Tata Motors to rope in Accenture for Nano firefight, strategy review

New Delhi: Dwindling sales of Nano, coupled with recent incidents of the car going up in flames, have led Tata Motors seek professional help to fix the myriad problems.

Industry sources told FE that the company is roping in global consultancy firm Accenture to review issues pertaining to production, quality standards and supply chain management. Accenture would also identify new growth markets for Tata Motors to resurrect brand Nano and push its sales.

"The company would have to re-look at its strategy from scratch for which they are seeking professional help," an industry source said, adding that over the past one month senior officials have been in close touch with Accenture division heads to give steam to a new strategy and identify possible production-related loopholes. "The aim is to review the overall processes within Tata Motors and compare it with its rivals," the source said. However, when contacted a Tata Motors spokesperson denied any such move by the company.

Tata Nano has seen total sales nosedive from 9,000 units in July to just 509 units in November, down 85% from the previous year.

"The company is fighting a battle on two fronts -- engineering and marketing. Today, the nature of the market is such that if the company takes too long to fix the problem, it could run the risk of losing prospective customers," said an auto analyst.

Tata Motors has explained the declining sales of Nano to the fact that it is still in the process of opening up its dealerships on a pan-India level. "All these initiatives will be done across the country, as we expand open sales. Sales will increase, as we go on covering states," the company has said.

As reported by FE earlier, top Tata Motors executives would be meeting later this month to devise a new plan to become a global automaker. The ones slated to attend the meet would include vice-chairman Ravi Kant, group CEO Carl-Peter Forster and managing director (India Operations) PM Telang.

Source: Agencies