Tata Motors plans diesel Nano to drive sales

Tata Motors will launch a diesel version of its small car `Nano' by the end of the current financial year (2013-14) as part of it's plans to boost its sales.

The 'cheap' Nano launched as a safer alternative to families forced to travel on two-wheelers, however, failed to bring in the expected sales.

After the initial attention in the market, customer enthusiasm weaned and sales of the model continued to disappoint, slumping as much as 27 per cent year-on-year during the financial year ended 31 March 2013.

Nano sales have decline by 35 per cent in the first four months of the current financial year.

Sales of the Nano have crashed by a whopping 78 per cent to 6,017 units between April and July, against 27,625 units sold in the corresponding period last year after car makers like Honda entered the small and medium car market with more fuel-efficient diesel models.

''We have already made organisational changes in the company and strengthened the team. We recently introduced eight new products across five platforms under the `Horizonnext' initiative, which included CNG variants of some of our products. The diesel version of the Nano would follow soon within this financial year,'' said Karl Slym, managing director of Tata Motors. 

The Nano, which is currently available in the petrol option, is priced between Rs1.45 lakh and Rs2.20 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

A CNG variant of the Nano is due for launch by October this year.

A diesel variant of the Nano, powered by an 800cc engine and delivering fuel efficiency of around 30km a litre, could be a game changer for the model and Tata Motors.