Tata Motors to Say Goodbye to Nano from April 2020

Tata Nano was the brainchild of Ratan Tata who visualised of giving a safer and affordable alternative to Indian families riding on two-wheelers. The Nano was launched in Indian market with an initial price of about Rs one lakh. But it received a lacklustre response from Indian customers and later the production was was stopped. Tata Motors is now preparing to give Nano a farewell with the new emission norms kicking in from April 2020.

An official at Tata Motors has recently confirmed that they have no plans to invest and upgrade Nano to meet BS VI standards. This indicates that the production and sales of Tata Nano is likely to be stopped completely from April 2020.

Even though the production of the iconic Nano has been stopped at Gujarat’s Sanand factory, one can still buy a Nano if you want one. If a customer can convince a Tata dealer to order a car, Tata Motors will still be build the Nano on an order-to-order basis. Tata dealers across country have been clearing old stocks of Nano for the past many months.

Why did Nano Fail?

What really went wrong for Tata Nano?, it was a fabulous product. It could have actually been ‘The People’s Car’ for India but the ‘cheap’ tag attached to the car took things against the Nano. It was marketed as a poor man’s car. This meant that a lot of first-time buyers were willing to be seen in a used car, but not a new Tata Nano. While the Tata Nano will go into marketing books as a case study of how marketing killed a fabulous product, the car remains one of the best examples of Indian frugal engineering.

Key highlights of the Nano were its 624cc twin cylinder engine, a rear wheel drive layout, 4 speed manual and 5 speed AMT options, a very spacious cabin and in later models, Bluetooth connectivity and even a boot.

When launched in 2008 Tata Nano was world’s cheapest car and Ratan Tata kept his promise of pricing the car at just Rs one lakh. The Nano had wowed the world initially, and there were a many people booking for this tiny city runabout. The Tata Nano going out of production represents the end of an era. Tata is also working on some Electric vehicles, so an electric version of the Tata Nano is likely to come in future.