Dec. 15: On Wednesday, auto major Tata Motors announced a special finance scheme for the Nano, the one-lakh rupee car. In an announcement, the company has said that loans for the car will be provided by Tata Motors Finance, the finance arm of the company. These loans will cover up to 90 per cent of the car’s value.
Last week, Tata Motors had announced an increased manufacturer’s warranty for the Nano — four years or 60,000 km. These measures are a part of a drive to reverse the sharp fall in sales that the Nano has seen in the recent months. For the month of November, Nano’s sales had dropped to just 509 vehicles, down from 5,500 plus cars sold in September.
The one lakh rupee car had been launched with much fanfare in March 2009 and it initially received a strong response from customers. A large number of customers had initially paid advance deposits for the car. In the recent months however, sales have sputtered.
Part of the blame is assigned to a few much publicised instances of Nanos spontaneously bursting into flames. The company blamed these incidents on “foreign electrical equipment having been installed or foreign material left on the exhaust system”. It did however, offer to install an additional safety device on cars already on the road. As of now, Tata Motors has sold over 70,000 Nanos.