TATA MOTORS had already rebutted allegations that its Rs one lakh car, Nano, will add to air pollution in India. According to Tata Motors’ chairman Ratan Tata, the eagerly expected Nano will be 12 per cent less polluting as compared to emissions from two-wheelers.
The assistant general manager of Tata Motors also contradicted the arguments that Nano would cause congestion on roads, and said, “Even if we produce one million cars per annum over the next five years, we would not be more than four to five per cent of the vehicles on the roads. No one can argue that we would be a major contester. ”
He also said that, Tata Motors sold 1.2 million cars, 7.3 million two-wheelers and had 14.5 million cars and 80-million two-wheelers in running condition last year. The company’s plant for Nano in Singur, West Bengal, is expected to go into operation in the last quarter of 2008, despite a slowdown in work and flooding at the site.
However, the new variants of Nano are presently under development to meet new environmental and fuel price disputes, as also the needs of several international markets. The car manufacturer is ready to roll out Nano’s petrol version this year and would later introduce its diesel version.