Zero production, sale of Tata Nano in Jan

​New Delhi: Amid speculation over the future of Tata Motors' Nano, the company in January did not produce nor sell even a single unit of the small car, which was once dubbed as the 'people's car'.

Recently, company officials had hinted that production and sales of the Nano would stop from April 2020 as Tata Motors has no plans to invest further on Ratan Tata's dream car to meet strict emission norm under BS-VI and other upcoming safety regulations.

According to a regulatory filing, Tata Motors said zero unit of Nano was produced in January this year as against 83 units in the same month last year. Similarly, there were no sales of Nano in the domestic market last month as compared to 62 units in January 2018.

In terms of exports, the company did not ship any unit of the model last month same as it was in the year-ago month. When contacted, a Tata Motors spokesperson said, "As mentioned before, the Nano in its current form will not meet the new safety and emission norms and may need infusion of fresh investments. "No decision has been made yet in this regard. We continue to produce Nano catering to customer demands."

The spokesperson further said decisions on product life cycle are a holistic view taken after considering the market developments, regulations and emerging competitive landscape and decisions are announced as and when they are taken. "Production planning of a car is a conscious management of demand, system inventory and planned efficiencies.

Therefore, speculating on the fate of a car based on a month's production figure is something the company would not like to participate in," the spokesperson added. In June last year, the company produced just one unit of the Nano and sold three units in the domestic market.