Tata Nano On Road from 2008

Tata Motors' small car project in Singur in West Bengal has incurred a cost overrun of Rs.3 billion ($71.4 million).Tata Motors said on Saturday that its ambitious Nano project was facing cost overrun but maintained the Rs one lakh car could be rolled out from its Singur facility by Durga Puja. Company Managing Director of the company Ravi Kant, who met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee at Writers’ Buildings here, told reporters that the entire project had been reworked at the plant site at Singur due to floods last year which had led to the cost escalation.“We have already sunk in Rs 2000 crore”, Kant said, adding earlier the project cost was pegged at Rs 1700 crore. Stating that Tata Motors was fully committed to the Singur project, Kant said if everything went well as planned, then the Nano car would be rolled out from the plant during Durga Puja.“We hope to start trial production during July or August” he said. Asked whether there was a possibility of Nano being rolled out from any other plant of Tata Motors, Kant said, “Nano will be produced out of West Bengal”. Kant had visited the Singur plant yesterday to review progress and held long discussions with suppliers and vendors. The project cost rise has been attributed to "challenges" like water logging at the plant site during last year's monsoon. Tata Motors, along with auto parts suppliers, has pumped in money to raise the level of the land to prevent such situations in future.Tata plans to make 250,000 initially and expects to sell 1 million annually. The Indian auto market is very hot, as growth lifts incomes and wealth in the country. Ford, Nissan, Fiat, Suzuki, Renault are all planning to increase production in the Nano space over the next couple of years. Think of 10 million additional cars on Indian roads in five years.