TATA NANO SMALL CAR SALES SLIP IN APRIL 2012 TO WELL BELOW 10,000 UNITS

The 2012 Tata Nano hatchback’s fortunes have on the ascendancy for quite some time now with the car showing a steady increase in sales over the last 6 months. In April 2012 though, sales of the Nano has slipped to below the 10,000 units/month mark with the hatchback managing to sell 8,028 units. This is a good 20% fall from the sales numbers that the Nano saw last month. While it is a little too early to judge whether the Nano has hit a wall when it comes to sales growth, we’ll have to wait for a few more months to see how the Nano’s sales go from here on considering that Tata Motors’ top management is quite confident about the Nano consistently being able to keep above the 10,000 monthly sales figure.

Tata has been testing the diesel variant of the Nano, which is expected to be a big volumes spinner considering that it could come with a fuel economy number of over 40 Kmpl, making it one of the most fuel efficient cars in the world. However, the diesel variant of the Nano is still at least a year away from being launched in India. In the meanwhile, Tata could slip in the CNG Bi-fuel version of the Nano, which was showcased at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo. The CNG version of the Nano could be a good bet in the bigger cities where CNG dispensing infrastructure is fairly well developed.

Also on the anvil are a few design changes on the Nano including an open-able rear boot like other conventional hatchbacks and new front-rear bumper design. While a time frame for these changes haven’t been specified yet, expect to see these changes to be effected on the Nano during the next refresh of this car which should happen in a year or so. Tata has already launched a revamp0ed version of the Nano late last year in the form of the 2012 version of the car, which came with a host of changes including higher power and torque numbers.

Tata has also began exporting the Nano to various neighboring countries around India. A assembly plant is being mulled in Indonesia which could add to the volumes of the Nano. Notably, Tata needs to produce about 150,000 Nanos a year or about 12,500 Nanos each month from the Sanand plant in Gujarat to make the Nano a sustainable product financially for the car maker. The CNG and the diesel variant of the Nano should be able to comfortably better these numbers and that’s what Tata would be hoping for.