Tata Motors gives Nano a facelift, more power to drive up sales

[1]

In a bid to boost sales, Tata Motors is giving its small car Nano a facelift with a more powerful engine and new features while keeping the prices same.

"Making the Tata Nano even more desirable, the car's 624cc engine has been made more powerful, delivering an impressive 38 PS of power (earlier 35 PS) and 51 Nm of torque (earlier 48 Nm)," the company said in a statement.

Despite delivering more power, the car will become more fuel efficient. Nano will now give a mileage of 25.4 km per litre of petrol as certified by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) compared to 23.6 km a litre earlier, Tata Motors claimed.

Besides, the company said: "The high fuel efficiency, with a low kerb weight of 600 kg, ensures that the Tata Nano at 92.7 gram per kilometre has the lowest CO2 (carbon dioxide) emission among cars in India".

The earlier Nano had an emission record of 101 gram in every km. Despite adding all these features, the company has not raised the prices of the car.

The three variants of the Nano will continue to be available between Rs 1.40 lakh and Rs 1.96 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Commenting on the new features in the Nano, Tata Motors Managing Director (India Operations) P M Telang said: "Tata Nano owners, over 90 per cent of whom are highly satisfied with their choice, have given us valuable insights on what more can be done. We have introduced some of these ideas".

The company will continue to add more features in car in future, he added. The entry-level variant of the Nano will now have features like booster-assisted brakes, which were available only in the mid and top-end variants.

The move to add more power and new features in Nano comes at a time when the sales of the car is falling in the last couple of months.

According to Society of India Automobile Manufacturers, Nano's sales have declined by 17.85 per cent during April- October period in this year at 33,245 units. The company had sold 40,467 units in the same period last year.

The company is reported to have been preparing to launch a diesel variant of Nano, which is expected soon.

Last year, during Delhi Auto Expo in January, German component major Bosch said it had developed a special diesel engine in partnership with Tata Motors for the Nano.

"We have developed the 1.1-CRS (common-rail system) for the Tata Nano diesel (version). The system will also be produced locally," Bosch Automotive Group chairman Bernd Bohr had said then.