Updated 29th May 2012:
Tata Nano, which is one of the most talked about small car in the world for its lowest price tag surely has attracted a lot of attention, however when it comes to sales numbers, the Nano has fallen short on Tata Motor’s initial sales forecasts. When Tata Nano petrol was launched in India, it did attract a lot of buyers in the first phase, but gradually the sales started dipping with many first generation Tata Nano cars catching fire, it really hurt the reputation. Tata Motors however fixed the problem by providing special safety measures and the second generation Tata Nano 2012 seems to be much improved both in terms of features, aesthetics as well as the sales numbers. But due to many initial hitches and the sales number running lower than the initial forecasts of 20,000 unit a month since the launch, the vendors of Tata Nano petrol have not been too happy with Tata Motors. This has brought a sense of caution and pessimism in Tata Nano part vendors which is causing some issues with the launch of Tata Nano Diesel in India. Also read – Tata Nano Diesel caught testing in India.
As per fresh media report by MoneyControl, the vendors are not very happy with the prices for the components of Tata Nano as the expected quantity may not be achieved as per the Tata’s forecast. Their previous experience of less than expected sales of the Nano petrol is making the vendors behave extra cautious in saving their own interests and profit margins when they supply components to Tata Motors. This is leading to some hurdles in smoothly executing the Tata Nano Diesel production which was earlier planned for launch by end of 2012. As per the sources, the launch may now be delayed to early 2013 as the issues may take some time to sort out. There are negotiations going on between Tata Motors and vendors related to the price and quantity of the components for Tata Nano Diesel which is one of the major cause behind the delay.
Considering the present petrol prices in India and the demand for diesel car, it seems likely that a high mileage Tata Nano Diesel, with expected mileage of close to 40 KMPL, is likely to get poplar. But as they say, don’t count your chickens before they hatch, we would wait and watch for the final product to hit the market and buyer’s response for it. We are excited to see the Tata Nano diesel on Indian roads and would like to get behind the wheels and test one soon. We will keep you posted on any updates on the same, for latest updates on Tata Nano diesel stay tuned to us.
Updated 26th September 2012:
As per a fresh media report, the Tata Nano Diesel has been further delayed and will now launch probably by end of 2013 which is almost 1 year from the initial launch plan. Earlier, Tata Motors faced many roadblocks because of vendor problems. Tata might have overcome vendor related problems with time, but there are some internal challenged related to Nano which still need to be faced and addressed before the Nano diesel gets ready to hit the roads.
One of the major problems related to the Nano Diesel is to maintain a fuel economy of 30+ KMPL, this is so because there are larger cars by Tata like the Indica eV2 which delivers 25 KMPL, so the Nano Diesel is expected to outperform the larger siblings. Apart from the mileage, the NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) levels of Diesel engines are generally higher than petrol and especially when it’s a 2 cylinder, the balancing of the engines is all the more difficult. So the team of Engineers at Tata is working day-in and day-out to keep the NVH levels under control.
Tata is also trying to make the Nano diesel appear more premium and safer because earlier versions of Nano petrol got a lot of negative publicity because of the Fire incidents which raised many questions related to the safety of Nano. We hope Tata will be able to bring a much improved Nano Diesel to India. Its probably for the good that Tata is not making any haste in bringing the car on road and taking its time and efforts to make it more and more improvised.
via – Top Gear
