9 Apr : Bookings for Tata Motors’ much-waited small car ‘Nano’ started across the country on Thursday and will continue till 25th April."Bookings (for the Nano) began today morning and we hope the response will be encouraging," a Tata Motors spokesperson told a news agency in Mumbai.
The sale of application forms for the Nano started on 1st April and the response has been "very encouraging", the company said in a statement.The Tata Nano website has recorded over five crore hits, including over two crore hits in the fortnight since the Nano’s launch on 23rd March, the statement said.
The application forms were sold through over 30,000 locations in about 1,000 cities pan-India through Tata Motors’ passenger-car dealerships, State Bank of India branches as also through those of its subsidiaries and associates and other preferred financiers.
The forms were also sold through Tata group companies such as Westside, Croma, World of Titan and Tata Indicom.
Within 60 days of closure of bookings on 25th April, Tata Motors will process and announce the allotment of 1,00,000 cars in the first phase of deliveries, through a computerised random selection procedure.
The one lakh allotments would be price-protected for the launch prices till delivery of the cars, but the booking amount would not bear any interest for the customers.
Deliveries will commence from July 2009, Tata Motors said. Applicants have the option to retain their booking deposit, even if they do not get allotment in the first phase.
Those who choose this option would be eligible for interest on their deposit, effective from the date of announcement of allotment of the second phase, at a rate of 8.5 per cent for the retention period between one year and two years and 8.75 per cent for a period of more than two years, the company statement added.