Nano may become available overseas in a year or two: Forster

Nano, the world's cheapest car made by India's Tata Motors, could be available overseas in a year or two, the company's CEO Carl-Peter Forster has said.

"We don't know yet, but in a year or two perhaps," Forster said in an interview.

"We are looking at that very carefully," he said when asked about would one be able to buy the miracle car outside India.

"Because first of all we would like to satisfy local demand. We believe that it in its current and present form a car for developing markets. So we're looking at specific developing markets. So if you're living in one of these developing markets, Asia for example, possibly Africa,possibly Latin America, you might be able to buy (in a year or two perhaps)," he said.

When asked about cases of a few Nanos catching fire, Forster said it is being investigated. "There were three or four cases. We are finding out what it is. It's a strange mix of some misuse, some after-sales equipment. And we are getting to the bottom of it. We have to find ways to protect against some of the misuse," he said.

Forster, who is upbeat about the new Land Rover rolled out by the company, said it is doing excellent. "Strong demand coming out of the recession... with extra-strong demand I would call it. We have the right product right now, strong diesel engines. Particularly Range Rover is doing fantastic."

Talking about the smallest Range Rover ever introduced he said: "We introduced a small Range Rover today, which is the smallest ever, almost two sizes smaller than the current smaller Range Rover. Great demand. Great interest. Call it - Let me call it that. It will be in the market next year."

The Tata Motor CEO said they are making money with Jaguar, Land Rover combined. "It's a combined entity. We have to look at it as a combined entity. We've made good money in the first quarter of the fiscal year, yes," he said.

"We have a great order bank. Incoming orders are slowing down a bit, but not much. A bit. But we see continued strong demand in China, which is offsetting the slowdown in a way. So we have continued to be positive," he said.

Forster denied that the company is shedding any jobs from its plants in Britain. "There are no job losses. Actually we're creating jobs," he said.

On consolidation plans Forster said, "... the idea is to basically consolidate, to take the people from the one and put them into the other and create a larger entity which would be more efficient and flexible. That is our mainstream plan. The unions are objecting. Let's say they have other ideas."

yahoo.com, Sat, Oct 2 2010