First ‘test’ Nanos roll out from Uttarakhand

[hari]

Pune, April 23 The first two test units of the Nano have just rolled out from a new assembly line at Tata Motors' Uttarakhand plant that is now nearly ready, suggesting that commercial production of the small car will actually begin at Pantnagar nearly a month before it begins at Singur.

These are the first units of the small car to be actually made on the assembly line as against R&D prototypes that were showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo earlier this January. According to a source, some 70 more such test vehicles will be produced to test the assembly line that is being installed at a cost of around Rs 300 crore and is now around 80 per cent complete.

Testing drill

The cars will be subjected to extensive testing before trial production will begin, to be followed by commercial production by September, he said, adding that at full ramped up capacity the plant can produce 60,000 cars a year.

Responding to a question on this, a Tata Motors spokesperson said, "As stated earlier, there will be satellite plants for the car, locations of which will be announced in due course."

He also said, "Tata Motors has always said that it is setting up the first plant for the Tata Nano at Singur in West Bengal, and the Nano will be rolled out from Singur. As per our timeline at present, trial production at Singur will start in June-July, when equipment will get tested out, and commercial production will start around October."

Pantnagar plant

Currently, the Pantnagar plant produces some 700-800 vehicles on the Ace platform per day, including the people carrier 'Magic'. The CNG variant of the Ace is also due soon. The Ace is also produced at Pune, but in smaller numbers, and its production is slated to be moved out from here entirely over the next few months.