Nano on course for Durga Puja launch

Tata Motors' Nano "� the Rs 1 lakh car "� rollout from its Singur factory would coincide with the Durga Puja in October, said Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant.

Briefing the media after a three-hour tour at the project site, Ravi Kant said the trial production would commence in June-July and after a month or two, regular production would begin. "Commercial production, that is the real thing, will start in October, around the Durga Puja time," he said.

He reiterated that the timeline was being maintained and said, "We have always said that we would launch the vehicle in the second half of the next financial year, which starts from April 1, 2008. That means we have maintained the timeline and today we are maintaining the same."

"We will try to finish everything before the trial production," he said.

Ravi Kant also pointed out that there were lots of challenges and Tata Motors, along with Shapoorji Pallonji, which is constructing the mother plant, and the West Bengal government were working to put an action plan to ensure that the production was not hampered.

"The equipment is now beginning to come and we will start putting up the equipment. Weld shop, press shop, paint shop, assembly shop, engine shop are all priority area. Plus the service areas are all being worked out and we do hope that things go on, barring very unforeseen circumstances such as the rains we had," said Kant.

He explained that if there were rains for the next six days, it would then hamper work. "So we are trying to see what we can do because, as you know, it was a low-lying area and we require a lot of lifting of the floor, lot of earth filling, dredging of the canal has to be done," said Kant.

Tata Motors showcased Nano on January 10, 2008, at the auto show in Delhi and the company plans to produce 2.5 lakh units of Nano from Singur in the first phase.

Tata Motors would make an investment of Rs 1,500 crore, while the investment from vendors was to the tune of Rs 2,200 crore. Around 55 vendors had been roped in for the project.