[gshanky]

IMO, the slowdown could be related to some refresh/variant launch of NANO. The reason I am thinking in this direction is that TML does not seem to be too bothered about this other than some report about a vendor problem i.e. no direct news release from TML.

Do any TML insiders care to comment?

[amit162]

I am more excited about my impromptu purchase of our Nano then I was of the well planned well researched Jazz. Its fun to drive and the engine does get quieter after some time. Its spacious and has every essentials a car ought to have. Tata deserves all the accolades it is getting. and I see a lot of people now buying it.

[dhrishikesh]

Seen this advertisement in Marathi newspaper "Loksatta"'s today's edition.
The advertise says that Mr.Ashwin Mehta of Jalandhar has driven his Nano (Standard ?? as seen in the pic) from Amritsar to London.
He is saying that it is a challenge to drive Nano all the way from Amritsar to London. We have conquered Nano from the icy roads on which the potholes are such that even a whole bus can go through it. This car can travel through any road conditions. Its a question for me why we all people call Nano a city car.

[justwheels]

Indeed Nano is a national pride and we all wish all success to it. But I just came across a news about Tata calling back some nano's for safety issue. This is the first time when Nano call back has been officially confirmed.

Link: Tata Motors to recall some Nanos to enhance safety - NDTV Profit

[NIP]

A little more on the Amritsar-London Nano Drive:

There have been road trips aplenty, but there are some which are special indeed. The Ideals Nano Challenge was just that with a bunch of blokes travelling from Amritsar to Trafalgar Square, London.

The little Nano has been creating waves the world over ever since its inception. This time, Richard Lawson Cruttendon, a UK based chartered shipbroker and his son Jack Lawson along with D.K Gandhi, who works as a postmaster in the Indian Postal Department, took the little wonder all the way across from Amritsar to Trafalgar Square in London as a part of the IDEALS Nano Challenge 2010 all in the name of charity.

The eventful journey embarked from Amritsar after a quick visit to the Golden temple. The cars checked, sponsor stickers on and the cars were ready. The departure was on time and the Nano's hummed along nicely and despite the small wheels handled the road conditions with ease. Delhi was finally reached. Heading towards Jaipur, Jack was finally in the driver's seat and found the Nano just like any other car to drive. No struggle at all with acceleration on par with his Diesel Peugeot 406 and cruising comfortably at 85 km/h. With open roads all throughout, Jaipur was reached in good time.

Driving to Ahemdabad, the team encountered the worst roads yet with mountain stretches, overtaking on blind corners and the usual run of the mill stuff. Amongst all the chaos, they also managed to lose a wing mirror. Next big destination was Mumbai where the Nano's would finally receive their service.

Bandar Abbas to London was next on the menu. After a lengthy delay, 8 nights in particular, they were finally on their way. The drive continued through the arid deserts into the night and with 400 km covered in seven hours it was good progress as they halted at Sirjam. Destination next was Tehran. Battling strong headwind and barely managing 80 km/h, the convoy hit the outskirts of Tehran by 6th April. The little Nano set the record for the most distance travelled in 24 hours, 1208 km to be exact. Heading west to Tabriz and then Bazargan they passed through some stunning landscapesof rolling hills and strata of all the colours under the sun, from grey to fawn to greento burnt orange, some transformation. Some commotion and a little nervousness later, it was all smiles as the convoy left Iran and parked up in Turkey.

Heading out from the Turkey into Greece, the roads were fantastic. A good night's rest later, it was off to Paynesfield in Sussex. The road was fantastic, taking them up high where the mountain peaks covered in snow could be easily seen. Also the roads were so new, that there were no petrol pumps open. Post the fill up, the roads were covered nice and fast and Switzerland had already arrived. On through the French Customs, there were a lot of questions about the cars registration but there were no problems whatsoever. Finally the cars were on British soil. It had been 7 days 6 hours and 34 minutes in actual time since Bandar Abbas. 6870 km from Bandar Abbas and if one adds the Indian leg of 2128 km it adds upto all of 8998 km.

The IDEALS challenge had finally come to an end and it definitely proved to be the ideal way to prove the little cars mettle and raise money for charity while at it as well.

Source: Zig Wheels

[zipdrive]

Slightly off topic- but still....Check out this link- Nano getting recalled to fix its fire issue in yesterdays Economic times

[phantom76]

Nov 2010 sales figures of Nano stand at 509 (I guess this might be even lesser than the Jazz). What is the real reason behind these low numbers? Is it that the demand has dwindled or is it due to some production constraints?

[Honda Monk]

Firstly...a pathetic job by TATA what we call Nano...
Many see it as national pride but I find difficult.
It starts like an autorikshaw....Had I been not standing facing it, I would have assumed an autorikshaw started.
Rear is like somebody forgot to cover.
Not once Tata showed concern for safety of fellow Indians.
Given a chance I would have made it mandatory to give air-bags for such a car.
Sane people will surely not buy it.
And for the rich nouveau, its another toy in fashion. Same cars will either rot in their backyards or will be given to a servant as gift.

[richie4u]

Well Honda Monk, Tata never compared Nano to a Mitsubishi EVO X to make it sound and look like it. It was a simple car for a family of four who could afford to buy a car at the price of a scooter and travel comfortably to their destination and not at the speed of light.

Well about the "no safety for fellow Indians" point, tata made a car keeping the budget under a lac, you do not get airbags in some other brands like suzuki and honda even when you are paying over 5 lacs.

Well sane people may not buy it, but when the problem comes to finding a parking spot for my Tata Safari and take 3-4 rounds of the same place till I find a good spot and waste liters of fuel, I am ready to call myself insane and go for the compact Nano

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by Honda Monk

Firstly...a pathetic job by TATA what we call Nano...
Many see it as national pride but I find difficult.
It starts like an autorikshaw....Had I been not standing facing it, I would have assumed an autorikshaw started.
Rear is like somebody forgot to cover.
Not once Tata showed concern for safety of fellow Indians.
Given a chance I would have made it mandatory to give air-bags for such a car.
Sane people will surely not buy it.
And for the rich nouveau, its another toy in fashion. Same cars will either rot in their backyards or will be given to a servant as gift.

Buddy, you want to buy a Porsche for 1 lakh?

[pacman2881]

Originally Posted by phantom76

Nov 2010 sales figures of Nano stand at 509 (I guess this might be even lesser than the Jazz). What is the real reason behind these low numbers? Is it that the demand has dwindled or is it due to some production constraints?

509 is too less a number to be attributed to shortfall in demand. I guess it is due to some other constraints at supply side.

Originally Posted by Honda Monk

Firstly...a pathetic job by TATA what we call Nano...
Many see it as national pride but I find difficult.
It starts like an autorikshaw....Had I been not standing facing it, I would have assumed an autorikshaw started.
Rear is like somebody forgot to cover.
Not once Tata showed concern for safety of fellow Indians.
Given a chance I would have made it mandatory to give air-bags for such a car.
Sane people will surely not buy it.
And for the rich nouveau, its another toy in fashion. Same cars will either rot in their backyards or will be given to a servant as gift.

Isolating Tata on lack of safety features is not fair. How many 5+ lakh cars come with safety feature as standard? I don't believe that our age old M800's crumple zone can take an impact Nano can take but M800 is still in production and did Maruti care? Or did the buyers cared?
I am not a fan of Nano but then we cannot bash a 1 lakh car for not being safe when ''premium' cars skimp on safety. Tata is not trying to revolutionize anything by changing Indian mindset on safety. They are playing purely on business merit. We will have to wait and see if they succeed.

[KMohanan]

Originally Posted by Honda Monk

Firstly...a pathetic job by TATA what we call Nano...
Many see it as national pride but I find difficult.
It starts like an autorikshaw....Had I been not standing facing it, I would have assumed an autorikshaw started.
Rear is like somebody forgot to cover.
Not once Tata showed concern for safety of fellow Indians.
Given a chance I would have made it mandatory to give air-bags for such a car.
Sane people will surely not buy it.
And for the rich nouveau, its another toy in fashion. Same cars will either rot in their backyards or will be given to a servant as gift.

Hello my friend,

I am an owner of tata nano LX BSIII for the last 9 months and driven more than 12000 kms.
My humble request to you is to drive the nano for about 50 kms in city and highway mixed drive and then make an opinion about the car. Also, please note that Tata nano is not my first car. I have previously owned more than 15 cars some of them were costing more than 10 lakhs original. Now, tata nano is my only car which I happily use in the city traffic as well as highway travel. Even yesterday I travelled more than 250 kms in my nano in highway and city combined traffic in hot day with four of my family members and my 11 year old son very comfortably with full time AC on.

Now, regarding safety of the car :
Kindly watch the the enclosed videos of crash tests available in the net : one is tata nano and the other is that of a number of luxury cars costing many many times more than nano.. To watch video, click on the underlined heading above the video screen.

The main disadvantages what I observed are the non-openable hatch, lack of glove box and left mirror and below average (now improving) tata service (in comparison with maruti cars).

YouTube - Tata Nano crash test by autocar.co.uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp32F7QzZqA

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by KMohanan

Kindly watch the the enclosed videos of crash tests available in the net : one is tata nano and the other is that of a number of luxury cars costing many many times more than nano.. To watch video, click on the underlined heading above the video screen.

I did not understand the point of this video. If I'm not mistaken, this is the Nano Europa, where Tata has done "some" structural modifications to pass the EU crash tests. A testing of the Indian version should be interesting. I'm not doubting the Nano, but I would really like to see the crash test of the Indian version.

[KMohanan]

Originally Posted by A350XWB

I did not understand the point of this video. If I'm not mistaken, this is the Nano Europa, where Tata has done "some" structural modifications to pass the EU crash tests. A testing of the Indian version should be interesting. I'm not doubting the Nano, but I would really like to see the crash test of the Indian version.

If you search in various sites about the nano crash tests, all information is available. You can refer to reliable sources in this aspect.

One news cutting I am adding below. Kindly refer. This news clearly says "The Nano that was put under tests was the same as the car sold in India and not the Europa that is to be sold in Europe, come 2012."

I believe that Tata nano is ahead of Maruti 800 and alto in terms on crash safety.

Nano passes European crash tests!

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by Honda Monk

Firstly...a pathetic job by TATA what we call Nano...
Many see it as national pride but I find difficult.
It starts like an autorikshaw....Had I been not standing facing it, I would have assumed an autorikshaw started.
Rear is like somebody forgot to cover.
Not once Tata showed concern for safety of fellow Indians.
Given a chance I would have made it mandatory to give air-bags for such a car.
Sane people will surely not buy it.
And for the rich nouveau, its another toy in fashion. Same cars will either rot in their backyards or will be given to a servant as gift.

I usually don't respond to pointless rants, but I'll make an exception in this case.

Let me try and address your issues one by one. Firstly, the issue of national pride. That's a personal matter. You can either feel proud that an Indian company is the only one that has made it possible for an average salaried person to afford a new car, or you can scoff at it. Your choice entirely.

The sound. I find that the Royal Enfield motorcycle sounds remarkably close to an autorickshaw. Does that reduce the value of the bike in any way? Of course, Nano's isn't a racy exhaust note, but then you're not paying for a racy exhaust note, you're paying for efficient, weatherproof personal transportation from A to B.

The rear. I actually agree with you on this. Both the front and rear bumpers could have been more elegant. As it is, it looks like they are years out of date, in terms of design.

Safety: Here's where you are utterly wrong and ill informed. The Nano has passed safety tests in the form that it is sold in India. In fact, I'd argue that it is safer than the M800 or even the Alto, because it is a much newer design. If it had been unsafe because of the design, wouldn't we have seen in the media already? Instead, we see 3/70000 cars catching fire, something that happens quite regularly to all models of cars.

Airbags would make any car safer, but I fail to see why they should be mandatory in Nano alone.

As for the nouveau-riche comment, do you really understand what that word means? I'd hardly refer to the chairmen of MRF, SBF, Dabur etc by that name. They've been rich for ages, they're old money if anything.

It's quite clear that you don't understand what a weatherproof means of personal transport means to the average Indian family. When I was growing up, my dad had a scooter and it was how the four of us got to places. Me standing on the footboard, while my sister was carried by mum or sandwiched in between seats. We weren't poor, it's just that no one was able to afford cars those days. Hopefully, we will see none or at least less of that in the next generation due to innovative ideas like the Nano.