Tata Nano In Its Labyrinth

The Tata Nano's poor run on sales front now even has Ratan Tata worried. He now says the whole idea of packaging it as a 'cheap car' was a mistake. Tata Nano had created a worldwide pre-launch buzz in 2008 on this 'cheap' tag and auto experts in West and Far East were baffled as to how someone could sell a car for a mere $2,000 (the rupee was in a much better shape those days).

Back home auto analysts had felt that for the price conscious Indian consumer the Rs 1-lakh car (though the actual cost was much higher) will be a steal too hard to resist. After all it is an established fact that Indians are suckers for anything cheap; you just need to look at the cell phone market and see how sub-Rs 10,000 smartphones by Micromax and Karbonn are selling.

They opined that it will soon transform the way middle and lower-middle class Indians commute, somewhat akin to what Maruti 800 did in 1990s to upper middle class. Rivals Suzuki and Hyundai were wondering how Nano will impact their own entry level offerings such as Alto and Eon respectively.

Motorists reeling under traffic jams and potholed roads were left wondering as to how much their regular commuting time will increase, once the roads get overrun by Nanos.

Environmentalists with knitted brows saw it as a recipe for disaster with impending spike in pollution levels in our cities and small towns. Nobel Prize winner Rajendra Pachauri confessed he was having 'nightmares' about the proposed car. But now these people can breathe easy as Tata Nano has not exactly set its sales graph on fire. Though initially there was some novelty interest, subsequently the deliveries never took off as expected.

I remember a friend of mine who happened to see a Nano in motion for the first time had remarked, "I thought some luggage auto was coming from behind, before I actually saw the car."

Tata Nano's 'cheap' tag became more of a liability than an USP. Firstly Tatas were unable to sell the car at promised Rs 1 lakh and secondly the actual price was within the striking distance of Hyundai Eon and Maruti Alto 800, which offered far better features like power steering and their after sales service was much better. Moreover the used cars' market too offered vehicles with much better features at more or less same price. So why settle for a glorified auto rickshaw and be called the owner of a 'cheap' car! To add to their misery the news of some cars catching fire went viral on the net and Tatas were left fire-fighting adverse publicity.

Now it is planning a makeover to appeal to youngsters and urban professionals by pepping up on the colour and exterior design front. It is even bringing in a power steering and a diesel version, albeit at a higher price. But the youth segment often aspires for power and speed, which I doubt Nano can fulfill. Rural market holds promise, but then it runs the risk of getting stigmatised as dehati car.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Rise and Fall of Contessa

Hi, remember me? These days you would see me mostly in the scrap yards or 'rusting' in peace in some god forsaken places. But I wish to tell everyone, especially the Smartphone generation, that I had seen much better days in the past.

I hit the road sometime around 1982 when my older cousin Amby (Ambassador) had already ruled the Indian roads for three decades. My sleek looks and plush interiors came as a whiff of fresh air among the Indian public, grown tired of  ‘bowler hat’ Amby, cramped Premier and Standard.

For the Indian consumer this was some sort of a great leap forward in terms of  aspiration. Over  the preceding three decades he just had Amby, Premier and Standard to choose from and the car makers literally took him for a ride by introducing new 'models' with changes that were at best cosmetic - most notably the front grille.

The only noteworthy competitor back then was Standard 2000 modeled on Rover SD1 but that was for a short while as it ran into some licensing issues with Rover and faded away by 1987. On the other hand I soon grew more muscle, powered by an 1.8 L Isuzu engine, and acquired a suffix 'Classic' to my name.

The eighties was a smooth ride for me and I soon became some sort of a status symbol. The political and bureaucratic class courted me over my jaded cousin Amby and the nouveau riche, spawned by the liberalising Indian economy, coveted me to show off that they have 'arrived'.

I had become an undisputed king in the 1000 plus cc segment (there were no A, B segments back then) and the diesel version in 1990 only strengthened my grip. 

Meanwhile, Maruti-Suzuki was busy eliminating competition in the small car segment with its Maruti 800. I still vaguely remember the catch line in print ads about me back then 'A limousine that refused to join the rat race' (or words to that effect).  A dig at the Maruti's diminutive offering.

I hit the first speed bump when Maruti 1000 came along in 1990, however since it was overpriced and underpowered, my makers hardly saw it as a concern. But the wily Maruti refused to give up and in 1994 came up with a more powerful and upgraded Esteem and sales graph of my petrol version took a gentle dip.

But even this failed to wake up my engineers and soon we paid dearly as GM, Ford, Fiat, Tata and Hyundai came calling with more contemporary and sleeker models. My arch rival Maruti Esteem soon became the big daddy of the mid size segment, thanks to its first mover advantage and extensive service network.

I got phased out in 2002 owing to stiff competition and my cousin Amby too suffered badly due to it.

However it is heartening to know that I still have a handful of admirers who see me as the first Indian muscle car - reminiscent of the American muscle cars of 1960s and '70s.