Tata Nano launch by March-end

The Rs 1 lakh Nano, the much anticipated people’s car from Tata Motors, is expected to be launched in dealerships by end of March this year.

A week back, when Tata’s 2008 third quarter earnings and profits were announced – which were quite bad – there was immense speculation as to the launch of the Nano. It did not help that Tata officials did nto offer up any date for the launch of the much awaited Nano. There was talk of it being put off by 6 months, but thankfully, all that has been put to rest and it seems likely we would see the Tata Nano in showrooms and on the road by March 2009.

News reports said that the automotive major is expecting to start limited production of the Nano ultra-cheap car so that the first car could roll out towards the end of March this year. The car will be rolled out of its Pantnagar facility, till the Sanand near Ahmedabad becomes fuly operational. The reports quoting a Tata Motors spokesperson said that the company is positive about a launch very soon, but it is yet to announce the official date of the launch.

Some of the leading vendors for the Tata Nano pointed out that it was not viable to have a dedicated plant for the Nano even for volumes like 250,000 cars per annum. A dedicated line at the site with warehousing facilities was the best option to cut down logistics costs. As of now, the vendors confirmed that they would supply the Pune plant for engine components and the Pantnagar plant from existing facilities across India. The company will be manufacturing the Nano’s small petrol engines at the Pimpri plant near Pune in maharashtra. Engine production will start this month itself. Meanwhile, the body panels will be made at Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand.

They said that production trials have been conducted succesfully over the past few months. However, sources added that the company will only be able to go in for limited volumes soon after the official launch. The numbers could well be as low as 100 cars a day, they added. This would mean that it would be rolling out only around 4,000 Tata Nano cars a month.

It is expected that tata Motors would tide over this situation and by fiscal 2010, it would be able to produce close to 80,000 Nano cars a month. Reports said that the new plant at Sanand in Gujarat will roll out close to 250,000 cars per year, though it might take a while for the plant to be fully operational.