Team-BHP
(
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)
*Image sourced from our own forum
We all have seen how Tata Motors gave a new lease of life to Aria by transforming it into Hexa(though it also didn't sell as much as expected). I wish Tata Motors to do the same with Nano, I wish them to go back to the drawing board, do the necessary changes and give us a wonderful little city car.
So what are desired changes, what to retain, what to delete, what to add to make it a compelling city car.
Here's my wish-list:
- To retain:
- Small footprint to make it easier to drive around in the congested cities.
- Tall boy design, high roof with not so high floor board makes ingress & egress easier for the elders. Not only the elders but everyone else will love it for the short city runs when you have to frequently get in and out of the car.
- Ground clearance, a ground clearance of 180mm is much needed in the pothole and speed-breaker cities.
- Ride quality, Nano's ride quality is good for its class.
- Steering and ABC pedals, present controls on the GenX Nano are light and are perfect for city conditions.
- AC, the present setup is a chiller and leave it as it is.
- Packaging, most of my friends after experiencing my Nano are blown away by the space and greenhouse it offers.
- Delete, add, or change:
- ORVMs & IRVM, make the ORVMs slightly bigger and internally adjustable(manual or electric doesn't matter); and also give us anti-glare feature on both IRVM and ORVMs.
- Tyres & wheels, give us R13 instead of the current R12 and make sure that all the four are of same size.
- Gearbox, the current manual is a bit notchy, give us a slick shifting gearbox.
- Autobox, make automatic transmission as default and manual as optional feature.
- Safety pack, give us atleast two airbags, two disc-brakes, and ABS as default.
- Power windows, give four power windows atleast on the top variant.
- Dashboard, slightly upmarket looking dash with instrument cluster to the rightside of the dash is preferred.
- Engine, who doesn't want more power? Present 624cc engine does its duty without any complaints in the city but it needs more steam out on the highways, give us atleast an 800cc engine.
- NVH, though the car does its duty without any problems, it makes squeaking sounds, gear rod vibrates at times, engine feels a bit unrefined compared to Maruti and Honda petrols, but the sound insulation is okay for its class. Give us a well bolted, less vibrating car with a refined petrol engine.
- Headlights, the present setup's highbeam & lowbeam are insufficient, need more throw and spread.
- Handling, with single occupancy driving the current setup is a bit unnerving compared to Alto but with full occupancy driving the car becomes a much better handler which one should experience to believe it. Tata, give us a car which handles well even with single occupancy, yes this is asking for more from a built-to-budget lightweight tallboy but :D.
- Fuel filler cap, Tata please move it to a more easily accessible place, move it to the front left fender or to the front of the car(like Nissan Leaf's charging port's position).
- Antenna, make it shorter so that it doesn't brush with low hanging trees.
- Seats, make them a bit more thicker, especially the front seats.
- Ergonomics, driver's left hand brushes with the front passenger during gear changes, moving the gear rod a bit towards the dashboard might help avoiding this. And also the center console interferes with the drivers left leg which is not much of problem if the front seat is moved back but otherwise a problem.
- Visibility, there are few blind-spots despite the large greenhouse. Especially while reversing you can miss an entire bike if it is just behind the car.
- Sound system, the stock system is just okay, Tata give us the prized HK system!
Though not complete, here ends my list. Request the members of the forum to throw in your suggestions to make Nano a compelling city car. It makes perfect sense for those who already had a car and need a secondary car for errands, for in-city rides, for housewives, elderly people, and college going kids. It also makes perfect sense for small families, young couples, and first time car buyers, though many first time car these days are buying cars from higher segments rather than from entry segments. It is observed from the
small survey/poll (Number of single-car vs multi-car households on Team-BHP) I did on our forum that around 68% of the households in tier-1 cities had more than one car at their houses, and a small hatchback like Nano can meet the needs of many(atleast 50%) such households. Tata already lost a wonderful opportunity, hope they come back again with an improved Nano. Tata Motors please make Nano-2.0 and price it just below Tiago. If Tata doesn't make one, I will make one:D.
Closing the post with a pic of my lovely Nano, aka Transformer:
I agree on every single point. Though i would recommend shortening the height a bit. I know it might become cramped a bit but again we are looking a making a city car. Another important recommendation is to provide CNG in Automatic transmission.
Even though it's a great discussion to have, I highly highly doubt that TML will bring a new generation of the Nano to us. They have burnt their hands so badly with the Nano 1.0 what with all the controversies,shifting of Singur plant etc. they will think at least 5 times before they even think about bringing back the Nano.
That doesn't mean they won't ever bring a hatchback below the Tiago. Rather they should. But then it has to be far removed from what the Nano represented that is cheap transport for the masses. We all know how we attach past baggage with TML cars. Take the cases of Indica-Vista-Bolt-Zest and Aria-Hexa also to some extent.
So if you ask me they should bring an SUV inspired little hatchback like the S Presso/Kwid to cash in on the SUV craze that we are going through.
I don't think we'll be seeing a Nano 2.0. Period. Tata has many other opportunities available in beefier / more profitable segments. Its board & shareholders will never allow another money losing proposition.
But since we're on a wishlist, here's mine:
- Dump the "Nano" brand. It's got way too much baggage and customers are put off with the cheapest-car-in-the-world tag.
- A triple cylinder engine with more muscle.
- An electric motor! A car like the Nano - with its light weight + small footprint + large cabin - is perhaps the best candidate for a city EV.
- Throw in a bit more quality and some more features to make it more like a proper car.
- Openable rear hatch & other things we expect in conventional cars.
- Try to make it a "premium top-quality small car" for 5 lakhs. I think there is a market for the same, just like the 1st-gen i20 was a segment above.
- Other than these, I think Tata made a genuinely good effort to improve the Nano over the years. But a combination of various factors (listed in
this post) had already sealed its fate.
Personally, Nano was a masterpiece of engineering and ingenuity, and it was India’s and the market’s loss that people didn’t buy it.
What can be done with the car... I say junk the petrol engine and go electric! A 50hp motor with a 25-30kwh battery should make this one peppy urban runabout with genuine 200+km range. Revamp the looks, give it bigger tires, redo the cabin entirely in a premium i20 like way. Make it properly refined and equipped, sort out the suspension for Hexa-esque ride comfort and price it around 7-9L on road. Oh and test the car THOROUGHLY. No niggles.
Indian car manufactures have got this idea that small cars have to be cheap. So they start off from the end point of it being cheap and work backwards.
The failure of Tata Nano is proof that Just being cheap is not good enough.
Start from scratch and design a car for the Urban working class who struggle with traffic daily.
Here is a master class on what a small car should be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9weWBNKiuU
Price *is* the consideration for the Nano. If it weren't for price, Nano doesn't have a USP. The price itself too stopped being the USP shortly after launch. If price isn't a problem, you'll arrive at the Tiago!
The Nano is a sunk cost enough; Tata should move on and get stronger where they have built a name for themselves. The Santro, with all its legacy, couldn't get the focus off Celerio/Alto, Tata should best not get into the ring.
I loved the design of the nano, if only Tata didn't build it to a cost and made it in good quality and matched the refinement with that if the alto and priced it at par with it it would have sold well.
The only way the nano is coming back would be electric. And that would be quite a package. What happened to the pixel concept that Tata showcased a few years back?
I think people will appreciate the design a few years down the line. I won't be surprised if it becomes coveted like the beetle, citroen c2v or the mini.
I own Nano XTA and from my experience, its a great car, my wife loves it and she has developed great confidence on road after driving nano. Very compact dimensions, easy to drive/park, good space inside. However in my view in its current form, it will still be a best second car not the primary car.
I can list the below in the add, remove, delete section (over and above already mentioned earlier).
- Make door pockets slightly bigger. The current ones are too small and its a pain to keep or take out anything in the pocket
- The seats are bit high whereas steering is low. Especially for taller people, ingress in the front seats means the head will collide with the roof unless you bend
- The doors are light and flimsy. Doesn't give a sense of safety.
- AMT is too jerky. If stuck in pothole, it takes hard pressing the accelerator to come out, especially when reversing.
- Somehow long drives are not comfortable, neither to the driver nor to the passengers. So however me and my wife prefer automatic, we end up taking our Manza for drives > 25 kms). I think it has to do with ride quality, NVH refinement and overall seating comfort.
- Not so great fuel Economy. Even with light footprint, the AMT gives an average of just 11 to 12 KMPL in city.
Will I buy Nano 1.0 if have an option of going back in time? No. I will rather spend couple of more lakhs and buy a proper small hatchback with AMT.
1. Please DONT POSITION as a POOR MAN's Car (Whatever the Pricing might be)
2. Bigger WHEELS
3. Improve NVH
Basically Tata should follow the same principles as per the new smart EV and smart EV cabriolet. They do that, bring an element of lifestyle desirability to the brand and provide a decent range EV with peppy and good driving dynamics then they can command a good price and people would buy. Basically no cost cutting anywhere.
Here's my suggestion. Only one :
BE THE FIRST CAR IN INDIA TO BE FULLY CONVERTIBLE TO ELECTRIC BY OFFERING A CONVERSION KIT.
Nano in EV avatar was already produced by Jayem automobiles and sold to OLA as the NEO. So it's not that far off from being fully production ready. Hope TATA goes ahead for it's commercial production with proper testing.
https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...spotted-408711
Quote:
Originally Posted by damodar
(Post 4659589)
Nano in EV avatar was already produced by Jayem automobiles and sold to OLA as the NEO.
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As i understood from the other thread about Jayem Neo, this was just being developed/tested. It was never sold. The project may have already been scrapped due to the upcoming safety norms and the costs associated with the same.
In my recent visit to Tata service center I have seen the Tigor EV and Neo(Nano EV) parked side by side and diagnosis being done as part of service.On inquiry they said both models are available for private sale also apart from fleet sales.
The Tigor EV was 12Lakhs OTR Hyderabad for 200km version, felt it was not VFM.
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