Drive a car cheaper than Nano

Bajaj car to be world's cheapest

 

Bajaj's ultra-low cost car being manufactured jointly with Renault and Nissan promises to give hot chase to the Tata Nano. On Monday, Rajiv Bajaj (BAJAJAUTO.NS : 2101.05 0), MD, Bajaj Auto confirmed the $2,500 (Rs 1.1 lakh) price tag for the car, announced first by Renault chairman & CEO Carlos Ghosn at the company's shareholders' meet late last week. The Renault announcement comes a few days after it pulled out of its loss-making Logan venture with Mahindra & Mahindra.

 

The Bajaj car will be cheaper than the Nano, which comes at Rs 1.23 lakh-1.72 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi ). After the launch of Tata Nano, the race for the No.2 position in the ultra-low cost car segment is under way in India , which as emerged as the Mecca of this segment. However, other automakers' plans to enter this segment are still on the drawing board.

 

At Renault meeting, Ghosn said: "In India , Renault and Nissan are developing an ultra-low-cost vehicle with the Bajaj group, benefiting from its expertise in light vehicles and knowledge of the Indian market." He reiterated the affordability of the vehicle for the Indian market by citing the targeted low price tag.

 

"We are combining our strengths with Nissan, notably in India , Russia , Brazil and Mexico ," Ghosn said. "The alliance product strategy has been finalised in India and Russia , and Renault and Nissan will pool their production capacities and platforms there to fully deliver on these developments," he added.

The car was initially scheduled to hit the market this year, but has been postponed to 2012. Bajaj Auto displayed the prototype of the small car at the 2008 Auto Expo. However, the three partners were stuck at various levels of branding and engineering the car till last year. According to industry observers, the project also got delayed as partners were stuck on pricing issues as well. While Renault wanted a low-cost car, Bajaj was keen on a car that would sport high mileage and low maintenance.

 

It was during his India visit that Ghosn finally announced the finalisation of the project. "As per the agreement, the design, engineering, sourcing and manufacturing will be handled by Bajaj Auto, while marketing and selling will be (done) by Renault-Nissan Alliance," he said. But he had declined to comment on the pricing of the car.

Officials from the alliance have said the car will be smaller than Maruti Suzuki's Alto, which is the biggest selling model in India .

 

In March, Collin Dodge, executive vice-president, Nissan Motor had said: "It is over two years that Bajaj is trying to produce the car. The physics of it is very difficult. We have not yet found a solution as there are a lot of engineering solutions required." Nissan is also in talks with Hinduja group company Ashok Leyland (ASHOKLEY.NS : 62.35 -0.1) to develop a small car for the global market that could be priced around $4,500-5,000.

"We have a formal agreement with Ashok Leyland for making light commercial vehicles in India . In addition, we also use Ashok Leyland's engineering services for various purposes. At the moment, we are talking to them and many other partners in China , Indonesia ...for a price centric vehicle," Nissan Motor Co executive vice-president Collin Dodge had said at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

 

 

Greener Nano to cost a tad more

 

It will probably go down as one of the most famous promises not kept, in corporate India's factfile. The world's cheapest car, Tata Nano, is set to become a little less cheap later this month when the comapny upgrades it to meet the Bharat Stage-IV emission norm, despite the company's promise of price protection for the first one lakh buyers of the car. Till April 30, Tata had sold only 33,875 units of the car. As per the tentative price list available with some dealers, the Nano's price will rise in a range of Rs 1,979 to Rs 2,133 (ex-showroom) across variants. The on-road price is expected to rise by Rs 5,000-7,000. The dealers have been told to educate the cutomers about the change in regulations that are forcing the company to hike the Nano's price, even if it goes against the avowed price protection for 1 lakh customers. "Now that emission norms in the country include BS-IV for 13 cities and BS-III for the rest of the country, the Tata Nano will be available in both BS-IV and BS-III, as is applicable," the company said in response to a questionnaire from the Hindustan Times. "The delivery of BS-IV Nanos is yet to begin, and is on the anvil. Should there be a price change for BS-IV Nanos, the company will intimate respective owners. In any case, 75% of Nano's demand is in non-Metros," the statement said. The first BS IV car is expected to be despatched to dealerships in the 13 cities where the new norms are in force - including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata - by the middle of this month.

"The price increase is something that does not benefit the company but is a compulsion for the change in regulation," said a dealer in Delhi. "Every other car has seen its price go up and so will Nano. If a customer does not want to pay, we will have no other option but to cancel his booking."