Wheels India and MRF Supply Nano Wheels and Tyres to Tata

Wheels India, part of the TVS group companies, and leading Indian tyre maker, MRF, are supplying the original equipment wheels and tyres for Tata Motors’ pint-sized ultra-mini the Nano. Wheels India managing director, Srivats Ram, told Hindu Business Line: “The wheel that was developed is lighter than any other passenger car wheel in the country and the first wheel to my knowledge in passenger car wheels to have three bolt-holes instead of the conventional four.”

MRF supplies three different types of tyres for the Nano, according to vice-president (marketing), Koshy Verghese, said the challenge was to design and develop three different tyres (front, rear and doughnut-style spare) with lower rolling and steering resistance for better fuel economy.

Interestingly, while the front and rear tyres are radial construction, the temporary spare is a bias tyre and even smaller than the standard 12-inch models. The clear idea is to reduce weight to an absolute minimum and for the Nano spare to be branded “Temp” to avoid any kind of confusion.