Prospective customers of Tata Motors' Nano are keen on owning a 2009 model compared to a September 2008 make hence prompting the auto major to schedule more deliveries in the New Year.

Although this could alter Tata Motors' deadline of rolling out the small car in the last quarter of this calendar year, it is believed that the company will space the schedules so that there are fewer deliveries in the original deadline, while more rollouts will happen in January 2009.

As the Nano is targeted at two wheeler customers who typically consider the prospects of a resale in future, most customers would prefer a 2009 model compared to a 2008 one.

The Nano will be rolled out from Singur and will coincide with Durga Puja in October. According to the proposed schedule, trial production is slated to start in June-July followed by regular production after two months. Commercial production is slated to start only in October.

Although, logistic snags have delayed construction at the Singur plant in West Bengal, the initial roll out of the car will be done from this unit only. Tata Motors is also looking at other multiple production units for the Nano, such as Pantnagar in Uttarakhand. The Company is considering this as a means to cut transportation costs of the low-margin vehicle.

Tata Motors is also in the process of finalising its dealers across the country. Initially, only a few Tata Motor dealers will get the Nano dealerships, till the company scales up production. According to sources, indications are that the company may take the full money as a booking amount and rope in its own finance company to work out competitive finance packages for the Nano.

Since interest rates for four wheelers have been rising, the company is working on a zero interest equal monthly installment package.