Tata Nano Could Overtake Maruti 800 & Omni

The days may not be too far away when the Tata Nano will dominate the rural car market by outpacing the Maruti 800 and the Maruti Omni. Actually, both these models are not compliant with the BS IV norms, hence this could drive them off the road. Also, the new BS IV compliant M800 is not expected to hit the markets until 2011, which could work in favour of the Tata Nano.

According to Kapil Arora, partner at Ernst & Young, "This (absence of Maruti 800 and Maruti Omni) would mean no direct competition to Tata Nano. The important question is whether Tata Motors would be able to manufacture enough units of Tata Nano that would meet the demand."

Tata Nano has already climbed the popularity charts and is already a hot favorite with many Indian customers. However, the major issue with Tata Nano currently is that its mother plant is not operational currently. Though the plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2009, it already seems that Tata Nano has lost the crucial lead time that could have been successfully used to obtain an advantage over the Maruti 800 and the Maruti Omni.

Currently, Tata Motors has acquired a loss of around Rs. 2500 crores largely due to the acquisition of luxury brands internationally. Therefore, the company needs to sell around 2.5 lakh units of the Tata Nano in order to cover the losses. It is expected that this figure should be reachable given the growing clout of the Indian consumer in present times.

By: Nihit Aurora

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