Tata Nano – Revolutionary?
December 10, 2008 by Anthony Crawford
“Think big with a small car”
You’ve heard of the Indian designed and developed Tata Nano by now, right? That’s India’s answer to Germany’s Beetle and Henry Ford’s Model T.
- by Anthony Crawford
It may well end up the car that changed the world, given the glowing accolades thrown at it by the likes of Luca di Montezemolo president, Ferrari, who said, “many people have spoken about a low cost small car, but Tata has done it, and no one else has. It is very spacious inside with a good interior, and the fact that they have done it on their own is very impressive”
If that wasn’t enough, Renault-Nissan CEO, Carlos Ghosn paid tribute when he said, “I would like us to build a car like this one day. Other people will be looking at it as a way to limit emissions in the future.”
And there has been a host other industry Gods who have showered praise on Tata and the Nano, which is said to go on sale shortly with a final price tag of under US$2,000.
Yes, you read that correctly, that’s a four seat, rear engine, rear wheel drive “all weather car” with best practice technology for a price cheaper than an Apple MacBook with 4GB of RAM.
Key component suppliers include, Behr for the HVAC unit, Bosch for the injection system, Caparo for the Inner structural panels, Delphi for instrument cluster and ZF for the chassis components, including the rods. I could go on and on with the list of best practice companies involved with the Nano but make no mistake, Tata has gone after major Tier 1 suppliers for this car.
The other guarantee is that this will not be a quick car, no intention of ever being so. Powered by a miniature 624cc in-line two-cylinder engine with two valves per cylinder and driven by a single overhead cam producing a maximum 33bhp, this is a lesson in simplicity.
As far as budgets go, every member of the Tata development team should earn a PhD in that department. Better still put them on a direct flight to Detroit where they can work their brand of magic with the big three, before its too late.
Total development budget for the Nano is reported to have been US$420 million, which remarkably is the same amount they spent on the Tata Indica ten years prior.
On January 10, 2008 when the Tata unveiled the Nano, the Tata Motors website saw close to 8 million hits and the Nano site drew over 4 million visits. What they didn’t tell you, was that the product website was developed in less than two months and wait for it – with limited resources using open source technologies.
That’s precisely what the Nano is all about – “low cost, but high technology.”
Clearly, the Nano is a particularly small car at just 3.1 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, but with clever design, such as the all aluminium engine and battery, mounted at the rear along with the bubble type design, there’s room enough for four adults in a high seat position.
Tata took their time with the Nano, with a four-year development slot, that included 35 Alpha prototypes, which covered 1,126,000 kms with a second batch of cars in 2007 for ongoing evaluation.
Top speed is 104km/h and you may well achieve the predicted 8 litres/100km with a 30-litre fuel tank to boot.
And don’t expect the Nano to be a noisy little thing either. High levels of digital validation went into managing NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) and according to Tata; there are no harsh booms or engine revs heard inside the cabin.
I truly do hope that the Nano is a raving success when it finally hits the tarmac in India and other economically starved markets, where personalised travel could be seriously upgraded and emissions kept to a minimum, due to this tiny car.
Print it: 
omg is that thing rolling on 10s.lol.
So is that 8 litres per 100km whilst travelling flat out at 104kph? The expected fuel consumption around the city would be less than half that i would imagine. Also 35 prototyptes covering 1,126km? Is that right? Not many k’s for a test…….
I would but one for 2k US! You cant even register and insure some cars for that these days!
i know its cheap, and quite a feat of engineering and construction to be able to build and sell it for less than $2000 USD, but i fail to see how “emissions could be kept to a minimum due to this tiny car” if each year another 200,000 Nano’s hit the road using 8L/100 (claimed) & they each do say 5,000 km/year thats 80 million litres of fuel in the first year alone, double that the next, triple that the third and so on. Quite frankly its more likely the introduction of such a vehicle will lead to more pollution. Fuel economy has been sacrificed at the expense of making it cheaper.
Damn. looking at the 3rd picture i reckon if u hit the brakes hard enough you would roll head over tit etc lol
and forgot to mention….Mark my guess the wheels are 5 inch’s lol
I would buy one, my commute to work is around 5k. Are we going to see them in Australia?
I would call 50mpg reasonably emissions friendly. You have failed to realise that as these countries move out of poverty and into the middle class, they WILL be buying cars by the million whether we like it or not and isn’t is best if they drive a small car rather than a LandCruiser?
Incidentally, the Nano produces less emissions than many of the two-wheelers currently manufactured in India.
Very clever, butt ugly, great value, disposable (wonder how green / recyclable is the componentry) a great little city commuter. For comfort, I’d buy this over a Vespa.
I LOVE this car and would buy one if it came to Australia and was sold for say AUS$3k.Anymore and will just go the 2nd hand way.
Its safer and has more room than a scooter and what i would want it for, not interstate trips etc, just to run to the shops, no-care about supermarket dings, etc suits 100%.
We could even have like say the TataCup where a group of us could burn around a race track with min. mods and safety equipped for a bit of fun.
2 things need to be said.
Near everybody in India will afford this and they need petrol, which comes from oil so you can see where thats going to head pricewise.
I doubt the Chinese are just going to watch this get market share, the fightback will be coming, have no fear!
Finally, looks like these guys *might* be buying a % of FIAT…..grrrrrr, L/R, JAG and now FIAT??
Cheers,
F-0
Man that thing looks stupid, you need a magnifying glass to see the wheels.
But then again, properly sized wheels, could probably cost as much as the car itself.
I’d rather the MacBook. I too don’t think this car makes good environmental sense. How is it that it gets ten MPG worse that a Smart with a significantly bigger engine? What is the Co2 on this car?
Anthony, fuel consumption has nothing to do with emissions because you can have two cars that get exactly the same fuel economy and very different emissions.
hahahaha,I was ready for something ugly but not that funny,just as well Ive eaten. Sort of like a bee with its wings cut off,most likely sounds like one too!
CO2 count is just under 100g/km and weighs less than 600kg – if that’s not a recipe for low emissions, then what is?
There’s praise from everywhere, but the reason no other manufacturer can make this car is because they all have to design cars that are “pedestrian friendly”
This thing is not pedestrian friendly, occupant friendly, and guzzles 8.0l/100k.
It’s not a “First World” car at all, it’s a “Third World” conveyance where they don’t care about safety.
If it came to Aus, and left India at say $US1500.00, by the time it was on the road here it would be a ridiculous price –
Ex India $AU = 1500/.65 = $2308
Add Freight $500 = $2808
Add 10% Duty = $3088
Add Importer profit 10% = $3398
Add Currency fluctuation hedge 10% $3738
Add AU national freight $500 = $4238
Add Dealer Profit 10% = $4661
Add GST 10% = $5127
Add Dealer Delivery $1500 = $6627
Add Stamp Duty, Reg $1200 = $7827
Would you pay nearly $8000 driveaway for one of these? – neither would I. You can buy any amount of good used cars with proper tyres, brakes, aircon that will do only slightly worse on fuel consumption.
Looks good for its intended market, though. I would definitely prefer this to a scooter.
FO,
I love the idea of a TATA cup. I might steal BM’s idea and make mine look like a Bee. I wounder if i can find an exaust that would make it sound like one too. See you at the track :)
these would have beent he reactions when the beetel was first realeased.Ont he other hand i would so buy one but i can imagine that this could be australias best selling car it is so cool especially when we cant even go over 100 here anyway.Plus as im on my Ls its the perfect car th ding etc.Plus it looks better than a barina
All it needs now is a flag and you can hire it by the hour in a shopping mall for the kids!
If this is the future I dont want any part of it. Stop the world I want to get off.
Where did the 8 litres/100km prediction come from? According to Wikipedia, 5 litres/100km can be expected. I prefer to believe the latter figure as 8 litres/100km would be an abject failure for a car like Nano whose design concept is obviously about being sensible, minimal and economical. I applaud Tata for having the guts to reinvent a true “car for the people”. Bravo!
Kinda scary but id still prefer this over a Barina :)
Come to think of it, id own this over most Fords and Holdens *shudders*
Frugal ne,
You say that Tata maybe taking part ownership of FIAT (FixIt Again Tony!), & the article quotes the CEO of FIAT heaping praise on the thing…..mmmmmm….
Salesman, you’d give up your KeeeeeYa Company Car for one of these?
Surely Not!
And jut so you know, my Nano is faster than your Nano!
So there. :-)
Get over the small wheels, this is every bit the paradigm shift that the original Mini was 50 years ago. Except that it’s much cheaper in real terms and its potential market volume is at least twenty times greater. You driving enthusiasts out there shut up, this is basic four-wheel transport for those who haven’t been able to afford it before.
if i bought this,
at least i would have 4 spare tyres for my wheel barrow.
the only thing amazing about this is how cheaply they can make it for. $2K!!!!!!
certainly a throw away item.
they must pay people nothing to assemble thses.
people go on and on about buying free range eggs, and not buying ham due to poor conditions pigs are kept in before they chop them,
but how about aborting this product due to the cruelty to people???
^^^
oh and I’d also have a spare motor for my Victa
These nanos and the rest of the microcars might just be our way out of this financial crisis. If big fat yanks and (lets not kid ourselves) aussies cant afford as many SUVs and V8s anymore, hundreds of millions of less rotund Asians buying these cars should adequately cover the shortfall. There is the issue of oil prices but thats for another day.
hahaha ,we still milking that joke,nice one babe! :)
bahahahahaa!! :-P Great comment BavarianMissile. you made me LOL.
funny little car this is. for $2k i wouldn’t mind buying one :-P kinda like a go cart.
Baji,
I know a pretty serious Gokarter that would hunt you down for Gokart and this in the one sentence.
you can only imagine the quality when a gokart would set you back 3 times the price of this.
I know they announce some reputable suppliers, but bet your bottom $ that the parts are still designed to be budget.
Bosch have 3 or so different levels in quality with their power tools and denote it with their colour.
They purposely make cheap/budget Bosch tools, and then they make decent trade use tools.
no doubt this will recieve the cheap bosch parts along with “speciallly” manufactured parts from other suppliers
same with Sony.
you can get Sony, or you can get Sony.
coming from India, are we sure they are even made who we are meant to believe they are.
give me a good old XL600
Good for a one make series racing league, you could probably fit 150 of them on the old grid at the mount
Gee for 2 grand how is that possible.It might be ugly and silly but hay for same money as a good scooter u can take 4 people and not get wet going to work and park it any were and only need 3rd party insurance no need to insure the car ,and just thow it out after 2 years then get another one.Its cheap for just a little run about would be no good for anything els but i can see good use for these at that cost.Be good to keep one as a spare sort of like having spare tyre
8L per 100km, that’s a bit wrong, my 113kW 2.0L lancer does better than that lol
Why would they bring it here? ID rather commute in a go cart than be caught in that thing. Dont think we have the market for that, no matter how bad the recession. ITs for poverty contries for crying out loud. And I dont think its fair either to compare its specs to normal cars. Of course it aint gonna have great fuel efficiency, its 2K for crying out loud, your comparing to refined cars 20k+ .. but you cant have all your eggs in one basket. Low emmissions + a practical solution to transport in poverty countries sounds like a good start.
How on earth is 8l/100km a good fuel consumption figure for a sub-600kg car? Methinks Tata could have tried harder in that department. Cars weighing more than twice as much and being almost twice as large can be more frugal than that.
And Anthony, 50mpg IS a rather emissions-friendly figure, but do the math: 8l/100km equals 29mpg. An old Ford Fiesta would be able to match that with just 3 cylinders firing.
Third world or not, don’t the people of India deserve a properly modern car?
I think I would prefer a Niki 650….
I can’t wait to see road tests of this thing- Have they sorted out the factory land dispute et al?
Reckless1
Even at $8,000.00 drive away i think this has a market. Not everyone would see more value in a used car.
And the dealer would negotiate some of the margin.
EA Falcon Spac 5 speed I could buy 3 of them for the same price as this shoe box.
Seen a Niki 650 last weekend! From memory it has a top speed of 111 kph
It looks like a uglyer Smart. And the fuel consumption isn’t that great.
I would rather walk…
i dont know what all the fuss is about its not going to go to America, Britain or aust for the matter and people on this forum are screaming bloody murder. this car was designed for a new growing middle class in india who just came out of poverty. its their means to private transportation at an affordable cost. he car may not come to aust or america but the design and philosophy may influence the next gen of mini’s and super mini’s churned out but toyota mazda hyundai etc.