The current car industry in India is revolving around cheap and fuel efficient cars. The main reason is increasing road traffic. With an increase in the number of cars on Indian roads, drivers of luxury cars are spending longer hours on road to reach their destination compared to small cars. Also, larger cars require comfortable parking space but with increasing number of cars, the parking space is decreasing.
Driven by these factors and by the production of Nano, Maruti also plans to come out with its small and cheap car, Cervo. When Tata is almost ready to roll out the world’s cheapest car in India, Maruti Udyog Limited announces the launch of Cervo priced within the 1 Lakh price bracket. Maruti also plans to roll out a revamped Maruti 800 with a more contemporary look. Both these Maruti cars are proposed to roll out as tough competition against Ratan Tata’s dream car.
Cervo is a mini car recently launched in Japan with an engine of 660cc offering 54 bhp. The car is compliant to Japan’s 4-star emission standards. The same car is proposed to launch in India by the end of this year with certain radical changes to comply with Indian conditions. In comparison to the Cevro, the Nano is expected to offer 30 bhp with a 700 cc petrol engine. In terms of fuel efficiency, Suzuki cars have always been the most fuel efficient cars in their respective segments.
So, what will it be – Cervo or Nano?
Labels: Maruti, Nano, Tata cars
Today, when Nano is at its stage of completion, it is facing various obstacles and challenges. There are three main obstacles that Nano has to overcome. Firstly, the increased cost of production, secondly, the increased material costs, and thirdly, the high interest rates. All these obstacles have challenged the launch of Nano with the announced price tag.
Tata Motors have already overrun the cost of production, spending an amount of three billion more than the expected price. An excess of three billion will directly affect the price tag of the Nano during its launch. The company is currently not willing to comment about the launch of the car with the announced price tag.
The increased material costs have hampered the estimated cost price at the final stage and the company is paying a huge amount for raw materials to reach its product target. Even Tata is not sure how much more the company has to pay to complete his dream project.
Apart from high input costs, the company is also expected to face the obstacle of high interest rates. People who were eagerly awaiting the Nano launch are now stepping back because the rate of interest has reached almost 17-18%, something that a person with low wages cannot afford.
Tata is working hard to push the world’s cheapest car into the Indian market even with all these obstacles. The car was designed with a dream of meeting the needs of low-income families, but now the question is - will this dream be fulfilled?
Labels: small cars, Tata cars, tata nano
Many have wondered as to why Tata took such a huge plunge to buy the luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover when the competition in the Indian market is high. After the takeover was announced Tata’s stocks plummeted. Markets analyzed about the pro’s and cons of the buyout very critically.
But we think that Tata was just being futuristic. It wanted to grab attention of global car market by putting up a show. Western countries with mature car market are at least five generation ahead of Indian car technology. To top it our government policies are very suffocating to allow comfortable market space in India.
Tata is now a serious business house to reckon with. Big car companies have to go global to remain in business. This applies even for US and European car manufactures. After all, many of them have opened shops in India and have also set up manufacturing facilities in India. So why should not Tata follow the same?
Labels: Jaguar and Land Rover, Tata cars
