine & transmission have the same forward momentum, but in a frontal impact would only serve to crush the passenger cell.
~

[Sawyer]

The heavy shield thinking is a fallacy. More to the point is how well and will it's anchorages on the car will progressively collapse absorbing the impact energy before that energy has to be absorbed by the driver's body. Otherwise, the heavy shield will just as effectively kill the driver as if it were part of the other body involved in the frontal impact.

[Sebring]

I disagree. The cheapest car tag propelled it to top of mind recall, internationally. Everybody was talking about it.

I remember everyone wanting one on launch, including myself. People had their cheque books out. But what happened at Singur put a spanner in the works. There was a two year delay and that's a lot for a new launch. The hype burned itself out and people were tired of waiting. Reported fires did not help matters much.

Originally Posted by shashanka

Couldn't have put it better! Wrong segmentation & marketing (cheapest car in the.....) are certainly responsible for its current dire straits.

[Sawyer]

There is some merit in what you say, but the car was definitely not cheap enough for the segment that would have bought it in large numbers only for this reason, for it to sell @ 20,000 units a month as planned.

With an FE of 16-18 km/litre of petrol, it is three times as expensive on fuel than the typical two wheelers that this market would be using before buying Nano - hard for those budgets to suddenly absorb. And in cities, congested streets means parking convenience of two wheelers that can't be matched by even Nano. Of course the factors you mention also hamstrung the start of the life of the car, and it never recovered the lost ground.

And for those to whom the FE doesn't matter so much, cheap looking and feeling still does, The reverse snobbery market does want decent fit/finish - witness products like Levi/Swatch/Gap. The Nano now addresses many of those needs, but this value tends to be propagated slowly only via user word of mouth.