Tata Nano Obliterates Indian Used Car Market
Although it's physically quite small, Tata's inexpensive Nano is already having a big impact on the Indian automotive market. Even with sales slated to begin in October, Autocar is reporting that the advent of the $2500 Nano is already destroying sales and resale values of other Indian automobiles.
The biggest impact is felt by prices for secondhand Maruti 800s, rebadged examples of older Suzuki Altos and formerly one of the most popular cars in India. Values for used examples have reportedly dropped 30 percent in only two months. Retail sales of new examples are also stalling; registrations of the 800 were down 20 percent in January alone.
Moral of the story? Patience has its own rewards Consumers in India are more than willing to wait a few months for the Nano, a bigger car (if you can believe that) at half the cost of the Maruti. Who can blame them?
Comments
Cicero
Kinda reminds me of a stripped down, very less expensive Smart
VMMVMMM
There are so many reasons why this car is so incredibly irresponsible. I also wish I had thought of it.
Ducati Minor
It's easy to make fun of the car for being cheap and made in India; but I'd like to know more about the actual construction before I criticize.
On the used car front, the ol' Flivver was hurt by the fact that many used models were available by the 1920s for tens of dollars, instead of the low hundreds for a new one.
I don't know if the Nano has the industrial longevity to last as long as a Tin Lizzie or a Bug, but I give credit to Tata for doing the unthinkable in the twenty-first century.
CARSON44
I still don't see how it can be done for $2,500.00........
Jonathan Fung
I wonder what will happen when it is revealed that the low price has just been a result of predatory pricing to drive out the Maruti.
phd_engineer
Ratan Tata deserves a piles of credit for truly busting the world entry car market wide open. Sub-B car, the Nano is what the world craves, not the overpriced Smart. Also, his purchase of JLR from Ford will give him the building blocks to be full line manufacturer well before any Korean or Chinese automaker.
This is history being made. Much more significant than anything that has been done in many decades, at least since the original VW Beetle.
Hopefully Ford is smart enough to notice their real future partner...
Ed
Meanwhile in China a thousand lazy engineers are trying their hands at a copy.
Kudos to Tata and India for creating something that is not only creative but revolutionary!
smokefreak2003
Wow, the Indian Model T, meaning by the end of this century India will be the dominant world superpower while we are their lap dog (their Britan).
Kind of like how Britan was the dominant superpower in the beginning of the 20th century, and we were a White Trash 3rd World @#*^hole burgeoning with new and innovative technological advances.
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