OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH STUDY

To understand the actual market presence of Tata Nano. To understand the marketing mix of Tata Motors related with the Nano. 1. Product features and strategies. 2. Pricing strategies. 3. Placing and channels of distribution. 4. Strategies used for promotion.

To know the target market. To examine the issues & controversies.

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Ratan Naval Tata

(Chairman of Tata Group)
Ratan Naval Tata

Born Residence Nationality Ethnicity Citizenship Alma mater Occupation Home town

December 28, 1937 (age 72) Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India Mumbai, India India Parsi (Zoroastrian) India Cornell University Harvard University Chairman of Tata Group Mumbai, India

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Ratan Naval Tata (born December 28, 1937, in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India) is the present Chairman of the Tata Group, India's largest conglomerate founded by Jamsedji Tata and consolidated and expanded by later generations of his family. He is also the chairman of major Tata companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, The Indian Hotels Company and Tata Teleservices. Ratan Tata was born into the wealthy and famous Tata family of Bombay. He was born to Soonoo and Naval Hormusji Tata. Ratan is the great grandson of Tata group founder Jamsedji Tata. Ratan's childhood was troubled, his parents separating in the mid-1940s, when he was about seven and his younger brother Jimmy was five. His mother moved out and both Ratan and his brother were raised by their grandmother Lady Navajbai. In 1981, Ratan was named director of Tata Industries, the Group's other holding company, where he became responsible for transforming it into the Group's strategy think-tank and a promoter of new ventures in hightechnology businesses. In 1991, he took over as group chairman from J.R.D. Tata, pushing out the old guard and ushering in younger managers. Since then, he has been instrumental in reshaping the fortunes of the Tata Group, which today has the largest market capitalization of any business house on the Indian Stock Market. Under Ratan's guidance, Tata Consultancy Services went public and Tata Motors was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998, Tata Motors introduced his brainchild, the Tata Indica.

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Awards and Recognition

Ratan Tata serves in senior capacities in various organisations in India and he is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. Tata is on the board of governors of the East-West Center, the advisory board of RAND's Center for Asia Pacific Policy and serves on the programme board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS initiative.

On the occasion of India's 50th Republic Day on 26 January 2000, Ratan Tata was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest decoration that may be awarded to a civilian.

In February 2004, Ratan Tata was conferred the title of honorary economic advisor to Hangzhou city in the Zhejiang province of China. On August 30, 2005, it was announced that Ratan Tata was elected to the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, one of the leading research universities in the United States.

In 2006 he received the FIRST Award for Responsible Capitalism. In March 2006 Tata was honoured by Cornell University as the 26th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, considered the highest honor the university awards to distinguished individuals from the corporate sector.

He was listed among the 25 most powerful people in business named by Fortune magazine in November 2007. In May 2008 Mr Tata made it to the Time magazine's 2008 list of the World's 100 most influential people. Tata was hailed for unveiling his tiny Rs. one lakh car 'Nano'.

On 26 January 2008, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian decoration. After the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Forbes opined Ratan Tata be brought into politics, calling him India's most respected business leader.

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Ratan Tata with his Nano

(The One Lack Car)
Idea Generation
I saw families riding around on scooters with kids standing up and the mother carrying a baby and sitting pillion and decided to do something about it. It started as a quest for an affordable transportation solution. -- RATAN TATA

The Outcome is

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Product
Tata Nano is a rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by Tata Motors, aimed primarily at the Indian market. The car has a fuel efficiency of around 26 kilometres per litre on the highway and around 22 kilometres per litre in the city. It debuted at the 9th annual Auto Expo on January 10, 2008, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India. The Nano had its commercial launch on March 23, 2009, and a booking period from April 9 to April 25, generating more than 200,000 bookings for the car. The cars started to be delivered to customers after July 17, 2009, with a starting price of Rs 100,000, which is approximately equal to UK1,360 or US$2,160 as of December 2009. This is cheaper than the Maruti 800, its main competitor and next cheapest Indian car priced at Rs 184,641 ($3,988 U.S.). Tata had sought to produce the least expensive production car in the world aiming for a starting price of Rs 100,000 (approximately US$2,000 as of June 2009).

"Nano" means "small" in Gujarati, the language of the founders of the Tata Group. "Nano" from the SI prefix for one-billionth is derived from the Greek , meaning dwarf, and is sometimes used to mean "small" in colloquial English.

FEATURES OF TATA NANO

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Manufacturer Parent company Also called Class Body style(s) Engine(s)

Tata Motors Tata Sons The People's Car City car "Kei car" 5-door hatchback 2 cylinder SOHC petrol Bosch multi-point fuel injection (single injector) all aluminium 624 cc (38 cu in)

Transmission(s) 4 speed synchromesh with overdrive in 4th Wheelbase Length Width Height Kerb weight Fuel capacity Designer 2,230 mm (87.8 in) 3,099 mm (122.0 in) 1,495 mm (58.9 in) 1,652 mm (65.0 in) 600 kg 15 L Girish Wagh, Justin Norek of Trilix, Pierre Castinel

The Nano was originally to have been manufactured at a new factory in Singur, West Bengal, but increasingly violent protests forced Tata to pull out October 2008. (See Singur factory pullout below.) Currently, Tata Motors is reportedly manufacturing Nano at its existing Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) plant and another plant has been proposed has also agreed to match all the incentives offered by West Bengal government.

Specification

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Looks: The snub-nosed car keeps in the tradition of the Fiat 500, Nissan Micra and the Smart. Dimensions: 3.1 metres (10.23 feet) long, 1.5 metres wide and 1.6 metres high. Can seat four to five people. Engine: A two cylinder 623 cc, 35 horsepower rear mounted, all aluminium, multi-point fuel injection petrol engine can power the car to top speeds of 105 kilometres per hour (65 miles per hour). Fuel Efficiency: 20 kilometres per litre, or 50 miles per gallon is claimed. Pollution: Exceeds Indian regulatory requirements and can meet strict Euro IV emission standards. In terms of overall pollutants, Tata says the car is better than twowheelers manufactured in India currently. Safety: Car exceeds current regulatory requirements with a strong passenger compartment, crumple zones, intrusion resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorage. Nearest Domestic Car Rival: Maruti 800, part of Japanese-owned Suzuki Maruti stable whose base model sells for about 4,800 dollars -- nearly double the price of the Nano. Nearest International Rival: China's Chery QQ which retails for 3,600 dollars. Market: India's car market is a huge draw because car penetration is just seven per 1,000 people, compared to 550 per 1,000 in such countries as Germany or 476 in France, according to the Society of Indian Automobiles.

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Tata Motors unveiled a version of the Nano mini-car called the Nano Europa at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. The car will be coming to mainland Europe and the UK[83] and will have a number of improvements over the standard Nano. The Nano Europa has an increased wheelbase, a new 3cylinder engine and improved interiors and exteriors. The Nano Europa will be more expensive, heavier, and less fuel economical than the standard Nano with prices said to be around the US$ 6000 mark.[84] The Nano Europa was heavily modified to meet EU safety and emission standards.

Price
Tata initially targeted the vehicle as "the least expensive production car in the world" aiming for a starting price of 100,000 rupees or approximately US$2000 (using exchange rate as of 22 March 2009) 6 years ago, despite rapidly rising material prices at the time. As of August 2008, material costs had risen from 13% to 23% over the cars development, and Tata faced the choice of:

introducing the car with an artificially low price through government subsidies and tax-breaks forgoing profit on the car using vertical-integration to artificially boost profits on cars at the expense of their materials industries partially using inexpensive

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polymers or biodegradable plastics instead of a full metal-body raising the price of the car.

Pricing Strategy

Though the one lakh price tag is not fixed by TATA group, it was the word of mouth of people which fixed that range. This expectation of people creates a big challenge for the company. To accept this challenge the following strategies are followed:-

Target costing method Penetration pricing Low pricing policy with minimum profit margin.

At its launch the Nano was available in three trim levels:

the basic Tata Nano Std priced at 123,000 Rupees has no extras; the deluxe Tata Nano CX at 151,000 Rupees has air conditioning; the luxury Tata Nano LX at 172,000 Rupees has air conditioning, power windows, fabric seats and central locking the Nano Europa, European version of the Tata Nano has all of the above plus a larger body, bigger 3-cylinder engine, anti-lock braking system (ABS) and meets European crash standards and emission norms.

Tata Nanos launch could expand the Indian car market by 65%, according to rating agency CRISIL. The low price

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makes the car affordable for families with incomes of Rs 1 lakh [100,000] per annum, the agency said. The increase in the market is expected to push up car sales by 20% over the previous year. The unveiling of Tata Nano, the cheapest car in the world, triggers an important event in the car market. Based on the statement by company officials, CRISIL Research estimates the consumer price of the car at around Rs 1.3 lakh. This brings down the cost of ownership of an entry level car in India by 30%, the company said in a report.

COST CUTTING FEATURES

Nano's boot does not open, instead the rear seats can be It has a single windscreen wiper instead of the usual pair. Some exterior parts of it are glued together, rather than It has no power steering. Its door opening lever was simplified. It has 3 nuts on the wheels instead of the statutory 4 nuts. It only has 1 side view mirror

folded down to access the boot space.

welded.

Place

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In case of vehicles, dealership method of distribution and sales is generally adopted. Tata Motors have also adopted dealership method of distribution of its products.

The dealers purchase products from the Co. at a negotiated price. The MRP is fixed by the Co. and the dealer gets a profit within these prices. As the Co. deals in commercial and passenger vehicles, there may be a single or distinct dealerships to market its commercial and passenger vehicles in a town. However, if there is a single dealership appointed, then the commercial and passenger vehicles are managed under Commercial Vehicles Dept. and Passenger Vehicles Dept. respectively. Tata Motors have contracts with the Government of India and it supplies buses and passenger vehicles, in some cases, to the Govt. Sometimes, bulk quantities of vehicles are ordered by a Govt. Dept. or a private company. The sales, distribution and billing of these are looked after by the Co. itself.

Distribution
TATA, its business has been extended to the overseas i.e. to the Europe, Africa, U.S & Australia.

Hence it has n-number of showrooms in India & outside of India. itself.

The exclusive showrooms are the best distribution channels for TATA

Target Market

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 Family of four riding a scooter on wet roads Two Wheeler Market Used Cars Market second hand car user middle and lower income group people.

BIBLOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

Marketing Management Marketing Research

: Philip Kotler : D.D Sharma

MAGAZINES:

Auto car Auto India Business Today

JOURNALS:

Indian Auto Indian Marketig

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NEWS PAPERS:

The Times of India Dainik Bhashkar

WEBSITES: www.tatamotors.com www.autoindia.com www.wikipedia.com www.businesstoday.com

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