Nano to cost more

That’s a lot of action in one day! The world’s cheapest car – Tata Nano – though still retaining the tag of being the cheapest, will not be as cheap anymore. With the introduction of Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) emission norm, the entire automotive industry is pacing up and down to get their products meet the latest emission norm set by the government. Incidentally, India’s emission norm standards are one of the toughest in the world now. Tata Motors has also upgraded its models for BS-IV, including Nano. The price increase is expected to be close to Rs 2,000 or thereabouts. BS-IV has been introduced in 13 cities till now while the rest of the country will fall in the BS-III band. Considering that Nano has a strong market in non-metros and tier-2 and tier-3 cities, the BS-III Nano will do business in those areas whereas in metro cities, the Nano will see a shift to BS-IV. The expected net increase in cost of  a BS-IV compliant Nano will be between Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 by the time it reaches the dealer.

Continuing on the topic of Nano – it’s already known that Bajaj is working on a rival for the famous 1-Lakh rupee car from Tata. Renault and Bajaj have joined and are developing the low-cost car together with Nissan and have confirmed that the car will, come what may, be priced at $2,500 to take the fight directly to Tata Nano.

In a parallel industry development, Hindustan Motors – India’s oldest automobile manufacturer – has taken a decision to knock the doors of Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) as the company has accumulated immense losses which resulted in more than 50 percent of its net worth getting eroded. R Santhanam has put in his papers as managing director and Manoj Jha will take up the responsibility w.e.f. May 18, 2010, for a period of five years.