Tata Motors plans Nano plants in Indonesia, Brazil and east Europe

Tata Motors is exploring opportunities to open assembly lines for the Nano in Eastern Europe and Brazil, besides Indonesia, chairman Ratan Tata said on Friday.

“We are also looking at maximising the penetration of vehicles like Tata Ace along with the Nano in different geographies,” Tata told shareholders at the company’s 66th annual general meeting.

The company started exporting completely built units of Nano to Sri Lanka and Nepal this year.

The Bangkok Post in July said  Tata Motors is in talks with PT Astra International, one of Indonesia’s leading auto makers, to produce the car in that country.

In order to further boost sales in the domestic market, the company also plans to establish Nano-specific dealerships across the country.

“We are taking different initiatives to increase visibility of Tata Nano, the results of which will be seen in a few months,” said Tata.

Nano sales dropped 64% to 3,260 units in July.

On the Tata-Fiat joint venture, Tata said it is incurring losses. “There were a set of assumptions during the creation of this JV, wherein we would produce products for Fiat and vice versa.

However, those assumptions did not materialise. Both Fiat and Tata Motors are relooking at the contractual obligation, which will make sense for the both the companies. We hope to resolve the matter soon.”