The Tata Nano has had a roller coaster start to its life. It garnered great interest when it was launched as the cheapest new car in the world, costing around $2300.

That certainly helped push sales, with Tata selling 9000 units in July 2010. However, after a few vehicles caught fire and concerns over its safety became public, sales took a plunge and resulted in just 509 units sold in November.

Now it seems Tata has addressed the safety and reliability concerns for its city runabout, and along with good finance deals to tempt more people into their showrooms, Tata is now doubling production to met demand. Their hope is to sell 20,000 units per-month for the next fiscal year. Only time will tell if their plan works out.

There are no plans for a North American launch anytime soon.

[Source: Autocar]

Remember the Tata Pixel concept at Geneva? If not, this link should help refresh your memory…or, you can wait until your next European vacation, where you’ll be seeing the tiny little Pixel on the streets.

Tata Motors has green-lit the Pixel for production and sale in Europe, replacing the previously-planned Nano Europa, which was just an upscale and alloy-wheeled version of their cheap-as-chips Nano. The production version will lose the chintzy scissor doors and electronic gauges, but will retain the rear-mounted 1.2-liter diesel, five-speed gearbox, and sub-10-feet dimensions.

A production date has not been announced, but this news from Tata shows that they are eager to push it through quickly.

[Source: Autoblog]

If the maker of the world’s cheapest car does move ahead with plans to sell it here in the U.S., the sticker price won’t be the $2,000 figure that the car retails for in its home market of India.

Instead, says Tata Motors chairman, Ratan Tata, the Nano city car would likely range between $7,000 and $8,000. Tata made the comments recently at an event held at Cornell University, where he is an alumnus.

The reason for the higher price, says Tata, is that the car, “…will still be, in comparative terms, a car that the U.S. would accept.” In other words, it will have far more equipment than the base $2,000 Nano, which doesn’t even come with heat or air conditioning.

Previously, Tata had said the company would have the Nano on sale in the U.S. by 2012.

[Source: NYT]

Tata has been trying to dip its toe into the wild, wacky world of the European automobile market ever since they released their $2,500 Nano supermini. They made an attempt at appeasing discerning European customers with the Nano Europa, an “upscale” Nano with alloy wheels, power steering, and an extra cylinder (bringing the total to three).

But the Pixel, shown at Geneva, is Tata’s most dedicated effort yet. A slick, white little egg, the Pixel is only 10 feet long but can still seat four, who enter through upward-opening scissor doors. The small size enables the Pixel to turn within its own space – it rotates the rear wheels in separate directions, thanks to what Tata calls a “Zero Turn toroidal traction-drive Infinitely Variable Transmission,” whatever that means. Result: its manuverability in parking is perfectly matched for the city streets of Europe.

Inside, the Pixel features smartphone connectivity through “My Tata Connect,” which allows the driver to control the car’s functions from his phone. And the driver will be in control of a 1.2-liter three-cylinder turbodiesel engine that is expected to return more than 60 miles per gallon.

If Tata is serious about selling the Nano in Europe, and eventually America, then the Pixel indicates the direction they’re planning to take their next small car.

[Sources: Autoblog, Tata]

Jaguar and Land Rover are in talks with Chinese carmaker Great Wall over a potential manufacturing partnership in China, according to two executives from Great Wall.

While nothing is certain at this stage, what’s clear is that Jaguar and Land Rover are two internationally-recognized brands that do not have any manufacturing presence in China, one of the world’s largest markets and a major source of sales for the two brands. Meanwhile, competitors Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW have all found partners in China, leaving parent company Tata Motors alone at the prom.

“The two companies are exploring opportunities for a cooperative effort. Senior executives of Jaguar and Land Rover came over and visited our plant earlier this month,” said the executives. “It’s fair to say that contacts between the two parties have already passed the initial stage, but no final decision has been reached so far.”

After Jaguar and Land Rover lost money during their messy sale to Tata, the Chinese market helped turn them around to the tune of approx. $434 million in profits in the last quarters of 2008. The market was the fastest-growing for the company in 2010, with a staggering increase of 95 percent. With these results, it’s only logical that Jaguar and Land Rover will seek to solidify their growth in the Chinese luxury segment while Great Wall builds mass-produced sedans and trucks.

[Sources: Automotive News, Reuters]

Five consecutive quarters of being “in the black” has paid off for Jaguar Land Rover. The luxury automaker is set to make over a billion pounds in profit ($1.6 billion) after strong sales around the world, especially in Asia.

In the last three months of 2010, the company netted a record profit of $440 million. Just a year ago, in the same quarter, Jaguar Land Rover made “only” $88 million. In America the company announced a 48% and 16% increase in growth for Jaguar and Land Rover, respectively. It’s also been a long time since 2009, when JLR was nearly forced to seek a bailout from the U.K. government. This impressive increase reflects the turnaround that the company has made since it was sold off by Ford to Tata Motors; think Alan Mulally is kicking himself over in Dearborn?

To reflect this growth and keep its momentum, JLR will increase production from 232,000 vehicles a year to over 300,000, as well as hire new engineers around the world.

[Source: The Telegraph]

Earlier this week both the United Kingdom and China signed business deals reported to be worth around 2.6 billion pounds ($4 billion). A part of those deals included arrangements to sell more Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles in China.

Jaguar Land Rover, which is currently a unit of the Indian conglomerate Tata Corp, has committed to sell around 40,000 vehicles in the world’s largest auto market, in a deal alone worth 1 billion pounds ($1.53 billion).

The deals were signed after a visit to Britain by China’s vice premier Li Keqiang. Other large deals were also announced following the VP’s visits to Spain and Germany.

The Jaguar Land Rover deal, according to that firm’s CEO Ralf Speth, “not only signals the acceleration of our growth plans but also reflects both the importance of the Chinese market to Jaguar Land Rover and our value to the UK economy.”

Jaguar-Land Rover currently has three manufacturing plants in the United Kingdom, one in Halewood, Liverpool (a former Ford factory) and two in the West Midlands, Castle Bromwich and Solihull.

The current British Government , despite enacting austerity measures to stimulate economic recovery, including major slashes in public spending, hopes that the China deal will help spur growth at home.

[Source: Reuters]

Despite being hailed as the vehicle that would motorize a billion-strong economic powerhouse, the Tata Nano has turned out to be a spectacular flop, with November sales totalling just 509 units, from a peak of 9,000 units in July. For comparison, Mercedes-Benz cars, far beyond the reach of a majority of India’s population, regularly sells over 500 cars a month.

Quality problems have dogged the Nano, and are blamed for the disastrous sales decline. Numerous Nanos have gone up in flames, prompting Indian consumers to stay away for the $2,257 car. Despite the Nano’s troubles, parent company Tata motors has had a phenomenal financial year, with a 100-fold increase in profit and a share price increase of 78%.

[Source: Economic Times]

Rumors have been circulating that Jaguar is going to bring a new concept to the Paris Auto Show, dubbed the C-X75 – and that’s all the information we have.

Despite a supposed rollout of new product, including a small sports car and a BMW 3-Series rival, the C-X75 will be a design study first and foremost, showcasing the new themes and design languages that will be present on future Jag’s. Other rumors have indicated that this model will eventually morph into a new entry level roadster model, designed to compete with the Porsche Boxster and help the British automaker meet increasingly strict emissions regulations.

Check out our Paris Auto Show page for coverage of the Jaguar C-X75′s unveiling this Thursday, September 30th.

[Source: TopSpeed]

Land Rover‘s new Range Rover Evoque two-door SUV is on a publicity blitz ahead of its deubt at the Paris Auto Show, and details are begging to emerge.

Rather than the usual 8-cylinder powerplant, the Evoque will use a 2.0L Ecoboost 4-cylinder, dubbed the Si4, which makes 240 horsepower.  Land Rover will likely have to resort to some creative marketing to sell customers on the idea of a 4-cylinder, even if it’s likely more than adequate for urban driving.

A 2.2L turbodiesel has also been announced, but power figures haven’t been announced yet beyond the 187 horsepower number. The torque figures will be far more important, and expect this engine to be sold in most of the Evoque’s 160 world markets, but not the United States.

Gallery: Range Rover Evoque

[Source: Land Rover]

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