Tata Motors to deliver first Nano on Friday

Tata Motors Ltd, India's largest vehicles maker is set to deliver the Nano, the world's cheapest car to its first customer on Friday. Tata Motors had debuted the car at an autoshow last year in the capital but consumers had to wait till April this year to make bookings due to delays following land disputes regarding factory location in West Bengal and subsequent relocation to Sanand in Gujarat. 

However, the first batch of Nanos would come from the Tata Motors plant in Pantnagar in north India. The first 100,000 customers will get price protection as assured by Tata for whom the cost would work out to Rs100,000 ($2,053), excluding taxes.

With work on the construction of the Gujarat factory, which will be the main facility from which the small car will roll out still under way, all Nanos will be produced at the Pantanagar facility for a while.

The company had expected the Sanand facility to become operational by early 2010.

The first customer will be handed over the keys by Ratan Tata, chairman Tata Motors. Meanwhile, the auto major has already started dispatching the vehicles to dealers across the country with allotment letters having been sent to the first one-lakh customers.

Over 70 per cent of the total 2.03 lakh bookings have been received from non-metro markets. The company will deliver one-lakh vehicles by the last quarter of 2010.