Mr. RC Bhargava, Maruti Suzuki chairman, on Thursday, said that Tata Motors newly announced mini car ‘Nano’ will have a marginal impact on Maruti-800 sales.

However, Mr. Bhargava said that Maruti would not slash prices to go up against the latest offering from the Tata stable.

Two-wheeler manufacturers including Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motors, too, understated the expected impact of Nano, and said that the two-wheeler market would remain untouched by the Nano attack.

While talking to media persons on the sidelines of the annual session of CII, Mr. Bhargava said, “Nano may impact the sale of our entry-level model Maruti 800. This is natural whenever a new car is launched in the market. Nano will also expand the market and add incremental numbers to the domestic passenger car market.”

When asked about the company plans to oppose the competition, Mr. Bhargava said that Tata’s Nano and Maruti Suzuki’s small cars come under two different sections.

“There is no direct competition,” he said.

Hero Honda MD and CEO Pawan Munjal said that Nano has not impacted the two-wheeler market from the day it was show-cased.

Now that the Nano has got over the Singur problem and is all set to hit roads, Ratan Tata looking back may have never thought rivalry will take such interesting turns.

The sales fight will now be fought on the road and whosoever entices the client in the slump will be king whether it's the ‘Nano’ or the motorbikes.