Tata Nano was initially positioned as the world's most affordable car, targeting lower and middle income families in India. However, this price-based positioning strategy failed as lower prices in India are associated with lower quality. Issues like cars catching fire further damaged perceptions of Nano's quality. To revive the brand, Tata repositioned Nano with a focus on features rather than price, targeting it as a "smart city car." They improved quality, expanded distribution networks to smaller towns, and launched new promotional campaigns. This case study demonstrates the importance of developing effective positioning strategies and understanding customer behavior for long-term brand success in India's automobile market.

1. 09/23/16
POSITIONING IS INEVITABLE –
A CASE STUDY OF TATA
NANO
Presented By:
Rishi Raj(15201018)
Sadananda Tadingi(15201022)
Netra Majhi(15201036)
1

2. 09/23/16
The TATA Group : Company History
•
Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868 as trading company
•
First steel mill, power utility, luxury hotel and international
airline
•
By 2011, 98 companies over 7 sectors.
•
Company seen as Inspired trust & a strong commitment to
ethics
•
By TATA Code of Conduct, TATA promised to improve the
quality of life and Nano is a prime example.
2

3. 09/23/16
Objectives of the case
•
To comprehend the positioning strategy adopted by Tata
Nano in India
•
To determine the reasons for failure of positioning strategy
adopted by Tata Nano in India
•
To understand the rationale behind the repositioning of Tata
Nano
3

4. 09/23/16
Tata Nano -History and Origin
•
Nano was unveiled in the 9th
Annual Auto Expo on 10th
January 2008 at
Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India
4
Awards Awarding Organization Year
Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY)
award.
Instituted by leading automotive magazines in India, in association
with JK Tyre
2009
Business Standard Motoring
Indian car of the year
Business Standard 2010
Good Design Award Museum of Architecture and Design together with The European
Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies
2010
Gold prize in the Best New
Product segment
Edison Awards. 2010
Best Car Advertisement of the
Year Award
Bloomberg UTV , Autocar India Awards 2011

5. 09/23/16 5
Tata Nano –Positioning Strategy
•
The target customers for Tata Nano were lower and middle income families, who
aspire to upgrade to 4- wheelers from being 2-wheeler users.
•
Management at Tata Motor’s tried to focus on the price factor and developed
“Price Positioning Strategy” for Tata Nano.
•
Tata Nano tried to position itself as the most Affordable Car in the world.
•
The former Chairman of Tata, Mr. Ratan Tata, has envisioned Tata Nano to
become a “People’s car.”
•
The car was positioned as a people’s car since it offers comfort and affordability
to every person but inadvertently Tata Nano got positioned as the “Poor Man’s
Car” and “Cheap Car”.
5

6. 09/23/16
Failure of Positioning Strategy
•
Tata Nano was positioned on the price attribute dimension and was
widely publicized as the world's cheapest car at 1 lakh.
₹
•
In India price serves to signal quality i.e higher price serves to signal
higher quality and lower price serves to signal lower quality to the
customer.
•
Nano catching fire, which further weakened the trust for the brand
‘Nano’ .and people further believed that low price is because of low
quality.
•
Tata Nano’s distribution system was not also consistent with its
positioning strategy .The Nano did not have a large enough dealer
network in the rural areas and smaller towns .
6

7. 09/23/16
Nano catching fire(New Delhi)
7

8. 09/23/16
Tata’s Strategies for Revival
•
Tata Motor’s tried to correct its 4P’s , Firstly Tata Nano was re-engineered to fix
the issues related to the fire and customers were offered free safety upgrades for,
their Nano.
•
Secondly In September 2010, Tata Nano tried to reach its target segment through
electronic media channels but the advertisements have unfortunately been
featureless and catering again to the theme of affordability.
•
Tata motors also placed a new and unconventional distribution system, Tata
Motor’s set up 210 'F Class showrooms', each only about 500 sq ft in size and
stocking just one car in smaller towns, and hired 1,200 people to man them.
•
Management at Tata Motor’s tried to correct mistakes like promotion, distribution
and financing.
8

9. 09/23/16
•
Tata Nano, decided to create a new niche for itself in august 2013 , by
managing to move away from tag like the “world’s cheapest car to "smart city
car“
1. Visual artistic and basic features positioning strategy :
•
Tata Motor’s have repositioned Tata Nano by boasting of some “intelligent
features” like power steering option, improved interior and exterior of the car
and improved fuel efficiency and additional features like remote keyless
entry, twin glove boxes, and a four-speaker Amphi Stream music system with
Bluetooth, USB and auxiliary connectivity.
•
The new Nano is available with new personalization kits- Jet, Alpha, Remix,
and Peach.
2. Promotional campaign positioning strategy:
•
Tata Nano’s new campaign called ‘celebrate awesomeness’ is becoming
popular among youngsters.
9
Repositioning Strategy

10. 09/23/16 10

11. 09/23/16 11
11

12. 09/23/16 12

13. 09/23/16
Conclusion
•
Nano's positioning as a "cheap" car killed the aspirational
element in the car and the performance of the model has been
terribly underwhelming over the years.
•
Although Tata Motor’s tried to correct its 4Ps it could not
help Tata Nano to get the success.
•
So finally after four years of it commercial launch,
understanding the inevitability of positioning management
repositioned Tata Nano as a "Smart City Car“.
13

14. 09/23/16
Learning’s and Implication for the
Automobile Companies in India
1. Learning-1:
•
A sound understanding of consumer behaviour is essential to the long
run success of the brand.
•
Tata motor failed to understand the emotional need of their customers
since India's middle class want cheap cars, but they don't want cars that
seem cheap.
2. Learning-2:
•
Developing an effective positioning strategy is inevitable nowadays for
any organization.
•
Tata Motor’s failed to develop a proper positioning for Nano as a result
of which it got wrongly positioned as world’s cheapest car.
14

15. 09/23/16
Thank You!!
15