Reports suggest that a Tata Nano AT variant might be launched in India, if the company sees any potential in the product. Tata is not giving up on the Nano, even though it has not garnered the sales numbers that the company had hoped it would since its launch. It wants to increase the appeal of the car by offering different iterations of the car, with different fuel choices and give customers more choice. As of now, you get a petrol and CNG powered variant of the Nano in India, a plethora of accessories offered by the company for a pretty good price. Tata thinks an automatic transmission system will increase it’s appeal even more, though a timeline for its launch has not been set.
[box type=”info” width=”720″ ]Tata has launched a new variant of the Nano, the Tata Nano Twist which features power steering, check out the story here[/box]
What kind of automatic transmission would the Tata Nano get? Tata has at least two options, go for a CVT transmission, or go for a automated-manual (or clutchless transmission). A Nano with power steering and automatic transmission will certainly increase the appeal of the car, it will be one of the cheapest, easy-to-drive car in the country which would be high on features too. Couple the convenience of a power steering, automatic transmission to the small dimensions of the car, adequate features and you have got a winner on your hands Tata!
[box type=”info” width=”720″ ]Read more about the Automated Manual / Clutchless Automatic Transmission here[/box]
What we are worried about is how long Tata will take to bring this idea to reality, we have enough proof of how the company takes ages to bring in a new feature or a new car. Remember the Tata Nano diesel? We first heard about it about 2010 , got details about the powertrain and even had spy shots of the car, but Tata continues to refuse to confirm or deny the launch of the car. The news about the Nano getting a power steering was first broken in 2010, but the car was finally launched only a few days back in January 2014. We hope that the company does not take that long to introduce the Tata Nano AT variant; Maruti Suzuki will soon launch the Celerio AT and if Tata is not fast enough it could lose out on a brilliant opportunity to get things around for the Nano.
Should Tata go ahead with developing an automatic transmission for the Nano? Would you be tempted to buy the car if it was equipped with one? Let us know in the comments section below.
The story was first broken by Autocar India via Autocar Professional, check out the story here
