- In 2019, Tata Motors did not produce a single unit of its Nano entry-level vehicle, although it sold just one unit in February, even though the company still has to officially retire the “people’s car” of Ratan Tata.
In 2019, Tata Motors did not produce a single unit of its Nano entry-level vehicle, although it sold just one unit in February, even though the company still has to officially retire the “people’s car” of Ratan Tata. Tata Motors had zero production and sales of the Nano in December 2019, as it manufactured 82 units and sold 88 units in December 2018, according to the company’s regulatory filing.
Likewise, the entry-level model was produced and sold at nil in November 2019, while it produced 66 units and sold 77 units in the year-ago era. It also did not produce or sell any units of the Nano in October 2019, according to the filing, while 71 units were rolled out in the year-ago month and out of 71, only 54 were sold. Tata Motors has failed to produce a single unit of Nano in the first nine months of 2019. In any month of last year, the company did not sell a single unit except in February when it sold only one, according to the company’s several regulatory filings.
Tata Motors has maintained that no decision has yet been taken on the future of the Nano saying that a car’s production planning is a “conscious demand control, device inventory and expected efficiencies.”
Nevertheless, it has acknowledged that the Nano will not comply with the new safety regulations and BS-VI emission standards in its current form. At the Auto Expo in January 2008, Tata Motors launched Nano with many hopes of being “the car of the people,” as dubbed by then Tata group leader Ratan Tata. But, with revenues dwindling over the years, it could not live up to the billing.
On the issue of discontinuing the Nano, the company insisted that after considering market developments, regulations and emerging competitive landscape, “decisions on the product life cycle is a holistic view. Any such decisions will be announced as and when they are made.
However, company officials had suggested that the Nano’s production and sales would stop as of April 2020, as Tata Motors has no plans to invest further.
In the first nine months of 2019, Tata Motors did not produce a single unit of its entry-level car Nano, but sold only one vehicle on the domestic market during February, although the model has been discontinued yet to be officially announced.
The company has maintained that no decision on the future of the Nano has yet been taken saying that a car’s production planning is a “conscious management of demand, process inventory and expected efficiencies.”