In Sweden, the most bought company cars are Volvo and Saab, followed by some German brands. It seems like the professional buyers of company cars are not thinking of low cost country sourcing in the same way as buyers for other categories. I understand the challenge of sourcing the cars. Both the employee satisfaction and total cost of ownership have to be taken into account. So, how can these two criteria be fulfilled in the best way?
Imagine this; a four door car, designed in Italy and available in red. Rear engine and rear-wheel driven, just like a Porsche. Sounds pretty good, right? Employee satisfaction! In addition to this, the make of the car is the same as for Jaguar and Land Rover. Now I know what you are thinking; it is probably expensive and will not fit into the total cost of ownership budget. But, it is not expensive!
Tata Motors has produced the Tata Nano. It is a small car in the same size as the new Fiat 500 or the Smart Fortwo. But it has four doors instead and place for four people so with these advantages it is not completely comparable to the Fiat and Smart. The drawback might be the small motor with only 33 hp. On the other hand, nowadays you really cannot drive fast anymore and the top speed of 110 km/h might do it. The small motor also results in a low fuel consumption of only half a liter per 10 km. It reaches 90% of its top speed in 21 second which is very good comparing to any car. If you have more need for speed there probably will be a tuning kit available in the future.
The car is produced and sold in India and the price there will be 1700 EUR. That is like the price of two better lawnmowers. The Fiat and Smart cost approximately six times that price.
The car is available after this summer. Why not buy it for all employees? Paint it in the company colours and put the logo all over the car. What a marketing campaign at the same time. When buying a large volume I also suppose there will be some room for negotiations.
June 13, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Most TCO calculations lack the vanity factor …
Good Post … but unfortunatly the most TCO calculations do not take the vanity factor in consideration. How else could you explain, that there are still Ferraris driving in Swden (a very depressing picture, seeing these cars bound to a 110 km/h speeding limit).
Anyway, imagine an excellent sales guy in a negotiation with two HR departments. Both are offering him almost the same salary, but one company offers him a SAAB or an Audi, the other one a TATA motors car in the new company colours … I know sales guys and I know, where this guy will start. The SAAB/Audi company will get him, here he will increase the turnovers massivly … and not for the TATA company. In this case, the vanity factor really has to be taken in consideration
June 24, 2008 at 10:44 am
[...] During autumn Tata motors launches the “Nano”, a full operational car sold for 1500 Euro (click here to see a earlier blog entry). This could become a similar success story as the Tin Lizzy, the [...]