No No Nano

Tata's 'sorry' just won't do, says Nano owner: "Mulund resident Satish Purushottam Sawant is still shaken by the March 21 incident, in which he and his family narrowly escaped death in their brand new Tata Nano. If there's anything that rankles the Sawants even more, it's the absence of an apology from Tata Motors.

"But for a formal 'we regret the inconvenience', in its letter to us, Tata Motors has not apologised to us verbally or in writing. They [Tata], have insulted us," Sawant said. Tata Motors has offered to compensate the Sawants with a replacement or a refund of the entire amount paid for the burnt car, but the Sawants are not pleased.

'Deepankar Tiwari, regional manager (west) of Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors trivialised the incident by telling me about how he had fallen off a bicycle when he was a kid and then later rode it, overcoming his fear! Then, Tata Motors' official, Amit Joshi, told me that it was a pre-production car, which Concorde Motors was not supposed to sell to any customer,' said an agitated Sawant. �

According to the vehicle's Acknowledgement Delivery Note, the year of manufacture has been shown as 2009, but Tata's spokesperson, Deba-shish Ray, had said that the car was actually manufactured in 2008."