Tata Nano catches fire in Lucknow, Disppointed News

Lucknow: A newly purchased Tata Nano car that was parked in a parking lot in the posh Hazratganj locality of Lucknow caught fire Tuesday evening, its owner said.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, said R.H. Rizvi, who bought the car in July from a Lucknow based dealer.


"I parked my car in the parking lot of a shopping complex and went to buy some gifts. I was shocked when the parking attendant came rushing to me within 10 minutes saying that the car is on fire", Rizvi told IANS.


In a similar incident, another Tata Nano, belled as the world's least expensive car, caught fire in Ahmedabad early Tuesday.


Technical experts blame the position of the battery for such incidents.


"The car battery is placed under the driver's seat and this is the most potential reason for these fire incidents," an engineer with Tata Motors in Lucknow said.

Tata Nano: Neither good nor bad

It's neither as good nor as bad as we were told. Advance publicity suggested both that the Tata Nano would be the most frugal mass-produced car on earth and that everyone in India would buy one. Yesterday, Tata launched its creation.

Though it consumes less than the great majority of cars, its fuel economy is a disappointment. The 101g of CO2 it emits a kilometre means it would not qualify for a band A rating in the UK, and that's before it is fitted with the heavy safety features required over here. Load those on and it is likely to be hungrier than my Renault Clio, which is among the leanest models sold here, but hardly space age. As the Nano's engine - at 624cc - is less than half the size of the Clio's, its engineering doesn't appear space age either.

On the other hand the production volumes are surprisingly small, given the breathless claims made last year. Rather than a million or more cars a year, Tata now talks of selling 100,000 this year then of switching to a new plant with a production capacity of 250,000.

It can't be the global recession: the impact in India so far has been to reduce economic growth from 9% to 7% this year. Perhaps it's because of India's notorious congestion: for most short journeys you will get there faster by bike; and this car is designed for city travel, not highways. This doesn't look as if it will become the environmental nemesis that so many predicted - especially if, as its promoters suggest, it will displace overloaded motorbikes.

What it represents, however, is more ominous. This marks the beginning of mass private transport in the world's second largest population. At the moment, India's carbon dioxide emissions a head - at 1.2 tonnes - are just 12% of the UK's. That is changing rapidly, as the middle class expands and economic growth barrels along. For years environmentalists have speculated about what would happen if consumption in the poor world matched consumption in the rich world. Now the great experiment has begun.

We are, of course, in no position to complain. Were we able to bring some evidence of self-restraint to the climate talks in Copenhagen at the end of this year we might have had some bargaining power. But the carbon cuts we have so far made at home are more than outweighed by the carbon emissions we have outsourced - to countries like India.

Designer Girish Wagh: The Whizkid who shaped Tata Nano

As published in The Economic Times on January 12th, 2008

New Delhi: When he first joined Tata Motors 16 years ago, Girish Wagh had no idea he would one day head the companys now-legendary Rs 1-lakh car project. Although he was part of the Indica vendor development team in 1997, Wagh was actually reluctant to get into full-scale product design with the Ace.

He remembers how Tata Motors MD Ravi Kant hand-picked him for the job and convinced him that it was as important as the work he was doing with the companys excellence group. That was December 2000. The Ace rolled out in May 2005 and almost singlehandedly helped beat a recession in the commercial vehicle space.

Impressed by his ability to deliver under tight deadlines, chairman Ratan Tata and Ravi Kant decided to move Wagh to the small car project in August that year. Almost painfully media shy, the Nanos strobe-steroidal launch this week was one of Waghs few public appearances.

A mechanical engineer from the Maharashtra Institute of Technology, which was followed by a post-graduate programme in manufacturing from Mumbai B-school SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, the 37-year-old Wagh has had a pretty dramatic career at Tata Motors. But nothing comes near the Nano experience. Heading a 500-strong team, Waghs biggest challenge was to define the products specifications as they went along.

Unlike the Ace where we knew what the necessary specs were, in this project all we had was a cost target, he says. That and the fact that it had to be a real car which met all the regulatory requirements.

The small car team had already put in about 18 months work by the time Wagh came on board. The R&D team was in place and work was on to get a fix on the styling, packaging, engine and transmission. Because there were no guidelines, the team used the M-800 for comparison. The idea was that we had to achieve at least this much and more, says Wagh.

As we went ahead, we redefined performance specs. As recently as nine months ago, we tweaked the engine to increase the power. The team also decided to launch the car with a manual transmission instead of the earlier-announced continuously variable transmission (CVT).

The CVT will come but the first variants will have a four-speed manual. Widely known as one of Tata Motors new bunch of engineering whiz kids, Wagh enjoys a formidable reputation in the company. A stickler for perfection and a hard taskmaster, Wagh is the first to admit that the Nano experiment had its own share of hiccups. Part of the problem was the constantly evolving design. His solution was to leverage the collective knowledge in the company.

In a somewhat hidebound company like Tata Motors thats never be easy. But then folks inside knew that this was no hypothetical project, the chairman had made it amply clear that he wanted it done. Ravi Kant also made sure the team was insulated from all these pressures. So by the time the project hit top-gear, the R&D team, vendor development team and manufacturing team were all working together, says Wagh.

That may sound easy but the ability to take inclusive decisions without losing the way is a tough call. No wonder, Tata himself is more than generous in his praise for Wagh. Girish is a terrific guy and has displayed enormous leadership qualities, he said, just after the Nano launch.

He takes over a responsibility and sees it through. Of course, no one is indispensible and Telco did go through many years of innovation without a Girish Wagh. Theres a terrific spirit in the company and we try to identify, motivate and empower that spirit. Girish is part of that process, he said.

Now that the peoples car has been unveiled, Waghs challenges are hardly over. Tata Motors must prove that the seemingly incredible design specs hold up at the manufacturing stage too. Product quality needs to be consistent too, something the firm isnt well known for. Although Wagh wouldnt say, insiders say enough quality assurance systems have to be put in place at the upcoming Singur plant.

But Thursdays high-voltage launch at the AutoExpo will no doubt ensure that Waghs career gets another turbo-charge. If the Nano manages a similar product record, it could make the self-effacing Wagh one of Indias most sought after auto engineering brains.

Indias growing importance as an ultra low-cost auto engineering hub means people like him will call the shots in the next phase of growth. For Wagh, the future is here and now.