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New Delhi, Feb 15: Even as the site of the proposed Tata Motors factory to manufacture its Rs 1-lakh car lies under siege in West Bengal’s Singur, chairman Ratan Tata on Thursday said the car itself is ready and undergoing tooling and testing and is expected to hit the roads between October and December, 2008.
“The car is ready for production and the project is on schedule. We will launch the car some time in the third-quarter, next fiscal,” Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata group, told FE.
Italian auto major Fiat, which has a joint venture with Tata Motors to manufacture cars and transmissions, engines, had agreed to sell the new small car in Latin America and other foreign markets. Fiat would also give technical and design related suggestions to Tata Motors for the project.
“Fiat has shown interest in selling our small car in other markets where it has strong brand value. We will also welcome any suggestions of our partner Fiat on this project,” Tata said. “It’s a fine car and we will help Tata Motors in this project,” Fiat chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo added.
Tata, however, admitted the car’s pricing could suffer because of inflation. “We will try our best to launch the car with a price tag of Rs 1 lakh, but if the inflationary and input cost pressure continues, the car may cost a little higher,” Tata added. He said variants of the car would increase its marketability.
The company’s proposed Singur plant is currently under the spotlight as local farmers, led by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, are opposing land acquisition for the car factory. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has, however, reiterated that the Tata car project is irreversible.
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