Not recalling Nanos: Tata Motors

Kolkata / Mumbai : Auto major Tata Motors on Wednesday defied reports on recalling Nano, billed as the world’s cheapest car.

?Basis some media reports on the Nano recall, we would like to clarify that Tata Motors is not recalling Nanos,? said Tata Motors in a statement.

?We would like to state again, as we had done in May 2010, that the Tata Nano is a safe car with a robust design, state-of-the-art components and built with an uncompromising attention to quality in all aspects.

?This has been re-established through a second analysis, conducted during the months of September and October 2010. Customers can rest assured that there are no generic defects in the Tata Nano,? the statement said.

Tata Motors claimed that its customer satisfaction studies with current Tata Nano owners indicate that about 85% are ?satisfied? or ?very satisfied? with the car, because of it being ?small yet spacious?, its performance, maneuverability, durability, low operating cost and safety.

?Some owners have taken their Nanos on country-wide trips or to altitudes like Khardungla, the world’s highest motorable road. This adequately corroborates the Tata Nano’s reliability and safety, as was seen during the validation of the car with about 300 prototypes which covered more than 2 million km of safe operation before launch,? said the statement.

The statement further said, investigation, by a team of internal and international experts, has once again concluded that the reasons for the incidents in few Tata Nano cars are specific to the cars which had such incidents.

?We have noticed instances of additional foreign electrical equipment having been installed or foreign material left on the exhaust system. It is also our belief that as we penetrate deeper, the Tata Nano will be bought increasingly by users in the hinterlands not fully familiar to cars.

?Taking all this into account, we have decided to make the car even more robust. We will do this by providing additional protection in the exhaust system and the electrical system,? the statement said.

Tata Motors said, beginning the 3rd week of November, each owner will be informed about these measures.

?Option lies with our customers on whether they would like to avail for these measures. This will be provided at no cost to customers,? the statement added.

As at the end of October, Tata Motors has delivered over 70,000 Tata Nano cars.

The company has already declared open sales in Kerala (since August), and (since October) in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

?We are receiving good response from these states. Open sales will gradually be extended state by state,? said Tata Motors.

Tata Nano is a rear-engined, four-passenger city car with a fuel efficiency of around 26 km per litre on the highway and around 22 km per litre in the city.

A brainchild of Tata group chairman Ratan Tata, it has a 33 horsepower, 623 cc multipoint fuel injection engine.

The four-door car has a length of 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres, height of 1.6 metres and adequate ground clearance.

The Nano was launched commercially on March 23, 2009.