New Delhi: A recent vacation in Himachal Pradesh introduced me to the prosperity of the state. All the three sectors – industry, agriculture and services (tourism) – seem to be doing well.

There are few signs of poverty and every sign of buoyant consumerism. The traffic of trucks along the main highways is strong and the car population is dense. One particular model that seems popular is the Nano — red, silver and yellow.

The smallness of the car is perfectly suited for the hills, some owners said, because it is easy to park, convenient to negotiate bends, economical to run and fun to race on narrow roads.

Till a few months ago, it looked as if Tata Motors had got the Nano script all wrong. There were incidents of the car catching fire. Many who had booked the car in April 2009 lost patience and cancelled their bookings.

Word-of-mouth publicity, which can make or break any new product in India, did not favour the Nano. Sales began to fall after peaking at 9,000 in July last year. The lowest point came in November when the company sold only 509 pieces.

Source: http://autos.in.msn.com/features/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5135120