Nano buyers have to pay entire price on booking

Nano won’t come cheap and easy for the masses waiting for their first car. In an effort to limit the demand for the much-hyped people’s car, Tata Motors would insist on 100% (Rs 1 lakh) down payment for the Nano on booking. This, according to dealers, is an attempt to restrict the bookings since the company is severely constrained on the supply side of Nano. Typically, a customer pays 20%-30% of the on-road price of a car as down payment at the time of booking.

The Nano will be sold through a lottery system and the booking forms would be available over the week with all its dealers, select State Bank of India (SBI) branches and all Tata group retail ventures, including Croma, Westside, Trent and Star Bazaar. The form is expected to cost around Rs 200-300.

The booking will be open for 14 days, after that the draw of lots will be conducted. The first car would be delivered to the lucky customer in two-and-a half months, said a dealer.

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Chances of first Nano rolling out of Singur look remote

Sunday was an unusual day of expectations for the people of West Bengal and the Indian industry. As news spread of West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee meeting face-to-face for the first time over the Singur issue in the presence of governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, every one looked forward to a break through. But it was not to be. As Mamata imposed fresh conditions, after almost reaching a breakthrough, and the governor called off a press meet schedule for Sunday night, it became clear that the first Nano car will not roll out of the Singur plant.

At the time of going to press, news is trickling in that another round of meeting is going on between the trio of Buddha Mamata-Gandhi. But as someone commented, Singur is proving to be more difficult than the nuclear issue, since a breakthrough was possible in Vienna but not in Kolkata.

PWD minister and RSP leader KshitiGoswami told reporters at the CPI(M) party headquarters that a consensus was reached by both sides on the formation of a four member committee to go into the demands of farmers to return their land.

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Rs 1-lakh Nano unveiled

Ratan Tata on Thursday finally unveiled his dream car to the world.

Driving onto the podium in a gleam ing Tata Nano at the ninth Auto Expo, the Tata group chairman silenced sceptics with a Rs 1-lakh car featuring rear-wheel drive and powered by a 623cc, 33 bhp multi-point fuel injection petrol engine.

"Despite a steep rise in input costs since the product was conceptualised four years back, we will introduce the car at Rs 1 lakh because a promise is a promise," Tata said.

The Nano, which will be rolled out from the company's upcoming plant at Singur in West Bengal by the second half of this fiscal, will be available in three variants: a standard and two deluxe models.

While the no-frills standard model will be available at a dealer price of Rs 1 lakh (excluding Vat and transportation), the deluxe models with additional features like air conditioning would carry a higher sticker price.

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Image and Article source: Financial Express
Article taken from the issue: 10 Jan 2008