Tata's Singur to Sanand flight lands safely

The inauguration of the Tata Nano car plant here, around 40 km from Ahmedabad, took place today, coinciding with the first monsoon winds in this region.

The Sanand plant’s capacity is presently 200-300 Nanos per day. The present yearly capacity is 2,50,000 cars, to be expanded to 3,50,000 in a year. Scope for further expansion has been provided at the location.

The plant had started trial runs since December last year. It has directly employed 2,400 individuals and as the capacity is enhanced, it and the upcoming vendor park around are expected to generate around 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The Pantnagar unit at Uttarakhand that now produces the Nano for delivery to the first 1,00,000 registered customers will continue to supplement production here. When asked if Pantnagar will continue to produce Nanos after deliveries of the first lot booked in 2009 was concluded, a Tata Motors spokesperson said, “The decision is pending.”

An upbeat Justyn Norek, design director of Trilix Design and Engineering Solutions, an Italian design firm that has worked on designing the Nano along with Tata engineers, said: “This is a milestone car, breaking all traditional concepts of car making. People in Europe are waiting for the Nano. Many who already own a car are eager to own a Nano as a second vehicle.”

If things go well, Tata Motors will start making the people’s car for Europe in a couple of years.

Commercial production was formally inaugurated in the morning in front of a battery of journalists from across the world, with Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat and the chief architect behind finding a new home to the world’s cheapest car, saying, “This is the fastest executed project in the history of the Tata Group, built in a record time of 14 months since November 2008.”

A visibly pleased Modi said: “When Ratan Tata announced in Kolkata that they are moving out of West Bengal, I sent an SMS saying, ‘Welcome to Gujarat’. It gives me great pleasure to see that my Re-1 SMS has brought Rs 2,000 crore investment to this area. Moreover, he has promised more surprises for Gujarat.”

“It was just over a year ago that we found ourselves homeless and Narendra Modi offered us shelter,” said Ravi Kant, vice-chairman of Tata Motors.

Reiterating his 2007 remark made during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit, group chairman Ratan Tata said, “I remember saying that soon there will come a day when people will say you are stupid if you are not in Gujarat. Later, I realised I was speaking for myself as well.”

Hitting a local chord by speaking in Gujarati, he added, “Aapne Gujarat na chhiye ane paachha Gujarat ma aavya chhiye (We are from Gujarat and we have finally come back to Gujarat).”