Sales of units from the company has dropped, just like with just about all auto manufacturers. But things got so bad that Tata stopped giving monthly sales figures for Land Rover and Jaguar.
The company also had to abandon where it was constructing a plant where its Nano car, the first auto priced at $2,500, was to be manufactured. This because farmers in the area, who believed the land was unjustly provided to Tata, threatened the safety of construction crew personnel.
But Tata is fighting back. The company has been working on new technologies which are supposed to assist in better fuel economy. One of the new technologies is a soft hybrid system, or start/stop. This allows the engine to shut off automatically when the car is idling, then re-start when the throttle is pressed. Tata says that this new start/stop feature helps fuel efficiency by up to 10 percent to 15 percent and it also assists to reduce CO2 emissions.
Vehicles in the Tata stable to feature this technology will be the Indica and the Land Rover Freelander.
Tata is also working with the Indian Space Research Organization to develop hydrogen fuel cell technology.