Ratan Tata hits the road to push Nano sales

Ratan Tata is out to do what Lee Iacocca of Chrysler Corp did some thirty years ago — go into the field to push sales of his cars, particularly the Nano.

The chairman of the steel-to-salt Tata conglomerate has embarked on a tour of the country during which he will meet with select dealers, including in non-metros and small towns.

Thursday was time for a touchdown in Nagpur.

“He was here to motivate and encourage the dealers. His visit was long due as he had promised to meet dealers in the past,” said A K Gandhi of AK Gandhi Cars, a dealer. 

The dealership is among the few in central India to have sold a significant number of the small car.

Sales of the Nano have been struggling to achieve projections. 

Hardly surprising, therefore, that the Tata chieftain is out to set things right. The Nano was his idea, after all.

Sources said the Tata chief will also meet a dealer in Bijapur, a small town in Karnataka. This dealer has also managed to ratchet up impressive sales of the Nano.

Lucknow and Guwahati, which are big markets for the company’s products, are also learnt to be on the chairman’s itinerary.

A Nagpur-based dealer said, “Tata tried meeting most of the dealers who have done well as far as Nano sales are concerned. He also interacted with some Nano customers. The objective was to understand how the Nano is doing and also review other products at the same time.”

Tata reportedly assured the dealers that the company will continue to give marketing support to Nano.

Despite several initiatives, Nano has failed to attract enough customers. Nano sales last month dropped to 3,260 units, down 64% from 9,000 units recorded in July last year.

“Nano sales are not turning out the way they were supposed to. Hence, Tata meeting the dealers can be a morale booster for the dealers, who are trying to push the sales of the product,” said an analyst who did not wish to be named.

As part of its latest initiative, the company plans to open exclusive sales outlets for Nano, especially in small towns. 

“As part of our marketing and sales infrastructure, in addition to our 617-odd regular sales outlets (of our 248 odd dealerships), we have set up Special Nano Access Points for the car. Taking this initiative forward, we are exploring appointing full-fledged dealerships, only for the Tata Nano, in small towns. This will be a continuing initiative and will be progressively deepened,” a Tata Motors spokesperson had said earlier.

The company is also banking on word-of-mouth publicity to revive Nano sales. 

“We have a satisfied set of customers owning the Nano. So, now, the positive word of mouth of the car will spread and that is how we are anticipating growth in sales,” Carl Peter-Forster, managing director and group chief executive, Tata Motors said during company’s quarterly results.