In my book ‘Slingshot’, one of the case studies presented is about Tata’s Nano – which aimed to attract a significant customer base in India. The idea was to make the world’s most affordable car, and capture the upwardly mobile Indian population that was transporting their families on mopeds and motorcycles. The implementation of this bold idea failed to gain traction since Nano’s debut in 2009, due to a string of miscalculations and mishaps. The Nano’s journey is a strong reminder that a good strategy is only as good as its implementation. But Tata has not given up.
On May 19th Tata launched the first major upgrade of the Nano under the name GenX, with high expectations. New features include an automatic transmission, as well as a hatch that opens, which customers were demanding.
According to the article in Business-Standard.com: “Targeted at city buyers who are looking for cheaper automatics as a solution for congested traffic conditions the GenX Nano will feature a built-in creep feature, which helps the car to crawl as soon as the pressure is eased off the brake pedal, without pressing the accelerator.
‘The build quality too has improved. This is an attempt by the company to shed the cheap car tag associated with the Nano and make the vehicle a regular car’, said an analyst. “
