Tata Motors on Monday announced the commercial launch of the Tata Nano, keenly awaited across India since its unveiling on January 10, 2008. The Tata Nano is BS-III* compliant and comes with an all-new 2-cylinder aluminium MPFI 624 cc petrol engine mated to a four-speed gear box and will be available in three variants. The cars will be on display across the country at Tata Motors Passenger Car dealerships and other select authorised outlets from April 1.
The Tata Nano is currently being manufactured at the company’s Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand in limited numbers. The new dedicated plant, at Sanand in Gujarat, will be ready in 2010 with an annualised capacity of 350,000 cars.
The variants
The four-seater Nano has a length of 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres.
The car comes with three models.
Tata Nano Standard (BSII* and BSIII*): The standard version has three colour options, single-tone seats, and fold-down rear seat.
Tata Nano CX (BSII* and BSIII*): This model has five colour options, with heating and air-conditioning (HVAC), two-tone seats, parcel shelf, booster-assisted brakes, and fold-down rear seat with nap rest.
Tata Nano LX (BSIII*): It comes with the features of CX plus complete fabric seats, central locking, front power windows, body coloured exteriors in three premium colours, fog lamps, electronic trip meter, cup holder in front console, mobile charger point, and rear spoiler.
Specifications
Performance: The 2-cylinder engine – delivering 35 PS at 5250 rpm and a torque of 48 Nm at 3000 rpm – enables the car to have a top speed of 105 kmph.
Fuel efficiency: It claims to have a mileage of 23.6 km/litre.
Emission: The Tata Nano is BS-III* compliant and is BS-IV* ready. It is also available in BS-II* norms.
Warranty: The automaker offers a warrant of 18 months or 24,000 km, whichever is earlier.
The booking process
In view of the expected significant demand and limited production capacity initially until the Sanand plant is fully ramped up to capacity, the Tata Nano will be available through a booking mode.
Tata Motors has entered into an exclusive agreement with the State Bank of India to manage the booking process.
The sale of application forms and acceptance of booking will start from April 9th 2009 till the end of day April 25th 2009. The application forms will be available at a price of Rs. 300. The application forms will be available at over 30,000 locations in about 1,000 cities through Tata Motors Passenger Car dealerships, State Bank of India and its branches, its subsidiaries and associates, other preferred financiers, and outlets of Westside, Croma, ‘World of Titan’ and Tata Indicom exclusive stores.
After collecting the forms, customers have two options. They can either pay the entire booking amount themselves or seek financing of the booking amount.
For those who seek financing, Tata Motors has entered into agreements with 15 preferred banks/NBFCs for the Tata Nano booking loan product. The booking product offered by these banks will enable a Tata Nano to be booked by paying an amount starting Rs. 2999/- only. Their chosen financier will directly submit their application forms to the State Bank of India on their behalf.
Those, who choose to themselves pay their entire booking amount, can submit their application forms to State Bank of India through 1,350 notified branches in 850 cites, and also at Tata Motors Passenger Car dealerships, Westside and Croma outlets. Option to submit bookings online is available at www.tatanano.com.
Within 60 days of the closure of bookings, Tata Motors will process and announce the allotment of 100,000 cars in the first phase of deliveries, through a computerised random selection procedure. These 100,000 allotments will be price protected for the launch prices till delivery of the cars but the booking amounts will not bear any interest for the customers. Deliveries will commence from July 2009.
Applicants have the option to retain their booking deposit, even if they do not get allotment in the first phase. Those who choose this option will be eligible for interest on their deposit, effective from the date of announcement of allotment of the second phase, at a rate of 8.5% for retention period between one year to two year and 8.75% for a retention period of more than 2 years. Allotment of retainees will be simultaneously communicated, along with the allotment of the first 100,000 cars.