NEW DELHI: Among probably the most audacious initiatives that Ratan Tata tried in his storied and lengthy profession, the funds automobile Nano was maybe one that was closest to his coronary heart. The automobile, which was conceptualized by Tata within the early 2000s, was aimed toward offering middle-class Indians with an all-weather, protected, and reasonably priced four-wheeler that would ferry households with ease and luxury even in adversarial highway and climate circumstances.
“What really motivated me, and sparked a desire to produce such a vehicle, was constantly seeing Indian families on scooters, maybe the child sandwiched between the mother and father, riding to wherever they were going, often on slippery roads,” Tata stated in an Instagram put up as late as May 2022, lengthy after the much-fancied automobile – which created a stir the world over as a result of its completely dirt-cheap pricing of Rs 1 lakh ($2,500 then) – had light away, considerably unceremoniously.
The Nano was popularly referred to as the ‘lakhtakia’ automobile (Rs 1 lakh) in native parlance within the run-up to its launch, and was launched with a lot fanfare by Tata himself alongside along with his total crew in March 2009 (it was first unveiled on the 2008 Auto Expo in New Delhi).
The evolution of the snub-nosed, 4-seater automobile was thought-about as revolutionary as Ford’s Model T, Volkswagen’s Beetle and the British Motor Corp.’s Mini — all of whom went on to rewrite automotive historical past. But alas, that was to not be with the Nano.
The automobile, which initially saw a deluge of bookings, was quickly mired in controversies — proper from the placement of the manufacturing facility the place it needed to be produced (the then West Bengal opposition chief Mamata Banerjee’s stir saw its manufacturing shift from Singur to Sanand in Gujarat in Oct 2008); to dealing with sporadic incidents of fireside as a result of mechanical points; to being billed as unsafe; to be being branded as a ‘poor man’s automobile’. The final one saw many middle-class Indians keep away from shopping for the automobile, which got here strapped with a 625cc engine and was somewhat smaller in measurement in comparison with many different entry automobiles such because the Maruti800.
Later, in a TV interview in 2013 – when the Nano was steadily being written off from the market with very low curiosity from patrons — Tata himself admitted that its picture of being a poor man’s automobile had acted as a “stigma”.
He admitted that Tata Motors had made a mistake in advertising and positioning of the automobile. “It became termed as the cheapest car by the public and, I am sorry to say, by ourselves, not by me, but the company when it was marketing. I think it was unfortunate.”
He stated that the automobile ought to have been marketed extra to two-wheeler patrons as an “affordable” and protected, all-weather possibility, but not as “the cheapest” car on the highway.
Such was the downfall of the Nano that Tata Motors didn’t produce a single unit of the automobile in 2019. Finally, the automobile was discontinued round 2020 on virtually no gross sales, and because the stiff emission and security requirements would have made its existence unimaginable in its type.
But the failure of the product under no circumstances diminishes the audacious and daring try of Ratan Tata – the dreamer — to provide middle-class Indians a protected, reasonably priced, all-weather automobile. This truth was conceded by none aside from RC Bhargava, the person instrumental within the formation and evolution of Maruti Suzuki, the ever present homegrown model that has dominated the reasonably priced automobile section for many years.
Bhargava stated that Ratan Tata must be lauded and needs to be given credit score for making an attempt to supply hundreds of thousands of Indians with an reasonably priced automobile, one thing even his firm couldn’t handle to do. “The intention was a very good intention and Tatas tried to fulfil that intention. Anyway we couldn’t have completed it. I believe he wants credit score for having tried it,” he stated in 2016.