Nano being ‘refreshed’ to realize full potential: Tata
Tata group chairman says the car lost its ‘initial momentum’
Mumbai:Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, is being ‘refreshed’ to realize its full potential, outgoing group chairman Ratan Tata said.
“We were not prepared to market the car as we should have. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that momentum got lost," 74-year-old Tata, who will retire on 28 December, told PTI in an interview. Nano, nick-named ‘the people’s car’, suffered from problems related to plant transfer, inadequacies in its advertising campaign and dealership network, he said.
The low-cost car was supposed to roll out from a plant in Singur, West Bengal, but the plant had to be shifted to Sanand in Gujarat after political protests at the original location. The first Nano rolled out from a factory in Pantnagar in Uttarakhand in 2009.
The move from the original location led to the car going on the road much later from the launch date than originally planned, Tata said.
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