Nano launch on March 23, bookings from April

After a delay of more than six months, Tata Motors will finally launch the much-awaited Nano on March 23. The Rs 1-lakh car, pegged as the world's cheapest car, will be rolled out at an event to be held in Mumbai.

However, bookings for the 'people's car' will begin only in the second week of April, the company said in a statement today.

The car was earlier scheduled to be launched in the first week of October last year. But due to protests against land acquisition for the car's mother plant at Singur in West Bengal, the company was forced to abort the production plans from that site, which disrupted the original launch plan.

Although Tata Motors did not reveal the initial production numbers of the Nano, sources say that the company will launch the car with around 1,500 units, which have been manufactured at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand and Pune in Maharashtra.

Industry sources add that the company targets to produce 100,000 units in the next twelve months from - Pantnagar, Pune and Sanand (Gujarat). The Gujarat plant is expected to commence production by October-November this year, added sources. Consumers wanting to buy the Nano may have to cough up Rs 70,000 as booking amount, which is 55-60 per cent of the total on-road cost of the car, which is expected to be at Rs 1.3-1.4 lakh after addition of various levies and taxes.

But sources say that the company will have a pricing advantage on all Nano's built at its Pantnagar plant due to a tax holiday granted to automotive companies situated there, thus allowing the company to offer the car closer to the Rs 1 lakh price tag. The company is currently manufacturing around 25 to 30 cars every day for which, spare parts, gear boxes and transmission systems are being shipped from Pune.

"Some 900 cars are already ready at our Pantnagar plant. By the time of the launch, another 600 cars are expected to be ready," said a top executive of Tata Motors from the Pune plant. Even though the company pegged March 23 as the launch date, the car will be available in showrooms only by the first week of April, clarified the company.

"Tata Motors is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that prospective customers can conveniently avail of booking facilities at their locations, across the length and breadth of India", stated the company release. Currently, the component vendors supplying to the Nano project are asked to moderate their supplies currently, which will be gradually hiked in the following months when Tata Motors increases production level.

"Once the Gujarat plant kicks in around October-November we will have hiked our output to the optimum level to keep pace with the production", said a vendor associated with the project.

The Gujarat plant has a capacity to produce 250,000 Nano's yearly.

The Nano was unveiled by Tata Motors amid much fanfare at the Auto Expo held at New Delhi in January last year. Violent protest by farmers led by Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Banerjee forced Tata Motors to quit from the state and relocate the plant to Sanand in Gujarat.