<div>Branding Tata Motors small car Nano as a cheapest car was a mistake and was one of the reasons for the model not taking off as expected, Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, said on Wednesday (15 July).</div><div> </div><div>He further clarified that people did not want to be associated with a cheap car.</div><div> </div><div>The former chairman of the Tata group said the small car was designed by people with an average age of 25-26 and was a success beyond expectations.</div><div> </div><div>The one-year delay because of the violent agitations against the company in West Bengal allowed competitors to spread wrong messages about the car, he added.</div><div> </div><div>Tata, who spent more than two decades at the helm of the iconic Tata group before hanging up his boots in 2012, has invested an undisclosed amount in Ampere, a Coimbatore-based electric vehicle start-up founded by a woman entrepreneur.</div><div> </div><div>Tata made the investment along with Ampere's existing investor, Forum Synergies. The start-up, founded by Hemalatha Annamalai, will use the funds to scale up operations and hire talent over two years.</div><div> </div><div>Ampere is the first automobile start-up investment for Tata, who conceived Nano, now one of the world's cheapest cars.</div><div> </div><div>Tata went on to add that e-commerce will change the face of merchandising and marketing in India.</div><div> </div><div>In the last one year, he has invested in a slew of consumer Internet companies such as Ola, Snapdeal, Paytm, and Xiaomi.</div><div> </div><div>Tata who is investing in start-ups said he was looking at those outfits that would help the common man.</div><div> </div><div>He also urged the entrepreneurs to be a long term player and build an institution than cashing out early.</div><div> </div><div>Some of the companies where Tata has invested in recent months include US-based high-altitude wind energy generator Altaeros Energies, e-commerce firm Snapdeal, online jewellery retailer BlueStone, online furniture retailer Urban Ladder, auto portal CarDekho.com and so on.</div>
