Tata Sales On The Mend
Bloomberg has it that Tata’s Nano sales are rebounding after the parent has given the little car some TLC and attention. The Nano sales rose 1136 percent from the month before. In real numbers: 5,784 in December after 509 in November.
That number is 60 percent above a year earlier, but still a far cry from the 9,000 sold in July. And Tata had to do a lot to resuscitate ICU-bound Nano sales.
Tata started an advertising blitz, added more dealers and introduced a $2 per month maintenance option. That in addition to the four-year, 60,000 km warranty, and easier financing.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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With the advent of the Internet it's become a small, small world. McLuhan's global village is far smaller than he would have ever thought. There are no "emerging markets" any more. They have all become aspirational markets. Indian's are not ignorant. Create something that you try and sell "because that is what you can afford" won't fly since your potential market *knows* what is available. You give them second best, weirdly designed or poorly made and they *will* know it. Try to hide bad word of mouth and it will leak. All that said, I do feel a little sorry for Tata. They tried to innovate, got caught in the gears of politics and have released a failure. I don't think that this will ever be a success even if it gets a ground up redesign. They will need to do a conventional vehicle and do something about the factory. It could be just that the price point is unsupportable.
What's up with the flowers? I'm pretty sure this was explained on another thread about the Nano, but I can't recall whether this is a local custom, or just something Nano does for new customers. What it looks like at first glance is they're using this Nano for a hearse and there isn't enough room for the flower arrangement.
The rear-engine architecture is a bogus idea fundamendally. It could work back in VW Beetle days, but not anymore. It goes true for Mitsubishi's "better Nano than Nano" i as well. Automotive journalists may fall over themselves praising these cars as much as they want, but people want place to put their things.
If Tata could reverse engineer the Honda 600 for the Indian market and price it competitively, I bet it would sell.