The sales of Tata Nano have gone down tremendously in the first quarter of 2013. Number of vehicles sold in the months of January, February and March were 1504, 1505 and 1507 units, respectively. It is ironical that the same car was able to place itself among the top ten selling cars in the country last year.
Due to this huge decline in sales, the Sanand plant in Gujarat which manufactures Tata Nano has been forced to reduce its operational efficiency to just 10 per cent. This plant has a capacity to produce over 2.5 lakh vehicles in a year. Besides, the Sanand plant is operational only for 4 days in a week and a huge fleet of Nanos have been parked inside the plant.
However, it is not just the Nano which is experiencing a shortfall in demand. In fact, Tata Motors’ total passenger car sales declined by a whopping 67 per cent in the month of March 2013. In order to make up for this deficit, the company is working hard to develop products for its popular segments that include compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and small petrol/diesel hatchbacks.
In the current year, Tata Motors has plans of launching a diesel version of the Nano. This new version of the Nano is expected to deliver class-leading fuel efficiency of 40 kmpl and its design would also be different as compared to the current model. Similarly, a CNG version is also expected to be revealed sometime later this year. In addition, the company would also take steps to decrease its carbon footprint, by launching hybrid and electric vehicles. One of these is an electric version of the popular hatchback Indica Vista. Another would be a petrol micro hybrid version of the current Nano, which would have an option to switch between petrol and electricity.
With such a variety of models and special focus on the environment, Tata Motors hopes to gain back some of its lost market share in the near future.
