When one talks about new product management, it appears that these range of Vehicles have found a very important - even noble - slot to fill. However, here are the shortfalls I have seen in this promotion - if one can label it that. 1. Reputation. For most people in the world, the car is the most important purchase after a home and people tend to be cautious about the purchase of one. Without a brand name backing the product, I'm not sure how many will be ready to shell out Rs.100,000 on an experiment. 2. Promotion: Thanks to the no frills approach of the management team of Tara, the photos above felt like the car had been photographed in a mom and pop garage. The employees posing for this look like daily wage workers rather than factory workers or management. Compare this with the promotion enjoyed by Tata Nano. 3. Lack of glamour: Perception is very important when it comes to Cars. Like it or not - most people are evaluated by how they travel along with where they live in the society. To put it in another way - Most people will not buy a "poor man's car". Most people will buy a "cool" car. The Nano has understood this very and hence the scale of glamor in it's marketing. In case of Tara - for all it's good intentions - they've got this all wrong. 4. There is no safety information - a big no-no in a car promotion. How is this different from a golf cart? 5. There is no information on its road readyness. 6. Lack of plan B during Load shedding.
