Jeh. Atom. Indi-One. These were some of the possible names for Tata Motors? Rs 1-lakh car that were doing the rounds before its launch. By Thursday morning, the day of the launch, there were even jokes about ?J? being about the ?jealousy? writ large on every competitor?s visage. At the unveiling ceremony at Delhi?s Auto Expo, Ratan Tata recalled the sheer volume of unsolicited advice that had poured in for the car?s name. Some people suggested Pachauri, he recounted, as an ironic move to neutralise criticism from the lobby of environmentalists led by RK Pachauri that worries about more emissions from so many more cars on Indian roads. Others said Tata should call it Mamta, since Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee had made life so difficult for the Bengal government for okaying the company?s plant in Singur. Or, if not Mamta, then Despite Mamta. ?But,? he added, amidst the laughter, ?we are calling it the Tata Nano.?
The secret
Tata group chairman Ratan Tata, at the unveiling of the Tata Nano on Thursday, had a barrage of questions to face from the media over the car?s exact pricing. He admitted that since the project started four years ago, there had been a steep increase in input cost. ?But a promise is a promise,? he declared, to emphasise the continuing validity of the famed ?Rs 1-lakh? tag. The price, therefore, had been kept at Rs 1-lakh plus Vat and transportation cost. The media, however, was not satisfied with that. Later, at the press conference, when a scribe asked about margins, Tata had a counter-question??What?s the margins of your newspaper??
