Some bad news for one of India’s largest car maker, Tata Motors. The company’s much hyped small car, Tata Nano’s sales report is not much encouraging. In fact the car have seen a steady downfall in the three months ended September, says a report. Tata Nano has been marketed as the cheapest car in the world. But, the model is facing some fire problem which has seen six cars burned in flames since it was made available in market. The numbers speaks for themselves. According to the company’s official website, Nano’s sales dropped from 9,000 in July to 8,103 in August and 5,520 in September. In the same period, overall sales of passenger cars rose from 158,764 and 160,974 and 169,082, respectively, marking a 34% increase in the quarter from the year-ago period.
The company spokesperson maintained that sales would increase once the company expanded its footprint to other states. At present, the car is sold in five states—Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.
“In India, 70 percent of cars are sold in the small-car segment. To challenge a leader in this segment you need to have a reliable product, a strong sales and service network and a good image. The Nano, so far, has not been able to meet these standards. It has not been the product which it promised to be,” the report quotes an analyst from a leading brokerage firm who did not want to be identified as saying. “Issues like (the cars catching) fire, delays in delivery have hampered its prospects in the long term”, adds the report.
The car drew instant international attention when it was launched in March 2009. Since then there have been six known instances of the car catching fire. In the latest of these, a Nano caught fire in the capital on 17 August, three months after a company probe had declared the car “absolutely safe”. The reasons for the fires were external and there was no design or engineering flaw with the car, R. Ramakrishnan, vice-president, commercial, passenger car business, Tata Motors, said on Friday. In one of the cases, for instance, the car was fitted with aftermarket accessories, putting strain on the electrical system.
“The fire incident has hardly impacted Nano sales,” Ramakrishan said in Mumbai at the launch of the Fiat Linea T-Jet. He attributed the drop in sales to other factors. Buyers who were selected in the first draw but not part of the initial round of deliveries have postponed picking up their cars to the upcoming festive season. Besides this, component suppliers are in the process of setting up bases in the vendor park allotted by Tata Motors. At least 41 suppliers have been allotted land at the vendor park, Ramakrishnan said. Separately, the company spokesperson said declining sales was not a concern for Tata Motors. “It is neither because of production constraints nor that brand image has taken a hit. We are completing (deliveries of) bookings of the last year. Fresh bookings have already started and we have received positive response as of now,” the spokesperson said.
