Can’t tell right now Nano’s road ahead: Tata Motors

Team Udayavani, Feb 5, 2017, 1:34 PM IST

Mumbai: Remaining non-committal over the future course of Nano, Tata Motors said the decisions will be taken in alignment with the board as the time and the need appears.

As it prepares to be future ready, Tata Motors is finding it difficult to answer queries on whether the Nano will be a part of the journey ahead as the issue is proving to be a sensitive one involving those at the top level of the Tata group.

Although the company has adopted a new passenger vehicles (PV) strategy with an aim to achieve “sustainable financial performance” and to be amongst the top three PV makers in India by 2019, its top management is shy to elaborate what role will Ratan Tata’s dream project play going forward.

Tata Motors has said that it would reduce the number of PV platforms to just two from the current six by 2018 when it shifts to what it called as ‘Advanced Modular Platform (AMP)’ to “deliver 7-8 product variants from two platforms for greater coverage and sizable economies of scale”.

“I can’t tell you right now because these are decisions in line with the PV strategy. These decisions are going to be taken in alignment with the board as the time and the need appears,” Tata Motors MD and CEO Guenter Butschek said when asked if Nano will be a part of the company’s future by 2018.

He said the new PV strategy was presented to the board of directors of the company in the middle of last year.

The board is provided update on the progress made on a regular basis, Butschek said, adding “so it (board) is fully encouraged and (is) behind this strategy…”

Under the new PV strategy the company is looking for economies of scale, reduce capital expenditure through the less number of platforms and address more segment of the market where it is not present currently that will lead to higher profitability.

Yet the issue of Nano is something that hangs uneasy with the company’s senior management. Ousted Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry had alleged that Nano project was responsible for the losses of over Rs 1,000 crore.

Nano has been one of the point of contentions between Tata and Mistry, who had also alleged Tata Motors is unable to shut down the loss making small car due to “emotional reasons” and doing so would also stop the supply of “gliders” to an entity that makes electric cars in which Tata has a stake.