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-   -   Tata Nano-November Sales=506. Analysing the root cause and devising the solutions. (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/92985-tata-nano-november-sales-506-analysing-root-cause-devising-solutions-16.html)

Well TATA has analysed he root cause and come out with a solution. The brilliant 4 yrs warrant + Rs 1148 annual maintenance contract should do wonders for the Nano. I for one am surely expecting the Nano to hit back strongly within the next few months.

Now is that not quick thinking? If only Fiat thought so quick and offered a complete 4 years maintenance package for all their cars. I have a feeling some sort of a maintenance package is the only way to improve their sales in India. If GM and now TATA can do it, I wonder whats stopping Fiat?

Will it help Tata if they goahead with new version of Nano with a conventional approach. What I mean here is small 2/3 cylinder engine at front, openable hatch at rear with sufficient boot space. Price it roughly INR 50k less than the base version of Alto.

I have been working on the car category for now more than 5 years now. The following is my reason why the nano is not working.

Historically India overall has a 'Herd mentality'. I.e to to do what the neighbour is doing. Safety in numbers. Not taking chances...etc etc.

1. The nano generated great hype and interest when it was announced, sadly it failed to launch at the time promised when the interest in the car was high. The W Bengal government is to be blamed for it. In India it is very important to launch when the momentum is with you. The Nano apparently had around 50,000 bookings, if it had launched at that time and if the plant was workign at the capacity it was supposed to, I guess today we would have not been discussing this.

2. I DO NOT believe that 'fire' hazard is the reason why the nano is not selling. In rural india almost 35 % cars are fitted with illegal CNG / LPG kits. No one gives a rats backside about safety here.

3. The Neighbour effect. As mentioned by me above, the herd mentality. If Indian people do not seen cars on the roads, they deem the car to be a failure and hence will NOT buy it. and then stories like the car catching fire actually caught on and gave people another reason for not buying the car.

4. I believe that the fate of nano is sealed. I don't think this car can be revived. In the indian car industry there are NO Phoenix. History is testament to that.

R.I.P Nano
ac

I believe that doing a marathon road trip with this car is a bad idea. Its still a bad idea doing one even in a Suzuki 800. These two cars are designed to be city run abouts. More so with the Nano. Its efficient, very practical and is actually a safe car (Lets rule out those fires for now). Both cars do not qualify for highway runs as they are light, don't have much in terms for safety on highways, don't really go that fast but they fit the bill very well for in town use. Lets stop complaining about the rear seat on a Nano. That bench was not designed to keep passengers comfortable for long hours. The 800 has better seats but this works well for short runs only. Why are we even talking about these cars hitting the highway? They are not meant to.

The dismal sales has brought a article in NY times. Hope the writer is not a relative of Bajaj (just kidding)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/bu...a.html?_r=1&hp

TATA has come with an 4year warranty(already discussed here).

I guess this will definitely make a difference in the sales.it might not upto 9k a month but will climb up alteast to 2-3k a month.

New article from rediff>Now, get a four-year warranty on Nano! - Rediff.com Business

I think we (as indians) all should support TATA /Ratan TATA for it/his effort for making a world record building the cheapest car.

We buy nano or not ,we need to alteast support it.

BTW how is it performing in other countries?

Why?

If not buying - how else does support it?
Supporting it verbally means - it's not good enough for me, but you should buy it - which is meaningless.


I didn't know it's being sold anywhere outside India? Where is being sold?

Plz refer to this earlier post.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2167486

Sir am one of the herd mentality Indian.
When I dont buy someone's product / service and buy some other's product/service for whatever reason to me, they call me herd mentality.

how come you know the illegal cars % sir? Isn't it perception?

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TML spent money, time and energy to produce the product.
But their marketing is substandard. Otherwise they would have used the feedback channel from their front line sales and would have improved the quality and perception about their service and product.
They are still in the red tape raj era of sellers. India is painfully and slowly moving toward buyers market.

I don't believe this is true. Just refering history, Indica figures were dismal after the launching hype. I remember for quite sometime the Indica2000 figure were alarmingly low with lots of negative publicity. But the Indica V2 turned the tables back; we all know what happened next and later Indica V2 went on make Tata no#2 in sales after Maruti.
So, summarily I believe Nano can still turn the tables after a brief dormancy.

I really like the cute little design of Nano and heard some great stuff about the car but I really feel all the factors combined to result in the decline of nano sales to some margin, the biggest would be the "Delay in Delivery".
Waiting for a product you have paid a part of is really annoying especially the first time buyers.

What might have also gone against the Nano is the "Rs 1 lac" tag without the mention of other costs associated with buying a car. The high end model comes nearly to 1.5 lac and just puts you off the hook when your mind is echoing 1 lac ...

I absolutely LOVE this idea !!!

In my mind, the perception is that being a smaller engine and cheaper car, the NANO is under-powered ("does it go on flyovers?"), cramped for a family("no boot space").

Since the current price point is taking it closer to the 800/Alto domain, which remain firmly etched as ideal family cars, the Nano is currently stuck between the devil and the deep sea.

By making it a 3 door, the car can be repositioned as India's answer to the successful but expensive SMART in Europe.

With 2 side doors, the leg room for the 2 passengers can be humongous, and a very large boot can also be provided. Once TATA breaks free from the concept of wanting to cater to a family and repositions it as the efficient, peppy and practical city mobility solution for college students, people in the first 2-4 years of their job and married couples with no children yet, the whole value proposition changes completely.

I can already see quite a few IT/ITeS/Banking people (fresh IIT/MBA crowd) going for such a positioning. It is the set of people who 'can' afford an 800 but do not want to be associated with its 'family' perception and hence go for a fancy bike instead. This is a huge population which continues to grow everyday.

3 doors, more 'hep' colours, some more youth-friendly features, and TATA could have a winner on its hands. And while they are it, they might want to do something about that rather unusual engine sound.

First of all leave the thought that Nano will appeal a family of four traveling on a 2 wheeler. Nothing can replace a two wheeler.

Fit an electric motor and price it neck to neck with Reva. It will be much more better then Reva :thumbs up

Somewhere I feel that Tata and Bajaj have failed to judge the indian mentality, especially the fact that we are now maturing and our expectations are also increasing year by year. Slowly, we will move up the ladder and may be in 5 years time, we will see a spurt in demand for sedans. I am sure even a first time buyer would like to have features such as air conditioner or power steering. Nano cannot be a replacement for 2 wheeler. The next logical step would be for Tata to offer Europa version of Nano to new customers.