India August 2011: Is it now really game over for the Tata Nano?

Tata Nano

* See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at end of post! *

Soft month for auto sales in India, with most consumers waiting for the festive season to purchase a new car. The Maruti Alto is of course still #1 but at its lowest volume since June 2010 with 23,170 sales. It is up 27% year-to-date on 2010 at 226,437 sales. The Maruti Wagon R and Hyundai i10 stay 2nd and 3rd with sales slightly higher than July.

With the new generation now in dealerships, the Maruti DZire (a Swift Sedan) and Swift are back to their traditional levels, respectively 4th and 5th this month. The Tata Indica/Vista is up 3 spots on July to #6 and the Honda City hits possibly its best ranking ever in India at #11 with 5,819 sales, its best volume in 12 months.

Tata Nano’s inventory had built up so much that production was stopped for most of August. These sales figures being ex-factory, the Nano is down to #35 this month with just 1,202 sales. After a first alert last November when the Nano sold only 509 units, Tata had tried giving the model a second life, with new TV ads, easier financing and an extended warranty. Didn’t work. Could it be that there are simply no buyers for the Nano?

Previous month: see the Indian July 2011 Top 50 best-sellers here.

Full August 2011 Top 50 Ranking Table and every monthly Top 40 since January 2010 below.