Indian automobile giant Tata Motors, according to reports, is planning to revive the currently dampened sales of its compact car Nano. Sources claim that the firm will be looking to change the positioning strategy for the Nano in order to make it more viable among city buyers. At a recent event, Cyrus Mistry, the Chairman of Tata Motors, spoke at length about how the company hopes to bank on ‘customer centricity’ to boost the sales of Nano. If sources are to be believed then Tata Motors is going to make a few changes in the compact hatchback, which includes the possibility of adding a power steering to make it a complete city car.
Cyrus Mistry was pretty upbeat about the future prospects of the Tata Nano and said that the changes made in it are likely to draw the attention of consumers. "We are focusing on making Nano a smart city car. We will introduce a power steering option, improve interior and exterior of the car, improve fuel efficiency and target young customers," he said at a recently concluded event. Adding further, Mistry spoke about how the company will drive the sales of the car by increasing its perceived value following the introduction of every new model.
The Chairman of Tata Motors had to go through a rigorous question answer session from journalists about the prospects of the passenger car business. Numerous doubts have been raised about the viability of Tata Motors’ vehicle business and some shareholders have claimed it to be ‘finished’. However, Mistry was undeterred by all this and said that the company has a bright road ahead of it and no amount of slowdown will stop it from investing in a new product line. He also said that the firm is likely to improve the buying experience of its customers along with the services it provides. Sources have also claimed that Tata Motors will be looking to expand its capital expenditure this fiscal year.
"The road ahead for Tata Motors continues to be challenging, yet full of opportunities. Tata Motors is committed to improve its customer centricity, to better understand customer needs and translate them into exciting and appropriate products for our markets,” said Mistry. Sources from the company have claimed it has been severely affected by the slowdown in the Indian auto industry. Apart from this, he also said that performance of the firm has been bogged down by increasing interest rates and stagnation of growth.
Tata Motors launched the Nano hatchback as the cheapest car in the world and expected it to generate high volumes of sales for the firm. Unfortunately, the Tata Nano was not able to reach anywhere near the expected level of success. According to reports, the company had hoped the Nano will clock sales of around 20000 units per month but it was able to account for only 10 per cent of that. For the financial year 2012-2013, the sales of the compact hatchback fell by 28 per cent as Tata Motors was only able to sell 53848 units.
