[shortbread]

Honestly the waiting period for the Nano is quite unreasonable, especially in this day and age. But I think the biggest deterrent is getting finance especially one has to give a full down payment.

1. firstly most finance cos. have been very uptight in approving loans due to the current credit situation.
2. The target customers fall closer to the high risk category (lower income, rural adress, no previous track record) for most finance cos. and the 20 day period wouldnt be enough to approve loans in these kind of volumes. They will play safer and pick and choose customers with more credible backgrounds (City dwelling, regular monthly income). The irony of a car meant for the 'Aaam aadmi'.
3. I dont think one can expect the kind of Indica/Uno booking rush anymore. Those days the market had very few choices and the popular ones had a waiting period. The scenario has changed, although there is no direct competition, like mentioned before the likes of M800, Spark are dangerously close pricewise and are available of the shelf with ridiculous discounts.

I think more importantly than Tata recieving huge booking orders, success will be determined by wether they can keep the existing customers who have gone ahead and booked happy. For one they have taken a huge risk with their hard earned money by placing trust in a brand who have a reputation of taking their own time to get things right, on a model most of them havent driven yet.
No denying that Tata has an excellent package in the Nano, gained global respect and admiration, Bookings unheard of now a days etc..etc...
But if they fail these 2 lakh customers in the terms of promised delivery period, reliability, customer service all this success will be wiped of in a matter of days. The media who've been all whoo-haaa all over the car will be waiting with prying eyes, not to mention the competiton (and mamta aunty, of course). They will ruthless with the Nano every time it dissapoints.
Tata has the task cut out for them, really praying they suceed.

[snaronikar]

2.03 Lacs is a real disappointment with the hype it received during the launch. Hope tata's will deliver the vehicles as per the committment.

[Gagan.js]

What percent of people are going to get fed up and go for the m800 or spark(huge discounts anyone?) since most bookings are for top end version.

[Traxter]

How well Nano does will depend on the profile of who is buying them. The expectation (including that of Ratan Tata) is that it will be bought by those now riding motorcycles carrying entire family. We dont know if that is the case

But if bookings are all by those wanting additional car for wife/son, hobby car, extra car etc., the way they perceive quality, engine noise/vibrations etc.etc. will vary because they already have one that is better in many ways. All this talk of people spending thousands to 'upgrade and customise' means they are not the upgraders, but real car owners.

If it gets stuck with image as bad quality for any price and fit only for motorcycle wallas desperate to upgrade, it will pave the way for many other imitations including cheaper M800 which is still seen as 'real' car.

The other variable is parking. It is already expensive in terms of owning space, in most cities.. The habit of parking for free in any street will soon have to be forgotten by most drivers going by global trends and need for revenue. That will change the equation a lot since parking cost is the biggest factor against car ownership in other congested cities of Asia. For the price of Nano, you hardly get 5-6 months of parking space in a major Hongkong city building! While we are far off from that age, it can only get worse.

[TeddyBear]

2.03 L is a realistic figure, which Tata managed to get despite telling that only first 1lac cars will be getting the assured price and revealed that they can managed only a 1lac + cars can be delivered in first year.

As per the Tata site "Among the three variants of the car, 20% bookings are for the Nano Standard, 30% for the Nano CX and the remaining 50% for the top-end Nano LX."

This clearly shows that 50% LX bookings and 30% CX bookings attracted proper Car buyers and not by the 1lac price tag, which ideally should attract Two wheelers.

So proper / regular car buyers are not required to be waiting for years with full finance or full Cash deposit. 2500cr is not a small amount, which Tata is benefited with 2.03 lac bookings.

[vivekanand005]

i think this is respectable numbers for a new car .

[vinaydas]

i already mentioned on the other threads too. The majority of nano buyers i those people who already have a car and use a nano basically to travel around the city.
What Mr tata predicted would be the "ideal buyer" barely turned up.
well cm on the nano does not give around 80-90 mileage then in bangalore the price shot upto 1lac 50 thousand for the base model which was 50% more than what he portrayed it as.
i said it before and will say it now!! if people are that desperate for a car then they will go buy a excellent second hand maruthi with absolutely no complaints unlike the tata's.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by GTO

P.S. : The record for the most number of bookings upon launch stays with the Fiat Uno. Though the booking amount was not a full payment toward the car, nearly 3.0 lakh bookings deserves applaud. Just goes to show what an opportunity Fiat lost, else they could have become the 2nd or 3rd largest car manufacturer in India! Such as the trust we had in the brand at one time.

That was around the time the Zen was launched and people didn't find it worth the price. Maruti paid Datta Samant to cause a strike at PAL and production could not start. This gave the Zen an advantage. Thankfully production started just when I was ready to buy my first car. And I bought the Uno. I've booked the Nano CX. Good to know that I have a 50% chance.

[CarsPG]

Originally Posted by Gagan.js

What percent of people are going to get fed up and go for the m800 or spark(huge discounts anyone?) since most bookings are for top end version.

Agreed. Spark with PS can be had for close to Rs. 3 lacs OTR pune!

Has Tata started test drives for the Nano yet??

[siedo]

This 200k bookings also have contribution of bookings pushed by the banks.
Banks have also been one of the influencing factor in booking decision making.

[idea1979]

TATA was expecting atleast 5 Lakh+ booking considering all rush. Current booking amount is disappointing. Probably for following reasons.

How can anybody invest this amount for a car without even test drive? (I will not spend even 100 bucks forget 1.78 Lakh)
Delivery Dates were tentative
Being new car - performance was not clear.
This Lucky draw thing was really a turn off.

and list goes on.

At least it holds true for me.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

That was around the time the Zen was launched and people didn't find it worth the price.

Fat chance. The Zen was launched in 1993, while Fiat only arrived in India in 1997. Uno's weren't readily available until 99. The Zen was launched at time when there were few options aside from Maruti's modern cars. It was post-1995 that the automotive landscape entirely changed.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by GTO

Fat chance. The Zen was launched in 1993, while Fiat only arrived in India in 1997. Uno's weren't readily available until 99. The Zen was launched at time when there were few options aside from Maruti's modern cars. It was post-1995 that the automotive landscape entirely changed.

Yea OK it was 93 but Zen sales not much till 97. I picked up my Uno in 97. At that time the only hatchbacks were the 800, Zen and Uno. I remember everyone trying to convince me to buy a Zen but I picked up an Uno. A decision I never regretted.

[drkunaldas]

Originally Posted by TeddyBear

2.03 L is a realistic figure, which Tata managed to get despite telling that only first 1lac cars will be getting the assured price and revealed that they can managed only a 1lac + cars can be delivered in first year.

As per the Tata site "Among the three variants of the car, 20% bookings are for the Nano Standard, 30% for the Nano CX and the remaining 50% for the top-end Nano LX."

I think we shoould not be suprised with the variants. most of the people who want the Nano std might like to see the car in flesh on the roads, evaluation of the on-road performance and word-of-mouth references before commiting the money (after all its their first car and booking for nano - that amount would be a stretch for them esp in this times of recession)
This augurs well for TATA as in future their nos. will keep the factory running for many-many yrs. in any case by the booking the TATA's have received a princely sum of 2500crs and also ted up their production capacity for 2 yrs. so these are reasonable nos. and by 2010, the recession might be also on its way out. that will increase demand.