Tata Motors has officially taken the wraps off of its highly-anticipated $2,500 mini car. Dubbed the Nano, the car made its debut earlier today at the New Delhi Auto Expo. At a length of just 3.1 meter, the Nano comes in 26 inches shorter than the Honda Fit. Power for the Nano comes from a 623cc two-cylinder gasoline engine — featuring multi point fuel injection — and outputs about 30 horsepower. In combination with the car's four-speed manual, the Nano is said to return 54 U.S. miles per gallon. As expected, the interior is one of the most basic on the market and only features a speedometer, fuel gauge and oil light. Two versions of the Nano will be available to the Indian market: Standard and Luxury. Tata's press released failed to mention the differences between the two models. Despite being light on features and short on cost, Tata says that the Nano meets — or exceeds — all safety and emissions regulations. However, with "strong seats" listed as one of the car's safety features, it's unlikely that the Nano would pass safety tests in more developed regions. According to Tata head Ratan Tata, the Indian automaker is targeting 200,000 units a year, but Tata has a much loftier sales goal for the Nano. "When we were planning facilities for the car and working out a business plan, the business plan shown to me was looking at a figure of 200,000. I said 200,000 cars is crazy. If we can do this we should be looking at a million cars a year, and if we can't do a million then we shouldn't be doing this kind of car at all," Tata said. At just $2,500, the Nana comes in as the cheapest car in history when compared to today's dollar. In comparison, when converted into today's dollars, the Ford Model T stickered for $19,700 with the original Volkswagen Beetle fetching $11,333. :fawk:bert:fawk:
Just great. Now every one in India is going to have a car. Even though it gets good gas mileage it certainly isn't going to reduce the global demand for oil.
cool..ill keep that in my trunk and pull out when going into walmart...lol..its like one of those orange cars w/ the yellow tops we use to have..lol..except cheaper
Something that cheap would be great for rallying/racing. Rollcage, etc. solves the safety concerns and buy several for spares. They're so cheap I wouldn't mind a bit of bumper car action either!
OK, this is just going to make it worse. Now instead of people using mass transportation or a scooter or whatever, everyone will buy one. So basically people who can't afford cars now can. Its not like all the people who have 35 MPG cars in india are going to trade them in for 54MPG cars. This is just going to increase the number of cars out there burning up the dead dinos IMO.
I just got back from India, and the last thing they need is more cars... BUT it's a step in the right directions, seeing as though the majority of the cars there are 25+ years old and have ZERO emission standards, and if you open your window or walk around, you just about choke on the air that's polluted with all exhaust...