Tata goes online for Rs 1 lakh car Nano's design

Tata goes online for Rs 1 lakh car Nano's design
Bhanu Pande, TNN
Log on to the www.tatapeoplescar.com and design your own Nano. If that’s aimed at generating buzz around ‘one-lakh car’, Tata Motors needn’t bother.

The interest in Nano is all pervasive and palpable. And that too without any proactive effort from the company. So, the online initiative must be its first ever salvo to take the brand to the next phase.

While Nano has got unprecedented attention and appreciation, it must be congratulated on another front too. The little beauty has suddenly made auto engineering and design a talking point among those with technical bent of mind. This has gone largely unnoticed amidst all the noise around the launch.

The innovation has aroused a great deal interest amongst students in auto design and engineering. The stream, which is usually lower down in the list of preferred disciplines for aspiring engineers in the country, may find many takers now.

My neighbour’s son tells me that many of his friends are evaluating auto engineering after their class 12th even if that means going overseas. “If our country can be a big force in IT, what stops it from being one in auto engineering and design,” he quizzed me. Auto experts say automobiles has always fascinated youngsters, so a statement like this from my little friend doesn’t seem out of ordinary. It’s just that Nano’s buzz may have inspired its articulation.

So if some technology institutes decided to showcase their students’ innovation at the 8th Auto Expo last week, including a hybrid car, it didn’t surprise me. This bodes well for indigenous auto-manufacturing, design and technology. While India has made a mark for itself the world over in the IT space, it’s intellectual capital in auto design and engineering is far from discovered. Perhaps, nobody thought we could do that too. Nano may dispel the notion.

For the Tata Motors, the new-found fascination for automobiles will keep the people’s car in the news right through to its launch later this year. That should bring some cheer to brand managers on the Nano.

The brand’s journey so far, has a story for marketers who may have a breakthrough launch in the pipeline. And a lesson on how to make a marketing success of a breakthrough product even before its launch. In case of Nano, it may have happened without any conscious effort. Others can plan it.

When Ratan Tata announced his ambitious project four years ago, it met with scepticism all around. However, along with it came a big bang media attention for the Rs 1 lakh car.

Rival auto companies kept the buzz alive with their respective comments on what the car would be like. “Let’s wait and see what kind of car is it going to be,” a top executive of a rival company quipped. “I suspect it would be a vanilla ‘engine-chassis with a tarpaulin cover’.” I almost believed him then. The curiosity soared as the news spread that people could have a glimpse of the people’s car at the Auto Expo.