Sean McLain, Why the World's Cheapest Car Flopped; No-frills minicar gets chrome, sound system, higher price to boost appeal. Wall Street Journal, Oct 15, 2013.
(New Nano has arrived)
Quote:
Tata Motors' Nano's "low-cost automotive revolution fizzled. Selling poorly at home and with exports drying up
"If the remake fails to boost sales of the Nano, a Tata mainstay, the company's outlook could be grim. Tata Motors has been laying off workers and cutting production. Analysts say without a revival in Nano demand, Tata Motors could cut further jobs next year.
"This was the flagship product for the passenger-car market. The disappointing sales are a pretty big negative for the group," said Anil Sharma, an analyst at IHS Automotive, an industry consulting company.
"With [Nano] sales now hovering around 2,500 a month, down from a peak of about 10,000 in April 2012, that means a lot of idle capacity at the plant in the western state of Gujarat, and a lot of frustrated Tata dealers around the country.
Note: "But changing public perceptions of the Nano and turning it into something akin to the Volkswagen Beetle or the Morris Mini will take time, company executives admit."
(a) Mini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini
(Designated by Leonard Lord as project ADO15 (Amalgamated Drawing Office project number 15) and the product of the Morris design team, the Mini came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis)
That "Morris" had been from Morris Motors
(b) Morris Motors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Motors
(founded in 1912 in England by bicycle manufacturer William Morris; defunct; The adjacent former Pressed Steel site (now known as "Plant Oxford") is owned and operated by BMW, who use it to assemble the new MINI)
The last sentence talked about the lot (land, that is), not the former plant.