Tata Motors May Let Others To Assemble Nano

[RSM]

Tata Motors, India's largest vehicles maker, may allow local car assemblers to put together its Nano and sell it under their own brand, a media report said on Monday.

Tata began selling the Nano, the world's cheapest car, in July, and has sold 7,500 units in the past three months.

Tata is building a dedicated facility for the Nano with an annual capacity of 250,000 units, which is expected to be ready by the end of March. Until then, it is making the Nano in smaller numbers at an existing plant.

Vice Chairman Ravi Kant told at an awards function that Tata Motors might allow assemblers to set up micro-assembly sites across the country that could produce about 10,000 cars a year.

"We call it Nano, they don't have to," the report quoted Kant as saying.

A spokesman for the company told Reuters that when the Nano was launched, outside assembly was mentioned as an idea.

Source - Economic Times

 

[cooldhaya]

looks interesting!!! then will the local assemblers be allowed to change the design and looks of the car?? if yes then what about the price of the car then??

 

[350Z]

This is a good idea by Tata Motors to cope up with increasing demand of Nano.

then will the local assemblers be allowed to change the design and looks of the car?

Other carmakers will only assemble the car, They wont be allowed to change the design.

Drive Safe!
350Z

 

[Crazy cat]

Good idea to meet the demand, as well as to recover the development costs soon.

 

[Zinam]

Great move from Indian brains!

This will increase the money inflow & also meets up the customer demands easily!

 

[RSM]

Global biggies to source parts from Nano vendors for low-cost models

Key component suppliers of Nano are set to reap the benefits of their low-cost technologies that made the world’s cheapest car a Making of Nano reality, with global biggies such as Nissan-Renault , Toyota, VW and Honda approaching them for parts for their low-cost cars.

With as many as seven small cars lining up for Indian debut in the next two years, Nano’s 100-odd vendors are already cheering. Nano’s only direct competitor, Rajiv Bajaj’s $2,500 car, is expected to draw extensively from Nano vendor base.

“It would inevitably use (the Nano parts suppliers ). The project will source almost 100% from the Bajaj supply base, but many suppliers in that pool is also common to the Nano,” said a person with direct knowledge of the Nissan-Renault-Bajaj ultra lowcost car project, who asked not to be named.

Officials with ACMA, the apex body for the auto component industry, said carmakers, two-wheeler manufacturers and commercial vehicle companies were trying to halve the cost of their new products. All of them are looking at replicating the Nano experience in their products, said Jayant Davar, president of ACMA and vice-chairman and managing director of Sandhar Technologies.

“They are looking at launching their vehicles at lower prices than their existing range. But before they tie up officially, they want their components to be validated by their Japanese and other overseas parents,” he said.
Key component makers such as Bosch have already been approached. Bernd Bohr, member of the board of management at Bosch, had told ET NOW earlier that the Tata Nano project is giving Bosch a good entry point with other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that were thinking of the same segment.

A Delhi-based Nano supplier said he made presentations to some MNCs customers that wanted to use the technology developed for the Tata group’s small car. “Now they are sourcing components from us for their small cars that are slated for launch in the next 2-3 years,” he said, requesting anonymity.

Understandably, most vehicle makers deny they have anything to do with the Nano. From GM to Honda to Toyota to Volkswagen, the common response is that the small cars lined up for India will not be in the Nano category and will not be of the same quality. However, vendors say the Nano takeaway is not in replicating the same components but in replicating the processes that made the Nano so cost-effective .

India’s small car market, which comprises 80% of the 1.5 million units industry, will see a number of new launches in the next 14 months. Nearly all the big names of the auto world have announced fresh projects . Toyota is working on a platform for a small car with an investment of over Rs 3,000 crore.

Honda has also announced its first small car that will have India as the hub. Hyundai, which already has best-selling small cars such as the Santro, i10 and the Getz in the Indian market, has announced a new car positioned below the Santro with an investment of Rs 800 crore. VW’s Polo, GM’s Chevy Beat and Nissan’s Micra will debut in 2010. The Bajaj low-cost car is due in 2012.

Source - Economictimes

 

[Crazy cat]

Not one one of the cleverest moves. Especially when Nano repeatedly reports some kind of trouble, those low cost-low quality vendors is not the best bet.