Tata Motors puts diesel Nano plan on back burner

PUNE: Tata Motors will not be driving in a diesel engine powered Nano in the near future owing to issues related to "refinement and economics".

The company, which is expected to launch the GenX Nano soon, had developed a 2-cylinder 800 cc diesel engine that was also aimed at powering the small car but it has decided against using it for the time being.

"The reason is that as we stand now, refinement is a challenge and what refinement can be given on this kind of a car (Nano) won't be acceptable to the Indian customer," Tata Motors senior vice president (Programme, Planning & Project Management, Passenger Vehicles) Girish Wagh told PTI.

"We need to do significant amount of work on improving the refinement," he added.

"Economics is also a challenge ... When diesel price comes to its natural level, all the price advantage will go. Although it has higher fuel efficiency, meeting higher emission norms in diesel is more costly ... Therefore, below a particular price level, diesel making economic sense both for the customer and the OEM is very difficult," Wagh said.

Tata Motors