Smarter car?: Tata makes Nano more expensive to boost sales

World’s cheapest car relaunched with ‘trendy features’.

MUMBAI: India’s struggling Tata Nano, launched in 2009 as the world’s cheapest car, has unveiled a new, pricier variant of the jelly-bean shaped car on Monday featuring a power-steering in a bid to boosat flagging sales.

The latest model, called Nano Twist, targets young people. It has a power steering along with a remote keyless entry, a four-speaker music system with bluetooth and a higher ground clearance for rough terrain.



Ranjit Yadav, president for Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, said the car was ‘loaded with trendy features’ to make it a ‘smart city car to hang out with’.

When Tata Motors – part of India’s giant Tata group – launched the Nano in 2009, analysts said it would revolutionise how millions in India travelled.

But after poor sales in recent years, it became clear that the car’s unique selling point – its price – had backfired as Indians shied away from buying a vehicle tagged as ‘the worlds cheapest’.

Tata Motors, part of the tea-to-steel Tata conglomerate, has been seeking to reposition the car in the market by adding features and making it trendier.

In December, Tata Motors sold 554 Nano cars, down 75% from 2,202 cars a year earlier.

Tata Motors officials on Monday said 45% of Nano drivers are between the ages of 18 and 34.

The Tata group’s former chairman Ratan Tata said that it had been a mistake to market the Nano merely on its low-price, saying that ‘various stigmas have been attached to it’, shortly before retiring in December 2012.

He said the Nano had a strong future with an upmarket image and did not want it to be branded as the “world’s cheapest car”.

The purple-coloured Nano Twist will be sold at a price of INR236,000 ($3,800) while the base model costs around INR150,000 ($2,400).

The Nano has had several small makeovers   including upgrades to its interior and a doubling of its warranty to four years.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2014.

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