Tata Motors, the homegrown auto giant, is eying to establish assembly plants of its popular small car Nano in a number of overseas locations including ASEAN region and Latin America. The company is considering assembling the Nano abroad by exporting it as a CBU (completely knocked-down unit) from the Indian market.
It is to be mentioned here that Tata Motors has already started exporting the Nano model to the neighboring Indian countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal. The car is exported to both of these markets as CBU (completely built units). While in Sri Lanka, the car is available with a price tag of 9.25 lakh Sri Lankan rupees, it is available at Rs 7.98 lakh Nepal rupees (about Rs 5.01 lakh) in Nepal.
Speaking to the reporters in the National Capital, Tata Motors Managing Director, India Operations, P M Telang said, "There are many important markets for the Nano, like the SAARC countries, ASEAN nations and Latin American region. So we are studying those markets."
While further elaborating the company’s plans, Mr. Telang said, that looking at the potential, the company can think of the CBU route at first and later they may think of CKD operations. He added that at present the company is considering many countries for CKD for Nano but there is no timeline.
The Tata Nano was launched in the Indian market in March 2009 and since then it has been a roller-coaster ride for the car in the Indian market with sales figures varying from 9000 units a month to 509 units a month, in span of last two years.
