Nano auto schot in de roos

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Niet gek in twee weken tijd meer dan 1,5 jaar produktie verkopen.
Als die boeren vorig jaar niet plotsklaps meer hadden gevraagd voor de
plek waar nog een fabriek werd gebouwd, zou het nog veel meer zijn.

Groet / Cees

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D97VOOMG2.htm
Tata sells 203,000 Nanos, makes $512 million
MUMBAI, India

More than 203,000 people have bought the ultra-cheap Nano car in India
yielding sales of 25 billion rupees ($512.6 million), Tata Motors said.

"Tata Motors places on record its gratitude to the people of India for
according such a warm welcome to the Tata Nano," the company said in a
statement Monday night.

The sales are significant in a country where just 1.5 million passenger
cars were sold last fiscal year.

Due to production constraints, the Nano was only for sale from April 9 to
April 25.

The Nano was meant to herald a revolution in transport for the world's
poor, putting cars within reach of many first-time buyers.

But Tata said only 20 percent of customers opted for the cheapest version
of the car, which retails for 100,000 rupees ($2,050) plus tax and
transport costs.

Half of the orders were for the most deluxe version of the car, which
comes with air conditioning and power windows, and the remaining 30
percent for a mid-range model.

The Tata Nano Web site got an unprecedented 30 million hits between March
23 and April 25, Tata Motors said. About 1.4 million people went to see
the car at Tata stores.

Production constraints complicated the sales process. Violent farmer
protests forced Tata to relocate at the last minute a factory that was to
exclusively build Nanos, and the replacement won't be operational before
year's end.

That means the company will only be able to deliver 100,000 cars from July
through the end of 2010. Tata Motors will randomly select 100,000 people
to get the first shipment of Nanos.

Analysts say the Nano is unlikely to turn around the troubled finances of
Tata Motors any time soon.

Tata Motors earned $8.8 billion in the year ended March 2008. It is still
struggling to refinance $2 billion of the $3 billion loan it took out to
purchase the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co. last year.

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