Sanand plant begins Nano trial production

Tata Motors commenced trial production of the first batch of the Nano at the new mother plant at the Sanand facility last week. The company will start commercial production of the ‘People’s Car’ from March onwards.

Tata shifted its mother plant to Gujarat last year after facing local protests in West Bengal spearheaded by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee.

The Sanand unit successfully produced the first Nano on Friday as part of the trial production, according to sources close the development. The company plans to have test production of about 50 cars per day from January.

When contacted, a Tata Motors’ spokesperson declined to confirm the development and said that the company had said earlier that the trial production would begin between January and March.

The company is currently producing Nano from its Pantnagar facility in Uttarakhand. Tata Motors had indicated earlier that it planned to take up the capacity at Pantnagar from the present 2,500-3,000 cars a month to 4,000 cars soon.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors is also exploring the option of setting up a housing project in and around Sanand to accommodate its employees.

Tata Housing, the group’s housing arm, has been exploring the Sanand area to acquire land for a residential project that will house Tata Motors’ employees, according to a real estate developer who has been approached by Tata Housing officials.

Even some of the Tata Motors’ vendors have shown an interest in getting accommodation in the proposed township project, industry sources close to the development said. Local vendors said earlier they have been asked to supply components that would support production of 200 cars a day. The Tata Motors’ official said that they are not open to talking about the housing project.

Tata Motors has an order-book of around 200,000 Nanos. The company began deliveries of the world’s cheapest car from July this year and has delivered over 10,000 vehicles so far.