Tata Peoples Car Makes India Proud

[srikanth_kv 3]

finally much awaited tata car is here

check

http://www.tatapeoplescar.com/tatamotors/

The launch of the People's Car by Tata Motors is a defining moment in the history of India's automotive industry. For Tata Motors, the car — christened the Nano, because it is a small car with high technology — is the next big step in a journey that began with the Indica. For the Tata Group, it is the realisation of a pioneering vision to create a breakthrough product globally that rewrites the rules of the small-car business.

HERE IS INTERVIEW WITH TATA

The Tatas and you, in particular, are on the brink of realising a long-cherished ambition. Do you feel vindicated? Are you apprehensive?

There has always been some sort of unconscious urge to do something for the people of India and transport has been an area of interest. As urbanisation gathers pace, personal transport has become a big issue, especially since mass transport is often not available or is of poor quality. Two-wheelers - with the father driving, the elder child standing in front and the wife behind holding a baby - is very much the norm in this country. In that form two-wheelers are a relatively unsafe mode of transporting a family. The two-wheeler image is what got me thinking that we needed to create a safer form of transport.

My first doodle was to rebuild cars around the scooter, so that those using them could be safer if it fell. Could there be a four-wheel vehicle made of scooter parts? I got in touch with an industry association and suggested that we join forces and produce what, at that point, I called an Asian car: large volumes, many nations involved, maybe with different countries producing different sets of parts… Nobody took the idea seriously, nobody responded.

This was similar to what happened when we wanted to get going on the Indica. I had proposed a partnership with an industry body to create an Indian car, designed, developed and produced in India, something that could be conceptualised and executed as an Indian enterprise. Everybody scoffed at the concept. I remember people saying, "Why doesn't Mr Tata produce a car that works before he talks about an Indian car." My confidence got a boost when we finally succeeded with the Indica. Willy-nilly, we decided to look at [the low-cost car] project within Tata Motors.

It was never meant to be a Rs1-lakh car; that happened by circumstance. I was interviewed by the [british newspaper] Financial Times at the Geneva Motor Show and I talked about this future product as a low-cost car. I was asked how much it would cost and I said about Rs1 lakh. The next day the Financial Times had a headline to the effect that the Tatas are to produce a Rs100,000 car. My immediate reaction was to issue a rebuttal, to clarify that that was not exactly what I had said. Then I thought, I did say it would be around that figure, so why don't we just take that as a target. When I came back our people were aghast, but we had our goal.

Today, on the eve of the unveiling of the car, we are close to the target in terms of costs. We are not there as yet, but by the time we go into production we will be. This project has proven to everyone that if you really set yourself to doing something, you actually can do it.

Two-three important events have influenced the development of the car; inflation, for one. The cost statement was made three-four years back but we are holding on to that price barrier. This will definitely diminish our margins. The price of steel, in particular, has gone up during the intervening period.

A second point is that we initially conceived this as a low-end 'rural car,' probably without doors or windows and with plastic curtains that rolled down, a four-wheel version of the auto-rickshaw, in a manner of speaking. But as the development cycle progressed we realised that we could - and needed to - do a whole lot better. And so we slowly gravitated towards a car like everyone expects a car to be. The challenge increased exponentially; there was the low-price barrier, inflation, adding more features and parts to the vehicle, substantial changes in basic raw materials… What the team has been able to achieve, in the face of all these constraints, is truly outstanding.

What does it mean to me? It means that we have in us the capability to undertake a challenge that many car companies have chosen not to address or have been unable to address.

What are the innovations that have made the Tata Nano possible, from design to product finalisation?

Initially I had conceived a car made by engineering plastics and new materials, and using new technology like aerospace adhesives instead of welding. However, plastics didn't lend themselves to the volumes we wanted because of the curing time required. Volumes mean the world in this context: if we produce this car and if it is for the wider base of the pyramid, we can't settle for small numbers because then the purpose is defeated.

When we were planning facilities for the car and working out a business plan, the business plan shown to me was looking at a figure of 200,000. I said 200,000 cars is crazy. If we can do this we should be looking at a million cars a year, and if we can't do a million then we shouldn't be doing this kind of car at all.

But such a figure (a million cars) has never been achieved in the country before. If it had to be done the conventional way, it would have meant investing many billions of dollars. So we looked at a new kind of distributed manufacturing, creating a low-cost, low break-even point manufacturing unit that we design and give to entrepreneurs who might like to establish a manufacturing facility. We looked at different ways of servicing the product, at the customer's location, and through a concept adopted from the insurance industry, wherein self-employed people are trained and certified by us. And we went back to innovation in design and scrupulously took, as much as we could, cost out of the product.

We did things like make similar handles and mechanisms for the left- and right-side doors; we developed our own small engine which could sit under the rear seat, enabling us to craft a smaller overall package; we looked at a new type of seats; and we worked at cutting costs everywhere. We have put our instrument cluster in the middle, not in front of the driver. This means the same dashboard will work for a left-hand-drive vehicle. There are a lot of such innovations that are low-cost and future-oriented.

Equally important to the cost structure was the incentive we could get from having our manufacturing facility at a particular place. The benefits on this count will be passed on to the customer.

Our move to West Bengal was a leap of faith and a sign of our confidence in the leadership in the state. We were breaking new ground, not only on the product front but also in helping industrialise a previously ignored part of India. But we did not start out getting the incentives that other states were offering. I remember telling the chief minister [buddhadeb Bhattacharjee], "Sir, much as we have tried, it makes no sense for us to come to West Bengal. We cannot meet the cost requirements we have without incentives." It was then that we negotiated a set of incentives that, long-term, work out to be the same as we may have had if we set up in some other place.

Other than emission norms and safety standards, what are some of the other challenges, physical and psychological, that Tata Motors had to overcome to make this car happen?

There was the usual dilemma of what is basic and what is nice to have. A basic car may not have all the niceties its fancier cousins sport, and when you're looking at saving money on every single bit of the car — even parts that cost as little as Rs20 — you keep facing these dilemmas. Hundreds of such dilemmas have risen.

However, we were always conscious that there should be no quality stigma attached to the buying of this product. One thing we were clear about: this was never going to be a half-car. Nobody wants a car that is less than everybody else's car. Our car may have a small engine and certain limitations in terms of being basic, but that does not make it inferior. Also, we have a higher version of the car - with air conditioning, leather seats, etc - that we will be displaying at the auto show in Delhi. We hope people will look at that, too. Down the line, as we widen our range, we will have dressed-up versions with higher-powered engines, diesel engines, automatics and the like. We have a whole bunch of innovations coming along on this platform.

What we now have is a car that is truly low-cost which has, approximately, the same performance as a Maruti 800 in terms of acceleration, top speed, etc.

When future versions of this car hit the market, will they not be in direct competition to the Indica?

No. The way I see it, this vehicle will cannibalise some of the lower-end car market and some of the higher-end motorcycle and scooter market. It will eat into both of those markets but it will also create a market of its own. It will expand the market by creating a niche that did not previously exist. It may well cannibalise some of the higher-end car market, but to a small extent, and probably only when people look to buy a second or third car.

About the criticism that the car will add to India's pollution problems, why are the Tatas being singled out?

This is something I'm going to talk about at the launch. For now, let me just say our car will cause less pollution than a two-wheeler.

I'm trying to think of a parallel where someone has introduced a product at a disruptively low price and changed the market. A good example would be the Swatch watch, low-cost, trendy and with a wide range. Did Swatch finish off the Swiss watch industry? No (in fact, it was a Swiss company that created Swatch, the same company that produced Omega). Did it finish off Citizen and Seiko and other Japanese competitors? No. Did Swatch cause the Japanese and others to produce something like the Swatch? Yes, it did, but Swatch continued to dominate its niche.

What did this do to the global watch industry? It enabled somebody to look at a wrist watch almost like cufflinks: you could buy 10 Swatch watches, you could wear different ones for different occasions. Swatch sold multiple watches for a single wrist. I think something similar could also happen with the Nano.

Why are people attacking only the Tata Group?

I think it comes from vested interests. Let's ask ourselves why the car is attracting so much attention and why it is being attacked so much. My view is that if the car were not attracting all this attention, it wouldn't be attacked. This car has provoked serious apprehensions in some manufacturers. There are people in our company even who fear what it will do to the Indica. Do you think there's a concern among three-wheel manufacturers that it might replace their vehicles? Yes, there is because some three-wheelers cost more than what the Nano will cost. All in all, I think people are attacking us because they are apprehensive.

Has the Indica experience helped in the creation of the Nano?

Oh yes, enormously. The Indica experience and the Ace experience have helped; Ace especially because it was another tight, cost-based exercise.

From the Rs1-lakh car to products costing many millions, if the Jaguar deal comes through: What next for the Tatas on the automotive front?

I won't comment on the Jaguar deal, but to answer your question, we are not in an acquisitive mode. That's not our strategy for growth.

The Tatas have been on the front pages constantly of late-- what is it like being in the middle of it all?

Embarrassing and unpleasant. Whenever you are on the front page, you are also — each time, and more so in India than elsewhere in the world — creating detractors and critics. For every action there is some kind of reaction, somebody who is hunting for something to criticise. And most often it is the reaction that people remember. This is all the more embarrassing because we are not a Group that seeks publicity.

If you look at the coverage that has happened, you cannot fail to notice how the low-cost car has been turned into an issue of congestion, of pollution, of safety. Initially it was all about why a car at this cost was simply not possible; that talk is long gone, only to be replaced by these 'new' concerns. We are not really talking about how it will change the way people live or transport themselves, what their aspirations may be.

Ideally, I would really wish we didn't have the visibility and the media publicity because we haven't sought it.

[copperco2 24]

A good thing that the car will be within reach for the people on motorcycles...

A bad thing that the streets will get even more crowded and the parking space will become extinct in a city like Mumbai....which is rare now..

[kshah 452]

great achievement of tata. hats off to whole team. also read tatapeoplescar.com

[savramesh 37]

Ratan Tata to hand over first Nano key tomorrow

Source

NEW DELHI: Five years after his promise to build a people's car, Ratan Tata will hand over the key of his dream project - the Nano - to its first customer on Friday.

From the birth of the dream in 2003, to its launch in 2008 and finally its delivery in 2009, the Nano's journey has been anything but smooth.

The car, first showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo last year, was at the centre of much controversy as its proposed plant site in West Bengal became a rallying point for Mamata Banerjee and her party to gain political mileage.

The controversy surrounding the site led Ratan Tata to abandon Singur and shift the Nano's production to Gujarat.

But the overwhelming support for Tata's dream car was evident when the booking opened early this year. Despite the slowdown in the auto sector, the car attracted over 2.05 lakh bookings.

In the first lot over 1.55 lakh cars would be delivered and the first one lakh will be sold at the announcement price of Rs 1 lakh, making it the cheapest four-wheels in the world.

Tata had earlier said that 'a promise is a promise' and keeping his promise he would hand over the first car tomorrow at the price-protected rate.

The company intends to deliver the first one lakh cars by March 2010. The selection process for the next lot of 55,021 cars has also been done.

The Nano, with a 623-cc rear-engine car and a fuel economy of over 23 km per litre, has cost over Rs 2,000 crore to build.

The car carries a price range of Rs 1.23 lakh to Rs 1.72 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the three different variants.

At present, the car is rolled out from its Pantnagar facility, which has an annual capacity of 50,000 units.

Edited July 16, 2009 by savramesh

[Greatest 55]

Kudos to TATA and the whole team..

[me_saket 73]

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/nano-to-have-permanent-home-in-pantnagar-too/364172/

[savramesh 37]

Tata to deliver 60,000 Nano by July 2010

Source

NEW DELHI: Country's largest auto maker Tata Motors will deliver up to 60,000 units of the Nano, which is touted as the world's cheapest car, by July next year while remaining committed to handing over the first one lakh cars by 2010 once its mother plant in Sanand goes on stream.

Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata said in the company's Annual Report for 2008-09 that 95 per cent construction work at the Singur plant was completed before the project was "thwarted" by Trinamool Congress last year, forcing the company to relocate it to Gujarat.

He said the new plant in Sanand is likely to be ready by the end of this financial year. It would have an initial production capacity of 2.5 lakh

units per annum.

"In the meantime, the Nano is being produced in other plant facilities so as to enable around 50,000-60,000 cars to be available to customers over the next 12 months until the main new facility in Gujarat comes on line," Tata told shareholders in the report.

The company is currently manufacturing the car at its Pantnagar facility, which has an annual capacity of 50,000 units.

Meanwhile, a Tata Motors spokesperson said, "Once the upcoming Sanand facility comes on line after completion of the last quarter of this financial year, it will supplement Pantnagar, completing the first 1,00,000 deliveries in October-December 2010."

Referring to the violent agitation in Singur led by Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee on land acquisition issues, Tata said relocation of the Nano facility to another state was the only option left.

"The company's plans of spearheading industrial investment in West Bengal by locating the manufacturing plant for the Nano in the state was thwarted by a local political party, citing injustice done to the residents of the area by the state government in the acquisition of land for the project," he said.

Praising the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for "an impressive display of leadership and pragmatism", Tata said all necessary approvals were received within just three days.

"The equipment from the plant in West Bengal, which was 95 per cent complete, was dismantled and is being transported to Gujarat," he added.

Conceived in 2003, the Nano project has cost over Rs 2,000 crore to the company. Tata Motors launched the car on March 23 this year and delivered it to the first customer last month.

[savramesh 37]

Tata Motors delivers 2,475 Nanos in 15 days

Source

Tata Motors has delivered 2,475 units of its small car Nano, billed as the world's cheapest four-wheels, within 15 days of its commercial roll-out.

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata had handed over the first Nano on July 17 to Ashok Raghunath Vichare, a resident of Mumbai. The vehicle carries an ex-factory price of Rs 1 lakh for the base variant and costs anything up to Rs 1,75,000 depending on the model.

Last month, the company's total sales jumped 18 per cent to 48,054 units. Its passenger vehicles sales in the domestic market grew by 17.33 per cent at 17,191 units.

Tata has recently said in its Annual Report that the company would deliver up to 60,000 Nanos by July next year, while over the first one lakh cars by 2010 once its mother plant in Sanand goes on stream.

Conceived in 2003, the Nano project has cost over Rs 2,000 crore to the company. Tata Motors launched the car on March 23 this year.

After originally planning to roll out the 'small wonder' from Singur, Tata Motors had to shift the project to Gujarat after 95 per cent of the construction work at the West Bengal site was completed on account of violent protests by Trinamool Congress last year.

The new plant in Sanand is likely to be ready by the end of this financial year. It would have an initial production capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum.

Edited August 4, 2009 by savramesh

[savramesh 37]

3 Nanos catch fire, Tata to do pre-delivery audit

Source

NEW DELHI: The Nano, the world's cheapest car, appears to have developed a technical snag. Three cases have been reported of the car developing short circuit near the combination switch in the car's steering column, igniting small fires. The company has called two of them back for repairs.

The company has now decided to carry out pre-delivery audit of the car's electrical circuits and also check out cars that are already with customers. It is not, however, calling these check-ups a "recall". Recalls are done by companies when they detect a snag in a batch of vehicles that could lead to a compromise in safety norms.

"We do not believe that this is generic and we are not considering any recall. However, a pre-emptive check may be carried out on cars that are to be handed over or those that are with customers, purely as a precautionary measure," a spokesman for Tata Motors told TOI from Mumbai.

The problems, that are similar in nature, have been noticed in three cars — one each in Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Delhi. The cars have seen smoke emanate from near the steering column area, even when parked with ignition switched off, following which some of the area around it has melted due to heat.

Giving details of the problem, the Tata Motors spokesman said, "There was a minor emanation of smoke, following which there was localised meltdown of some of the wires in the combination switch area probably because of a short circuit."

The spokesman said while the car damaged in Ahmedabad had already been repaired, the vehicle in Lucknow was being repaired now. "The Delhi customer is yet to give his car to us," he said.

Industry analysts hoped that the glitch, if generic, is sorted out as soon as possible. Nano, they pointed out, is planned for overseas markets too. Pawan Kumar, the customer in Delhi, said his Nano caught fire while it was parked and blamed it on a "manufacturing fault". "I have lodged a complaint with the police as I feel a manufacturing defect is responsible for this mishap," Kumar, for whom this is a first four-wheeled vehicle, said.

Raza Rizvi, the customer in Lucknow whose car also had a similar problem, also said that the problem happened after the vehicle had covered about 1000 kms and was due for a service. "The car belongs to my niece and was due for a service. But before we could give it for service, we noticed smoke and flames near the steering column, following which we called the company dealer. They rectified the problem free of cost," he said.

Dilip Desai, a technical expert on automobiles, said that there are live wires in vehicles even when they are parked and the ignition is switched off. "There are certain systems that are always live. If there is a leak in any of these systems, then there is a chance of a short circuit that can lead to such problems," he said.

Edited October 22, 2009 by savramesh

[raju_a 31]

These things happen in the world, Its no big deal. Globally almost all auto co's have sometime or other recalled vehicles for faulty parts/manufacture. But this should not take away the credit of the Automobile Industry of India. Also media has a tendency to hype/spice things up or make a mountain of a mole.

Hence, i feel we should not get carried away by such reports. Moreover, this is a learning curve which every co has to go through. And you never know if any rival is fuelling and raking up the whole issue of malfunction.

[FEVIN-RAJ 61]

my personal view

TATA's doesn't kept their word

It'll cost around 140k for the lowest version on road

better to choose Maruti 800 @ 200K

Build quality of nano is very poor ....which results corrosion

Future of Nano is very clear .....Autorikshaws will be soon replaced

[aeroamit 18]

I think we should feel proud of Tata Motors, which has given such a wonderfull car for masses.

As for as Nano, it has received A+ rating in all the safety and crash tests conducted by Automotive

Test labs in UK and is better than most of present models available in India in terms of safety and

performance features and the best part is that whole world is praising it for showing a new way to all

future developments. Its been a automobile category benchmark in terms of money and safety features.

With coming time Tata is surely going to improve the quality of Nano and thats a common tendency with

all the automobile manufacturers across the globe.Overall ,I am a proud Indian who can say to the world

that Nano is an Indian brainchild on which future developments in Automotive sector will be based upon.

[kshah 452]

Call back of cars happens all over the world. Even GM and ford has done it so many times.

Though I am not going to buy nano for myself, I am firm believer that NANO is tata's one of the greatest achievement in engineering. They promised 1 lakh car and they gave 1 lakh ex factory priced car. I explicitely remember ratan tata saying that if government do not waive off taxes we will give at 1 lakh ex factory. They did it despite severe increase in prices of metal and other raw materials.

Maruti 800 is 25 years old technology and can not be compared in terms of power to weight ratio, fuel efficiency and safety features with nano. Nano is superior in all the aspects than maruti 800 and still nano is cheaper by about 30%

[savramesh 37]

Tata Nano diesel to have world's smallest CRDI engi

[Greatest 55]

This move is really gonna make the roads more and more congested...

[kshah 452]

This move is really gonna make the roads more and more congested...

Though every one thinks the same way, but roads are not built only for rich mass. Infact every one has equal right over nation's infrastructure.

[raccoon 53]

 Yes, everyone should! Sounds good that way. But our roads are ALREADY hell. And we are starting at the strong possibility of this making them worse than hell. 

[city02 63]

We sat in a Nano a week ago but not for a test drive - just in the showroom while we waited.

I was amazed at the headroom and good height / visibility ...

It has more rear headroom than my Corolla [since I rarely drive]!

While the top end versio is almost Rs. 2 L on road in mumbai, I wish they would launch the Europa [export only] which has the automatic since that comes with ABS & airbags also.

It would become the cheapest auto in the country also and a great 2nd car for congested roads.

Time to stop treating indians as 2nd class customers compared to europeans...

It looks OK from behind but a bit hideous from the front, maybe some DC facelift is required to make it a little more modern looking for better street prescence.

[::Hitesh:: 1,763]

Nano electric coming soon on !!!

[savramesh 37]

Tata Motors to launch Nano electric in 30 months in Europe

GENEVA: Tata Motors on Tuesday said it will launch the electric version of the world's cheapest car Nano in Europe within the next two-and-a-half years, although no timeline has been fixed for its rollout at home.

"The electric Nano will be launched in Europe in two-and- a-half years and it will be launched in select markets like Britain and the Scandinavian countries first, and gradually in other nations," Tata Motors vice-chairman Ravi Kant told reporters at the Geneva Motor Show here today.

The company, which unveiled the electric version of the small car – Tata Nano EV – would also launch the version in the domestic market. However, no possible timeframe has been fixed for its launch in the home market.

"We have not decided the time line for launch of the electric Nano in India, but we are looking at it," Kant said.

Asked about the pricing of the Nano EV, he said it would be decided at the time of launch.

The Nano EV would be four-seater, instead of the five-seater existing Nano. The electric car, using super polymer lithium battery, would have 160km battery range and would touch a speed of 60km in 10 seconds.

The European version of the small car – Nano Europa – would be exported from India in the next two years, Tata Motors managing director for India operations PM Telang said.

On an electric Indica Vista, Tata Motors' Kant said the company would start selling the car in Europe from this year. "The Indica Vista EV will be introduced in select European countries, beginning this year. We will progressively introduce electric vehicles in all relevant markets," he said.

Earlier, the company said it could launch an electric version of its flagship passenger car Indica in domestic market simultaneously with its European launch.

Tata Motors has been developing the electric Indica with a Norwegian firm for launching in the British, Norwegian and Danish markets by 2011, which will mark the global launch of the car.

At the Geneva Motor Show, the company also showcased its multi-purpose vehicle Aria, the sedan Indigo Manza, besides some other vehicles.

[kshah 452]

Good news I am also working on converting a petrol car to an electrIc car

[savramesh 37]

good to know.. congrats...

[Greatest 55]

@kalpakbhai, great news... All the very best...

[kshah 452]

Thanks, Still trying to decide specs of motor, charger,control and battery. Then will begin conversion .

[savramesh 37]

Nano car bursts into flames, raising safety fears

MUMBAI, India — Satish Sawant was proudly driving his first car home from the showroom: A brand-new silver Tata Nano, draped with a celebratory garland of marigolds.

Then there was smoke. And then there was fire.

Minutes after the software engineer's wife and five-year-old son clambered out of the back seat, smoke from the engine, located in the Nano's rear, erupted into flames that engulfed the tiny car.

His ordeal showed just the latest problem with the low-cost Nano — raising fresh questions about safety and quality as top Indian carmaker Tata Motors sets its sights on global expansion and aims to ramp up production of the Nano with a new factory next month.

"My wife now doesn't want to buy any car," Sawant said by phone from his home in northern Mumbai on Thursday. "She doesn't even want to go for a Mercedes."

Starting around $2,500, the Nano has been heralded as the world's cheapest car, and was meant to usher in a safety revolution, which would get millions of families off dangerous motorbikes and into the cool comfort of an affordable car.

Tata Motors, which also owns Jaguar and Land Rover, plans to start selling versions of the Nano in Europe in 2011, and later, in America.

Tata Motors spokesman Debasis Ray said the company is investigating the incident but believes it to be a one-off problem rather than the result of faulty design or manufacture.

"We believe it was a one-off stray incident," he said. "It did catch fire. We're trying to figure out what may have caused it."

Tata has offered Sawant a replacement Nano or a refund.

This is not the first time there have been customer complaints about the Nano, which has been feted with rave reviews and awards since its launch a year ago.

Last fall, three customers in India complained that their Nanos started smoking.

Tata Motors attributed that to a faulty electrical switch and said it had changed suppliers and done additional tests to rule out a recall or redesign.

Ray said Thursday that the incidents are not related.

The switch problem, he said, "has been comprehensively addressed."

"Safety has never been an issue with Tata cars," he added. "They are one of the safest cars on Indian roads."

But some say the Nano's smoke and fire problems are symptomatic of pervasive quality control issues at India's number three carmaker, which must be addressed before Tata can successfully take its brand global — especially in the wake of Toyota's massive recalls, which have left car buyers jittery about safety standards.

"As of today, is Tata good enough to take on the world? I would say no," said Deepesh Rathore, an auto analyst at IHS Global Insight in New Delhi. "On quality standards, Tata barely makes the cut."

There are fewer than 30,000 Nanos on the road today, which means on a percentage basis the problem rate is fairly high, he said.

"The Nano is a wonderful product, but these incidents really tarnish the image of the car as well as the company," Rathore said. "This is the time for Tata to have a deep look at quality."

He said the recent addition of Carl-Peter Forster, former head of General Motors in Europe, as group chief executive is a step in the right direction.

"They've got a guy running the show now who knows how the industry should work," he said. "How soon will the effects be seen across the Tata product range? Well, that will take time."

Meanwhile, Uruvashi Shah, manager of Ashapura Travel World, which runs a high-end taxi service, said she has gotten rid of all the Tata models in her fleet because they needed too much repair work.

She prefers Toyota.

"Corolla is quite good. There is a comfortable feel but the mechanical side is good too," she said.