KOLKATA: As if the devolvement of Tata Motors’ Rs 4,200-crore twin rights issue wasn’t bad enough, the company now looks all set to miss its original Nano rollout deadline of October-December 2008. In fact, Tata Motors is making a desperate bid to launch the Nano during the January-March 2009 quarter.
For the moment, the company has set an internal target of rolling out 42,000-48,000 Nanos annually from its Pantnagar plant. Sources familiar said: “The Gujarat plant will take at least a year to set up. Till such time, the company has told its vendors to supply components for 3,500-4,000 Nanos on a monthly basis. The company took the decision to defer the timeline of Nano launch since it wanted to ensure continuous supply once the car is launched in India. Work at its Pantnagar plant is going on in full swing to ensure steady supply of Nano.”
Though Tata Motors is looking at smaller numbers for Nanos initially, it has chalked out plans for the car. At a recently organised meet, the 100-odd vendors had been informed that the company hopes to sell nearly 8-10-lakh Nanos within the next three-five years.
A Tata Motors spokesperson told ET: “While awaiting the Sanand plant’s completion, Tata Motors will explore the possibility of manufacturing the Nano at its existing facilities at Pune and Pantnagar, and launch the car in the last quarter of this fiscal. But we cannot divulge what the company has discussed with its vendors. These are internal matters.”
While the company is working to meet the fresh timeline, the vendors are yet to be allotted land for their facilities at Sanand. “Tata Motors has told us that the Nano plant will now come up in Gujarat. But the company is yet to indicate when the vendors will kick off their work at the site,” said a Nano vendor.
SOURCE:ET
