A new brand of Indian car, Tata Indigo CS, will hit Bangladesh market in the next two weeks instead of popular Nano minicar of Indian Tata Motors.
Nitol-Niloy Group, local distributor of the cars, confirmed an import deal of 300 cars initially to sell the vehicle here.
“Since we're still negotiating to reduce the price of Nano, we've come up with a new plan to meet the demand of the local market,” said Abdul Matlub Ahmed, chairman of Nitol-Niloy Group.
“I hope people will go for it if the price of Nano can be kept within Tk 6.5 lakh.”
Nitol-Niloy Group targeted the middle and lower-middle income groups in Bangladesh who can afford the low-cost car.
Ahmed said the first consignment of 50 Tata Indigo-CS cars has already arrived. “Another consignment of 250 cars will arrive in a month or two."
"Either Commerce Minister GM Quader or Communications Minister Obaidul Quader will formally inaugurate the marketing of the new cars," he said.
The cars will be within the range of Tk 12 lakh to 13 lakh, Ahmed said.
“The new Indigo eCS is available in petrol and diesel engine options. We've chosen diesel option," he added.
He said the buyers can pay in instalments also. “Around 50 percent price can be paid through instalments.”
The Tata Indigo CS being the shortest sedan has the maximum length of a hatchback but it has the looks and space of a full-grown sedan.
Indian popular brand Nano was scheduled to hit the Bangladesh market by February with the first fleet of 200 Tata Nano cars.
A deal was confirmed with Tata Motors Ltd to import 2,000 Nano cars per year for the Bangladesh market.
But the local distributor of Tata is rethinking of marketing it due to depreciation of taka against dollar.
Tata Motors Ltd of India has plans to export its less fuel-consuming Nano minicars to Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar.
Tata Nano was launched in March 2009 to sell at 136,000 rupees in the Indian market.
Tata Motors later started to export the low-cost minicar to South Africa and Sri Lanka, where it is popular.
The Nitol Group has a plan to boost the annual sales of Nano in the Bangladesh market from 2,000 units to 12,000 units within the next four years.