Tata Nano struggling with slow sales

"The world's cheapest car" was a cult hit at first, but it has suffered from safety concerns and what critics call poor marketing and competition from a flood of slightly more expensive cars.

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Tata Co. Chairman Ratan Tata announces the newly launched Tata Nano at an auto expo in New Delhi in January 2008. India's Tata Motors was unveiling its much anticipated $2,500 car, a price tag intended to bring car ownership into the reach of millions of people around the world.

Saurabh Das / AP

An interior view of the Tata Nano.

Carlos Osorio / AP

Employees of Tata Motors work on the assembly line of a Nano car during the June 2010 inauguration of the Nano plant in Sanand, India.

Ajit Solanki / AP

Members of the media look at the newly launched Tata Nano car at an auto expo in New Delhi in January 2008.

Mustafa Quraishi / AP

The Tato Nano is shown off at the 79th Geneva Car Show on March 3, 2009. Sales are so slow that the Nano is barely seen on Indian roads. About half a dozen Nanos have burst into flames, with fires starting in the exhaust or electrical systems, since April 2009.

Valentin Flauraud / Reuters

The Tata Nano Europa at the 79th Geneva Car Show on March 4, 2009.

Denis Balibouse / Reuters

Nano cars at a Tata Motors manufacturing plant in Sanand, India. Sales of the Nano plunged by 85 percent in November, compared with a year earlier, according to news reports.

Ajit Solanki / AP

Tata Co. Chairman Ratan Tata stands alongside the Nano at its launch in Mumbai on March 23, 2009. For India's newly middle class, owning a car is the ultimate sign of status, and the Nano is synonymous with something cheap, said Ashish Masih, assistant editor of India's edition of What Car? magazine. "It's seen as a poor man's car," said Masih. "People don't want to take that image along with them. If they change that feeling, sales might pick up again."

Rajanish Kakade / AP

The interior of a Tata Nano.

/ Reuters

Tata Motors is trying to revive the Nano's fortunes. Debasis Ray, head of corporate communications for the company, says it has launched a comprehensive marketing push and added a free four-year manufacturer's warranty.

Emily Wax / The Washington Post

Indian actress Jeniffer Kotwal poses with the final design of the Goldplus Nano car at its unveiling ceremony in Bangalore on Dec. 24, 2010.

Aijaz Rahi / AP

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