Tata Nano

The giant Indian bus and lorry manufacturer, the Tata motor company has made a low cost mini Tata car which they claim to be the cheapest car in the World (at least world's cheapest bran new car.) Named as Tata Nano this new Tata cars looks more like a three-wheeler taxi you see a lot in India and South Asia but with doors, more glass and a aerodynamic look added.

Already called as Tata People's car it is priced at 1 lakh Indian Rupees (about 2,500 US$). In other words you can buy 1200 Nano Tata cars for the price of one Bugati Veyron or 7,500 Nano Tata cars instead of the most expensive car in the world.


The Tata Nano car is 3 metres long and seats four people comfortably and does 65mph. It has a aluminium shell and a rear-mounted 33bhp two-cylinder petrol engine. The Nano Tata cars weight is about half a tonne. Tata Nano has a Fuel consumption 50 miles per gallon.


According claims, the Tata Nano car, at its standard version, is roughly half the price of the cheapest car available in the world today. China’s QQ3Y Chery and another Indian car the Maruti 800 are both about US $5000.


The standard version Tata Nano car comes with the vital features: brakes, a four-gear manual transmission, seat belts, locking, wind-down windows and a steering wheel. The small boot could store a duffel bag. It doesn't have a passenger-side mirror and has one windscreen wiper.

This deluxe version Nano Tata car has air-conditioning and extra features such as a radio and an airbag could be added.

Tata Motors has created Tata Nano car after five years of research and input from across the world, including the masters of car designs Italy and Germany. But the car was designed and made in India, defying expectations that Tata motors company best known for its huge buses and lorries could manufacture a cutting-edge passenger car. A team of 500 engineers had worked on the Tata Nano car, and it was made in a plant in West Bengal.

Because of Nano Tata Car's size, it uses less sheet metal, has a smaller and lighter engine than other cars, smaller tube-less tyres and a no-frills interior. Tata motor company has cut costs of the Nano car by minimising components, specially steel, and taking advantage of India’s low production costs. Tata motor company has applied for 34 patents to cover its innovations in Tata Nano.

Tata hopes to produce 250,000 Tata Nano cars for the Indian market annually. Then they expect to make it available in Latin America, SouthEast Asia and Africa though its not likely to be in Europe or the US. There are fears that a car so cheap could not be safe. Tata company says it has passed a full-frontal car crash test in India and is designed to sustain further impact testing under European standards. So the Tata Nano could need many enhancements to meet higher standards of Developed world and that would raise the price considerably.

But for India and other poorer markets where the public mode of traveling is limited to over crowded buses, dangerous trains, flimsy tree-wheeler taxis and even motorcycles with 4 or 5 pillion riders, the Tata Nano car is a vast improvement in safety and traveling.

A news report plagiarised wholesale from a British newspaper and posted with no mention of the newspaper in a forum I frequent had this to say about the Tata Nano and the Nano Tata cars unveiling event. (why don't forum Admin's educate members about how to properly quote a story?)

The “People’s Car” as the Tata Nano car is called, is also the cheapest in the world at 100,000 rupees ($2,500) – the same price as the DVD player in a Lexus.

The Tata Nano, from Tata motor company, the Indian conglomerate bidding for Jaguar and Land Rover, was unveiled at the Delhi Auto Expo yesterday to music from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ratan Tata, the Tata company chairman, harked back to the first flight by the Wright Brothers and the Moon landing as he revealed the cute, snub-nosed hatchback that will allow millions in India’s emerging middle classes to buy a car for the first time.

“I hope this changes the way people travel in rural India. We are a country of a billion and most are denied connectivity,” Ratan Tata said. “This is a car that is affordable and provides all-weather transport for the family.”

But not all are happy with cheap Tata cars becoming available for the general Indian public. The idea of millions of Nano Tata cars on Indian roads has alarmed Indian environmentalists. Indian Rajendra Pachauri, the chief UN climate scientist has claimed he's “having nightmares” with millions of tiny Nano Tata cars.