Nano: A promise Tata made and delivered it

New Delhi: The former Tata Group chairman, Ratan Naval Tata breathed his last at south Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital on Wednesday.

Tata, oversaw the growth of Tata Motor’s passenger vehicle segment. He was known as the father of Indica and Nano cars. With Tata Nano, popularly known as Rs 1 lakh car, he aimed to turn the populace into car owners. However, the decision did not turn out to be a massive success story as hoped by Tata Motors. Ratan Tata, however, said that he was still proud of the car, Hindustan Times reported.

“I remember seeing a family of 4 on a motorbike in the heavy Bombay rain — I knew I wanted to do more for these families who were risking their lives for lack of an alternative. By the time we launched the Nano, our costs were higher, but I had made a promise, and we delivered on that promise. Looking back, I’m still proud of the car and the decision to go ahead with it,” Ratan Tata told Humans of Bombay in 2020. In an Instagram post in 2022, he spoke about Tata Nano, and said that the company was initially thinking of how to make two wheelers safe, but eventually decided to work on a design for a car.