What went wrong with Nano
Dipankar "Dada" Khasnabish
Trustee & Board Member - Heartcrafted Foundation & Heeya
Nano is back in focus, and this time for wrong reasons.
I do not doubt that Ratan Tata may have been unfairly passionate about this dream, and most cases change happens by backing projects which prima facie does not make sense - so no sweat.
But what went wrong with Nano? There was a time when it gripped the country with imagination reserved for only a cricket world cup or an election of change. There were stories galore of how the name Nano germinated, how Mr. Wag and his team did an engineering genius, how things like single wiper were accepted and made the industry standard, or how Mr. Tata got inspired seeing an Indian family on a two wheeler drenching in rain - and wanted to make a change.
On the face, there are issues like quality, safety (cars catching fire), others coming in with affordable cars (or at least promising to do so) or price with taxes etc. shooting up to almost INR 2 Lakhs+ may have played a role. There was also this jugglery of brand positioning - from the family car to youth car to single woman's car and even a 15 crore. But is it all - which made a hope turn into the hype.
I think apart from the causes which probably could have been managing better by the Tatas, the following too may have played a role:
1. The Indian male put the aspiration of self beyond the security of the family - so a macho motorbike has been an easy winner over a Nano
2. The revival of Bullet and the entry of sports bike Duke took any the relatively affluent segment completely out of potential buyer segment
3. Too much of association with Nano as a cheap car probably been be dampener for the ones who wanted to be a proud car owner
4. The inability of entering the taxi segment - especially because of lack of luggage space, which is key in intercity or airport/ railway station travel.
Is this? Or more to it? Will like to hear more.
? Intelligence in view for vehicles ??, ADAS | AGM | Proud to be part of Motherson ????
8 年Even instead of affordable car, good to project as small or city car
Sales & Marketing | Industrial & Power generation Engines & Genset | Marine Engineer | Renewable Energy | Automobile
8 年wrong brand positioning, followed by the tag of cheapest available car in that category. Nevertheless the initial advertising was sluggish which eventually caught up being peppy & attracting youth. Overall I feel it can still meet the expectations & sales will boost if they introduce the car with sporty options & offer attractive finance schemes for college / defense students.
Executive Engineer (Dredging) at Gujarat Maritime Board
8 年Mis branding and brand positioning, too
Senior Manager at Sun International FZE
8 年In hind sight, everyone is wise. What I personally feel has been the main issue (besides the technical issues like catching fire, as these can be resolved), is the sticker of cheapest car (so to speak), it seemed like a an amazing marketing theme and even the world was paying attention (free publicity as well), but we realise that the intended Buyers didn't take it to heart. To imagine that just a few years prior, a concept car, brought to fruition, Maruti Suzuki Swift, which had issues too, but became a runaway sales success, which had been the polar opposite of what Nano stood for.... Expensive! Swift not only broke new sales record (for pan India sales), but also kind of created a new segment, the premium hatchback. I guess this is a very humbling experience, for even the Master Marketers don't always get it right, GOD has HIS Ways!