Tata Motors launches its first CNG passenger car Nano emax

Plans launch of CNG versions of indica, indigo, safari storme in couple of months

India's largest automobile company Tata Motors Limited which is aggressively repositioning its passenger cars on Tuesday rolled out its first factory fitted compressed natural gas (CNG) variant with the launch of Nano emax. This will be followed by launch of CNG versions of its other passenger cars indica, indigo safari storme in the next couple of months.

Though a late entrant in the company-fitted CNG segment, Tata Motors was bullish on the bi-fuel system (CNG and petrol) option of the Nano emax which is targeted at youth. The company had showcased its emax range earlier at Horizonext event in Pune in June this year.

Tata Motors also hinted at possibility of another price rise owing to the higher input cost.

"From its inception the Nano has been a path-breaking investion and the CNG version only adds to that and also underlines our commitment to be a sustainable automotive player," said Ankush Arora, senior vice president and head - strategy, Tata Motors, after launching the Nanao CNG emax in Ahmedabad.

He said that with launch of the CNG versions of Nano it was expecting more sale from Gujarat, Delhi NCR, Mahrashtra and north eastern state of Tripura where CNG in readily available. According to Arora the CNG versions of Nano will be made at its facility in Sanand. The new bi-fuel product, that can run on gasoline as well as CNG, will cost Rs 2.45 lakh for Nano CX and Rs 2.72 lakh for Nano LX, ex-showroom Ahmedabad, he added.

According to the company sales of passenger vehicles for September 2013 were at 12,879 nos. Sales of the Nano/ Indica/ Indigo range in September 2013 were 9,766 nos, while the Sumo/ Safari/ Aria/ Venture range sales were 3,113 nos. Cumulative sales of passenger vehicles were 69,735 nos. with sales of the Nano/ Indica/ Indigo range at 54,546 nos. and that of Sumo/Safari/ Aria/ Venture at 15,189 nos.

When asked about sluggish auto market and its impact of prices of passenger cars, Arora said, "There has been an impact of the sector due to foreign exchange rates and inflation. We have rising input cost." He said that the company has already made 1 per cent price correction last week.

Hinting at another price rise in passenger cars Arora said, "Depending on the impact of input cost and pressure due to higher fuel prices we cannot rule out another price increase. However, will try to control it and not pass it on to customers."

Explaining his company's strategy to increase sales Arora said that they were strongly focusing on the rural markets, for which it has already launched pilot projects in a couple of states. "Nearly 600 campaigners have fanned out to villages with a minimum population of 50,000 to popularise our products," he said, adding that they were also planning to nearly double their dealer network from in the next few months.

Arora also expressed concern over the sluggish sales in times of slowdown despite festive season. "There has been a de-growth in the festive seasons sales compared to last year," he said. Last year during festive season the sale saw a jump of 30-35 per cent whereas this year the jump was  15-20 per cent, he explained.




Tata's Nano plant running at 10% capacity

The Sanand-based Tata Motor Ltd's Nano car plant is presently manufacturing 2,000 cars per month which is nearly 10 per cent of its installed capacity of 250,000 cars per annum, said Ankush Arora, senior vice president and head - strategy, Tata Motors.  He said that this was primarily because of grim market conditions.

When asked if the unutilised capacity at its Sanand plant will be used for manufacturing any other passenger car, Arora said, "We have four passenger car manufacturing plants and we are constantly evaluating its manufacturing capacities. We are not ruling out the possibility (of using Sanand plant for production of other passenger car)." However, he said that he was not aware of time frame when the decision would be taken.