Competitors of Tata Nano Car

Rival car makers including Bajaj Auto, Fiat, General Motors, Ford Motor, Hyundai and Toyota Motor have all expressed interest in building a small car that is affordable to more middle-class consumers in emerging markets. The bulk of demand there is for small cars because people are much more sensitive to fuel prices.

Honda and Toyota are leading the way on so called cleaner gasoline-electric hybrids, and some environmentalists argue getting prices down on these technologies is where efforts should be concentrated. Inexpensive and eco-friendly electric-cars like Tara Tiny, Oreva Super (both reportedly even cheaper than Tata Nano) and REVA pose even more significant danger to Nano. There are also rumors of Maruti Suzuki introducing a lower priced version of Alto to counter Tata Nano.

Singur factory pullout of Tata Nano Car

After much speculation, Tata Motors announced on May 19, 2006 that it will be manufacturing Tata Nano from Singur, West Bengal. However, within a week protests were started by a few farmers in the area against the acquisition of their lands by Tata. The cause was taken up by Mamata Banerjee, the leader of Trinamool Congress. The situation escalated with Tatas threatening to pull out, and disruption of compensation for farmers who had volunteered to sell their land by anti-acquisition activists. This was followed by a state-wide bandh by Trinamool Congress in October. The government banned political parties from holding meetings or processions at Singur and installed a huge police force there. There was widespread violence in the clashes between the police and the farmers on December 2, 2006.

On December 4, 2006 Mamata Banerjee entered into a hunger strike. A 48-hour strike was later called by her to protest the death of Tapasi, a Save Farmland Committee campaigner, whose burnt body was found at the Nano plant site in Singur. Two CPMactivists were later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder. On the 24^th day of her strike, Banerjee was given oxygen support and finally called off her fast after appeals from the then President Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

As the protests over the land continued in 2007, Ratan Tata accused that the competitors had a role in the controversy. The acquisition of land was initially criticised in February 2007, but later approved by the Calcutta High Court in 2008. As political unrest and rains hampered the construction, Tata Motors delayed the launch of Nano to September 2008.

Violence continued throughout 2008  and on September 2, 2008, Tata Motors announced that they have suspended work at Singur. On October 2, 2008 Tata Motors announced that they are pulling out of Singur. On October 7, 2008, it was announced that the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi had signed an MoU with Tata Motors for allocating land for Nano factory in Sanand in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat.