What was the inspiration behind Tata Nano? Ratan Tata reveals

Tata Nano, one of the most affordable cars witnessed by the Indian auto industry, was a special project for Ratan Tata, the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons. In his latest Instagram post, Tata reminisces the Nano, revealing what was the inspiration behind creating such a vehicle. The business magnate said that Nano was meant to be a car for “all our people", implying that it was for anyone and everyone.

Tata said that when he constantly saw Indian families on scooters, often with a child sandwiched between the mother and father, and often on slippery roads, he wanted to create something for them. At first, he and his team were trying to figure out how to make two wheelers safer and this led Tata to doodling on the idea. Being from the School of Architecture, he had a knack for doodling when free.

But while he was at it, the doodle turned out to become a four wheeler with no windows, no doors, and just a basic dune buggy. “But I finally decided it should be a car. The Nano, was always meant for all our people," Tata wrote in the post.

Launched in 2008, Tata Nano became a part of many households in the country before it was discontinued in 2018 due to low sales of the model. At the time of launch, Tata Motors planned to sell 250,000 units of the vehicle per year. However, the maximum sales ever achieved by Nano was 74,527 units during FY 2011-2012. Post this, sales declined rapidly year after year, leading to a negligible market share of the car.

Earlier this year, Tata took delivery of a custom-made Nano electric vehicle that was modified using an electric powertrain supplied by Electrodrive Powertrain Solutions Private Limited (Electra EV). The company has also supplied a limited number of converted Nano electric vehicles, called NEO EVs to Bengaluru-based last-mile mobility service - SainikPod Sit & Go.