| If you think Tata Motors just has the Nano up its long sleeve be prepared to be dazzled! India's largest automotive player hasn't let the recent financial slowdown blunt its vision or its hunger to excel in a rapidly evolving global automotive scenario. Proof of this came straight from the man who has been steering India's most respected business house into an automotive powerhouse. Adil Jal Darukhanawala, editor-in-chief of ZigWheels.com engaged Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors in a free-wheeling discussion on cars and projects beyond the Nano on the sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show. And if you are a petrol-head, don't just drool on Jags and Alfa Romeos but be prepared for Maseratis and Ferraris and even more powerful variants on the Nano theme. Seems Tata's grand auto-nomic strategy is finally beginning to pan out. Adil Jal Darukhanawala (AJD): The Tata Nano is finally set to roll down Indian roads. What would be the next challenge, once it is launched on the 23rd instant? Ratan Tata: I think the next challenge would be to live up to the peoples aspirations. To make the experience of buying, owning, servicing and supporting the Nano different from what you might have experienced. At the same time, the challenge will also be to have people understand that the Nano is not a Honda, not a Toyota. It is a low cost car and while there might not be any deficiencies, it might have some lack of refinement which will go with a low cost product, but surely won't be a deficiency as such. I don't think there's been a car in India that's planned to be produced in this kind of volume. It is therefore important for us to maintain a sustained quality from our suppliers and our own ability to meet product standards. All these issues should be very challenging. AJD: Knowing that Telco had tried to do a peoples' car in the 1960s but had to wait till two decades plus for the Indica and now the Nano to give Indians a genuine home-built product, do you sense that you would have loved to do the Nano earlier or is this the right time? Ratan Tata: I don't know because I believe everything you do has its place in time. So in the 60s, an idea of a people's car would probably have been different from what it is today. Technologies were different, it is a difficult thing for me to answer. At that time in the 60s, talking about a people's car would have been something that is alien to the marketplace. Today, you can have a people's car that can be done with confidence. So this car is... each new product has its place and time. AJD: Rajiv Dube mentioned at the launch of the Xenon that Tata Motors is suffering from a problem of plenty - I am of course referring to the sustained new model excitement, and it's a good problem to have in these days. Ratan Tata: Yes, but it also has its challenges and we need to handle them well. So that is a big challenge and I hope we can live up to the expectation. AJD: The Tata-Fiat partnership is doing well? Ratan Tata: Yes it is. It's doing what it's set up to do, and perhaps a little more. We are very happy with the relationship. It's a relationship that's not treading in rhythmic reversals. It's a very open relationship based on what we're trying to do. AJD: Is it a possibility that you could pick and choose technologies available with your partner which you still might not have in the Tata Motors portfolio? Or is it something where you still have to go about trying to license that technology? Ratan Tata: Naturally the agreement doesn't visualize gratis transfer of technology or products, but it does envisage the sharing of those openly. So we would expect that if there was some powertrain we thought would work well with our products we would certainly ask our partner and see whether it makes sense to do that given the transfer rights and licensing fees. Likewise, Sergio (Marchionne) has always made it very clear that he would like Tata Motors to be his preferred development partner and in that way we could share platforms and technology and also manufacturing practices. So the way we think, everything that Tata Motors makes and sells could be developed with Fiat. AJD: Let me bring up the subject of Pininfarina in which Tata Motors has a small stake. Having seen Tata Motors work with so many big names in product design and development, is this tie-up with Pininfarina a harbinger of change as many think it would be the sole font of design for you on a regular basis from now on? Or would you still farm out design to others like I.DE.A. and Bertone who did the Indica and the new world truck cab respectively? Ratan Tata: Very difficult to say because we have multiple sources of development. We have our own internal design group which I think has done a very admirable job, but lacks experience which we will gain over time. We also support a group of designers who were in I.DE.A. but they left and we have funded them and supported them and they do work for us on various projects. Supporting this is our own technical center in the UK which is not exactly a design centre but is used more for packaging and engineering. And we will have a relationship with Pininfarina or with Italdesign or whoever else it might be. So I think that design is an open issue and there is no exclusivity. AJD: The Prima is a fine example of what you always dreamed of having - a large saloon for India. Will it see the light of day as a series produced automobile? Ratan Tata: Yes we are striving to do just that. There is no way we could do a large luxury car today given our brand, our expertise and also low volumes. However, we could indeed develop a high-end saloon for India which is sleek yet robustly engineered. Extending this line of thought we could also contemplate a high spec version for Europe which could be built in Europe and equipped with a degree of luxury and refinement which the market expects. | 
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