Mumbai: Thirteen months since the Nano first wowed auto enthusiasts at its global premiere at the 2008 Auto Expo in New Delhi, Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Motors and Tata Group has kept his promise of bringing out an affordable car for Indian buyers, notwithstanding the Singur imbroglio that led to a 5-month delay. domain-b's Arvind Sridhar reports from the venue.

Praising the team as the "the real heroes of the moment," Tata said in Mumbai, "I feel immense happiness that we have finally launched the people's car." Conceding that the biggest challenge the Nano team faced was to build it at the cost that he had dreamt of.

''The Nano represents the spirit of breaking conventional barriers," Tata said at a press conference

"From the drawing board to its commercial launch, the concept, development and productionisation of the car has overcome several challenges. It is to the credit of the team at Tata Motors that a car once thought impossible by the world is now a reality.

"I hope it will provide safe, affordable, four-wheel transportation to families who till now have not been able to own a car. We are delighted in presenting the Tata Nano to India and the world.''

The Nano is currently being produced at its Pantnagar plant, Uttarakhand, in limited numbers.

"The dedicated plant in Sanand, Gujarat will be ready in 2010 with an annualised capacity of 350,000 and we will aim to stretch it to half a million as soon as we can," said Ravi Kant, MD, Tata Motors.

He disclosed that the project cost was in excess of Rs2,000 crore. "We are breaking class barriers with the launch of the Nano. The common man will now be able to afford a car."

Declining to disclose any figures, Kant asserted that the Nano was a profitable venture.

The Nano will have three variants, each of which can comfortably seat four adults:

• Tata Nano Standard: The standard version, with three colour options, single tone seats and a fold-down rear seat.
• Tata Nano CX: In five colour options, with heating and airconditioning (HVAC), two tone seats, booster assisted brakes and a fold-down rear seat
• Tata Nano LX: In addition to the features from the CX, fabric seats, central locking, front power windows, fog lamps and many others.

Now that the promise has been kept, what next? "Further versions of the Nano will include a diesel engine, air bags and many other features," responded Tata looking ahead to creating new variants so that the average middle-class Indian who aspired to own a car had a real choice of variants.

"We are sorry to move out of Singur but a decision had to be made," he said in response to a question regarding the exit from Singur. "We were threatened that not a single Nano will be allowed to move out of the plant, which urged us to come to this decision. For now, my wish of being involved with the people of West Bengal has not been fulfilled. However, I do hope it can happen in the future."

Tata also confirmed that the Tata Nano Europa for the European markets would be launched in 2011, though it  was likely to cost over $2,500. He also indicated that the Nano Europa would be modified to meet the US market norms and be available to customers in the US in the next three or four years.
 
The company is confident of of meeting customer service requirements through its by now well-established network of 380 sales outlets and 450 service centres across the country.

"We have provided adequate training to our service personnel to manage service requests for the Nano," added Kant.

Tata feels that the congestion on existing roads will not be an issue in the sale of the Nano. "In urban India, the goverment is working on building infrastructure and in rural India, congestion is not an issue. We will replace some of the cars and definitely increase the number of cars in the country," he maintained.

Now that Tata has delivered on his promise, it is for the little Nano to prove itself on the roads.