Owning a car, across the world is a status symbol. Whatever may be the size of the car, owning one is considered to be an achievement. You are said to have arrived or you are on the right path.
Nano, Ratan Tata’s dream project was himself conceived by the Mega Industrial Icon when he saw a family of four riding perilously on a motorbike in heavy rain, skidding and eventually falling on the wet road. Nano, became a car much awaited and was expected to realise the car owning dream of a large section of the masses in India. Nano, the 1 lakh car was going to be a gamechanger.
Nano was launched in 2008 with much fanfare. The car looked good. Had a modern compact hatchback design, could easily accommodate four passengers, was good to drive, was fuel efficient too and alongwith the 1 lakh price tag, It was certainly a winner in the TATA stable. However after the initial euphoria around the car, the sales did not pick and as time progressed there was a continuous slide in sales downwards, and though there were emotions attached with Nano, the loss making project could not be carried forward for long and consequently Nano’s production was stopped from 2019 onwards.
What went wrong to this winner and gamechanger of a car, is a question which has been discussed at length and reasons found. However in my opinion, a slight branding error caused major damage to the reception of the car. The car was branded a cheap 1 lakh car, which did not go down well with the psyche of the potential buyers. Nano did not become a status symbol, owning it did not reflect an achievement, instead it was like owning a cheap vehicle because anything else could not be afforded. The potential buyers became wary of the ‘1 lakh tag’ and began to desist from getting identified with it. The sales had to take a beating.
Nano was not the only small compact car available in the world. A similar two seater compact car was launched in Germany in 1998, co-produced by Swatch and Daimler AG, named the Smart car. In Europe and particularly in Germany Smart became an Urban icon. Intelligent, sophisticated , attractive innovative, urbane, environment friendly, safe and also economical was the branding of the car. Its small size too was easy to manoeuvre in traffic and was a no problem parking car. The car appealed to the attitude of the buyer rather than age, profession or social status.
In hindsight Nano should have done the same, instead of pushing the 1 lakh tag, the value addition to the person owning the vehicle should have been stressed. Its easy manoeuvrability, fuel efficiency, attractive styling should have been focussed upon. Also Nano did not highlight the ‘joie de vivre’ (the enjoyment of life, exuberance of owning the vehicle), which Smart did with elan. Nano could have been ‘ Smarter ‘ , a trendsetter.
Status symbols never come cheap is a lesson learnt. And even if they come, it should not be emphasised.
However, please note that Air tickets do not fall in this category. They look pretty only when cheap.
Nice article sir. Communication is the key in today’s world.
So true. Thank you Prashant.