Tata Nano

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Tata
Tata Nano Yellow.jpg
Nano
Production period: 2009-2018
Class : Microcar
Body versions : limousine
Engines: Otto engine :
0.62 liters (28 kW)
Diesel engine :
0.62 liters (20 kW)
Length: 3099-3164 mm
Width: 1495 mm
Height: 1652 mm
Wheelbase : 2230 mm
Empty weight : 600-635 kg
Presentation of the nano

The Tata Nano is a four-seater microcar from the Indian automobile manufacturer Tata Motors . The vehicle was presented at the 9th  New Delhi Auto Expo on January 10, 2008 and was originally scheduled to hit the Indian market in September 2008. After delays, the first Nano LX was handed over to the Indian customs officer Raghunath Vichare on July 17, 2009 in Mumbai by Ratan Tata himself. Vichare won the right to buy the first Nano in a lottery.

After almost 10 years of production, the model was discontinued in summer 2018 due to the very low sales figures.

concept

The vehicle was initially advertised with a purchase price of 100,000 iR (around 1440 euros) plus taxes, which would have made it the cheapest car in the world. Accordingly, before its brand name was announced, it was also known as the “One Lakh Car” (one hundred thousand [rupee] car). The promised sales price of one lakh was actually only kept for the first 100,000 copies and then almost doubled. As the cheapest car in the world, it has now been undercut by the Bajaj Qute , which is classified as a light vehicle and for which the new vehicle division "Quadricycle" was created in India.

As a marketing campaign, the first copies were not sold, but the right to buy the first 100,000 vehicles was raffled, which was more than the provisional annual capacity. The price of 100,000 iR was guaranteed only for this number of items. From mid-2012, depending on the region, the car was offered from around 150,000 iR (around 2160 euros).

The low price was made possible mainly by the following factors:

  • no installation of comfort elements ( power steering , automatic transmission, air conditioning , car radio, electric windows)
  • Tailgate (fifth door) as an extra. The standard equipment includes four doors; the trunk can be reached from the inside via the folding rear seat
  • Dispensing with some safety elements (second exterior mirror, airbags , anti-lock braking system )
  • only three wheel nuts
  • largest possible proportion of plastic instead of sheet metal processing
  • Glued instead of welded chassis and body connections
  • low labor and material costs in the production country India

Numerous equipment features such as a second exterior mirror, car radio, tailgate or automatic transmission were available as special equipment.

In February 2009, Ratan Tata announced a version that could be approved in Europe , which was exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2009 and which was supposed to appear in 2010, but never appeared.

  • Rear view

  • Side view

Sales figures and reception

The sales success fell well short of expectations. Tata Motors expected demand of one million vehicles a year prior to launch. This number was never even rudimentarily reached, also due to a lack of production capacity. The final assembly in Sanand has a monthly capacity of 24,000 units; in fact, only around 70,000 nanos were sold in the entire first year. In the best of 2012, there were 76,747 vehicles sold in India, behind another model from the manufacturer. At the beginning of 2013 sales were estimated to be less than 20% of capacity. Over time, sales continued to decline. In 2017, monthly production fluctuated between 100 and 1000 copies. The low point was October 2017 with only 57 pieces.

The main reasons for this are that a car in this price range is viewed by the Indian middle class as "proof of poverty" and that the price is still considered too high compared to a motorcycle . Also, the promised purchase price of one lakh was not kept for long and the prices then almost doubled. In addition, there was uncertainty among consumers due to technical defects, such as several cases of vehicle fires in 2009.

technology

In the rear of the Nano sits a two-cylinder engine that was developed by Tata with the support of FEV Motorentechnik in Aachen . The Otto version has a displacement of 624 cm³ and develops an output of 28  kW (38 hp) at 5500 rpm; the diesel engine has the same displacement, but only 20 kW (28 hp). Both variants are water-cooled. In order to reduce the vibrations of the synchronous four-stroke in-line engine ("twin"), a balancer shaft is provided that rotates against the crankshaft. The transmission has four gears and comes from the Indian two-wheeler manufacturer Kinetic. A version with a continuously variable transmission from the same manufacturer was also planned, was considered a cost-effective solution and would have kept the engine in a favorable speed range.

According to the manufacturer, which is based on a statutory Indian test cycle, consumption is 4.24 l / 100 km. The top speed with the gasoline engine is 105 km / h, the Nano accelerates to 100 km / h in 27.5 seconds. The vehicle is equipped with drum brakes (180 mm diameter) on both axles .

A trunk , which offers “space for a briefcase”, is located in front of the front axle and at the same time hides the filler neck, which makes a separate tank opening unnecessary. Another storage space is only accessible from the inside, behind the back seat. The trunk size is given as 30 liters. In the case of the Nano 2012, the capacity is now 80 or 500 liters (without / with the rear seat folded down).

In December 2009 the development of a hybrid version was announced.

safety

The Nano fulfills the legal safety requirements applicable in India, which are based on the European ones. It includes a frontal crash at 48 km / h and compliance with the ECE-R-12 specification. To prove that the Nano can also meet European requirements, a crash test was carried out in Birmingham in July 2009 by the British vehicle registration authority . For this purpose, the structure of the vehicle in the front end and in the doors was slightly reinforced and a driver airbag was installed, which increases the vehicle's weight by 18 kg. The Nano thus passed the frontal crash with 40% overlap and 56 km / h according to the ECR-94 standard and meets current European requirements. Similar regulations have been in place in India since 2012.

For the European market, Tata wanted to develop a larger (15 cm longer, 5 cm wider) and more powerful (turbo engine with 42 kW and five-speed gearbox) further development of the Nano by 2012, aiming for a four-star rating according to Euro NCAP . A test according to NCAP by the ADAC in early 2014 gave the Nano a poor result of zero points.

In autumn 2009, short circuits in the electrical system of some of the 7,500 vehicles were reported. Tata spoke of "little smoke development". In addition, a "small short circuit" in the electronics for operating windshield wipers and lighting scorched fireproof plastic parts.

Suppliers

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zoll aktuell 5/09, October 2009, p. 3.
  2. ↑ http://www.gtspirit.de/de/tata-nano-ende-einer-vision , July 15, 2018
  3. ↑ a b c Dave Schneider: The dream of the cheapest car has burst. In: Tages-Anzeiger from September 17, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b Tata Nano: The “people's car” is here ( Memento from May 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) sueddeutsche.de, January 10, 2008
  5. ↑ a b c Christoph Hein: The nano alone will not save Tata. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 23, 2009.
  6. ↑ a b Better late than never. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 17, 2010.
  7. ↑ Helmut Hauschild: Big day for little Tata Nano. In: Handelsblatt , March 23, 2009.
  8. ↑ Uli Baumann: The cheap car is coming to Europe. In: auto motor und sport , March 4, 2009.
  9. ↑ Where Did It All Go Wrong For Tata's Nano? - Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Stainless, Rare Earth, Metal Prices, Forecasting | MetalMiner . In: Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Stainless, Rare Earth, Metal Prices, Forecasting | MetalMiner . December 8, 2010 ( agmetalminer.com [accessed March 25, 2018]).
  10. ^ Matt Gasnier: India Full Year 2012: Maruti Swift and DZire beat records. bestsellingcarsblog.com, January 14, 2013, archived from the original on May 1, 2013 ; accessed on July 4, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Pearl Daniels: Tata Nano production slashed by 80 percent. (No longer available online.) In: rushlane.com. March 19, 2013, archived from the original on March 24, 2013 ; accessed on March 28, 2013 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rushlane.com
  12. ↑ Viability issue bogs Tata Nano - The Hindu. In: thehindu.com. Retrieved November 1, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Tata Nano production falls to 2 cars a day. Is the cheapest car on its deathbed? Retrieved March 25, 2018 .
  14. ↑ a b Tata checks short-circuit breakdowns at Nano. In: Rheinische Post . October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 23, 2009 .
  15. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from May 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tata.com
  16. ↑ Stefan Grundhoff: The 1700- € -Auto. In: alle-autos-in.de , January 10, 2008.
  17. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tatanano.inservices.tatamotors.com
  18. ↑ Anand Giridharadas: Four Wheels for the Masses: The $ 2,500 Car. In: The New York Times , January 8, 2008.
  19. ↑ Ben Oliver: 2010 Tata Nano - What's the Big Idea? In: automobilemag.com , February 12, 2009 (English).
  20. ↑ Volker Müller: India's traveling waiver. In: Spiegel Online , April 3, 2009.
  21. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tatanano.inservices.tatamotors.com
  22. ↑ Tata Nano becomes hybrid. (No longer available online.) November 30, 2009; Archived from the original on December 3, 2009 ; Retrieved December 1, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / derstandard.at
  23. ↑ Roland Schedel: Crash Test Tata Nano - Inexpensive Yes! But also safe? In: Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift Online. Springer Vieweg, July 13, 2009, accessed September 9, 2017 .
  24. ↑ Thomas Imhof: The Indian VW Polo fails in the crash test. In: world. Axel Springer SE, February 4, 2014, accessed on September 9, 2017 .
  25. ↑ Crash Test Tata Nano - 0 STARS. February 4, 2014, accessed on September 9, 2017 (crash video on Youtube).
  26. ↑ Bosch and Continental want to grow with Tata. In: Welt Online , January 11, 2008.
  27. ↑ Announcement: GKN Driveline's unique technology . In: Business Standard India . January 5, 2010 ( business-standard.com [accessed October 30, 2019]).
  28. ↑ Thomas Weber: Seals for Tata Nano. In: automobil-industrie.vogel.de , January 14, 2008.
  29. ↑ a b Carsten Brönstrup: The cheapest car in the world. In: Der Tagesspiegel , March 23, 2009.
  30. ↑ Saint-Gobain Sekurit supplies the discs for the Tata Nano. In: auto.de , January 30, 2008.
  31. ^ Tata Nano. In: auto-und-motors.de .
  32. ↑ BASF supplies for the new Tata Nano. In: autosieger.de , April 1, 2009.

Web links

Commons : Tata Nano  - collection of images, videos and audio files