Good Example Of The Tata Nano And Car Marketing In India Essay

The Tata Nano is a car that is manufactured by Tata Motors. It is sold primarily in India, and is a very interesting car from a marketing standpoint. Understanding the marketing strategy of the manufacturers, Tata Motors, requires understanding the nature of the car itself; it is a tiny car, designed primarily for city driving (Tatanano.com). The car is relatively inexpensive by most standards, costing less than $2,000 USD. One of the most important features of the Tata Nano is the fact that the car gets excellent gas mileage—so in addition to being extremely cheap, it is relatively cheap to drive and to maintain (Tatanano.com). Because India is known for having many accidents each year, the Tata Nano is a relatively good investment insofar as economics are concerned—it is a cheap car, which gets good gas mileage, and wrecking it would not be an overwhelming loss, even for the average Indian businessman (Tatanano.com).
The Tata Nano was expected to do extremely well in the Indian car market—indeed, most predictions seemed to suggest that the car would expand the Indian car market by as much as seventy percent (BBC Top Gear). The car was initially introduced into the market in 2008, but almost immediately began to run into problems (BBC Top Gear). The potential success of the car and the Indian car market is massive—however, the price of the car seemed to keep rising, despite the fact that manufacturers tried to keep the price low.
Tata Motors itself recognizes that there have not been as many units moved as had been hoped since 2008 (Tatanano.com). In the initial press release, Tata Motors wrote, “The People's Car, designed with a family in mind, has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and headroom. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy When launched, the car will be available in both standard and deluxe versions. Both versions will offer a wide range of body colours, and other accessories so that the car can be customised to an individual's preferences” (Tatanano.com). However, the numbers provided by the manufacturer do not support the idea that the Tata Nano became the “People’s Car.” In fact, the Nano sold only 70,000 units in the first few years of production. Since the car itself does seem to be something that should be successful in the Indian marketplace, what went wrong? This is a fundamentally important question for Tata Motors, and it requires an understanding of Indian marketing to boost sales.
The first thing that must be understood insofar as the Tata Nano is concerned is that India is a growing economy. India, like China, has experienced a cultural and economic explosion in the last decade. Indians as a whole are still mostly rural and very poor, but there are people in the cities who are experiencing newfound levels of wealth that they could not have reached before. India has new goals and new aspirations, and those aspirations often involve wealth and the display of wealth.
While the Nano may be an excellent investment for the average Indian, it was touted as the “People’s Car” when it was first introduced into the market. This was not a wise move on the part of the Tata Motors company; the People’s Car idea makes the Nano seem decidedly boring and completely undesirable to people who are just starting to see and understand the appearance of wealth. The idea of providing this type of car is a good one—people in India do, of course, need an alternative to the motor scooter, which is very unsafe—but to be successful in the Indian market, the car must appear to be more of a luxury item than it was designed to be in the initial press release.
One of the excellent things about this car is the gas mileage. One thing that many Indians are becoming interested in—especially those who are living in the cities—is the environment. Environmental consciousness may not have completely permeated the society by any means, but putting forth a hip, new car to the general public with the added bonus of excellent gas mileage would almost certainly pique the interest of a number of different types of people in the Indian marketplace.
Finally, another strategy that may be utilized to help turn around the marketing for the Tata Nano is a more comprehensive social media marketing strategy. India has a huge number of people on social media sites every day, and word-of-mouth and television advertising are only part of the marketing game in today’s world. Instead, a focus on young professionals through the use of social media marketing could almost certainly assist the company that manufactures the Tata Nano, Tata Motors, with the development of a more significant market share in the Indian economy.

References

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BBC Top Gear,. 'This Is A 230Bhp Tata Nano'. N.p., 2014. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.
Gondaliya, Bhagirath D. 'Green Marketing In India'. Paripex - Indian Journal Of Research 3.3 (2012): 72-73. Web.
Tatanano.com,. 'New Tata Nano Twist - Best Mileage Small Car In India'. N.p., 2015. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.
Wright, C, and J Egan. 'De-Marketing The Car'. Transport Policy 7.4 (2000): 287-294. Web.