Tata Nano Booking Starts in Four States

Tata Motors Ltd on Tuesday began accepting spot bookings for the Nano, billed the world's cheapest car, in four states. Unlike earlier, when buyers were selected through a draw at the launch, the Nano will now be available for a test drive and immediate bookings in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka, the country's largest auto maker said in a statement. It launched open sales of the Nano in Kerala in August. Tata Motors launched the Nano in March 2009 but owing to production constraints, decided to select 155,000 buyers through a computerized draw and did not accept bookings after that. The cars were to be delivered in two phases.

In July, the company said it would ramp up production of the Nano as its factory in Sanand, Gujarat, turned operational ahead of schedule. It also began intimating retainee buyers that their cars would be delivered by the end of the year-which Tata said was the final step before it opened up sales of the Nano. Retainee buyers refers to those who were selected in the draw but had been left out of the first round of deliveries of the ultra compact car in 2009. The same month, Tata Motors hiked the ex-showroom price-excluding taxes, insurance and other such costs-of the Nano by '3,700-6,894 in Delhi. The first 100,000 customers, though, are protected from the hike and will get their Nanos at the announced price of '1.23-1.72 lakh. Tata Motors has sold 67,752 Nanos since it began delivery in July 2009.
Source: Tata Motors Ltd