Indian maker Tata launches $2850 car
January 11, 2008 by rjw
Indian maker Tata has revealed its bid to get the country’s growing middle class off their motor scooters and into cars. For a mere 100,000 rupees or about $A2850 (plus charges and taxes – where have we heard that before?) it will offer them the Tata Nano.
A rear-mounted 623cc two-cylinder 25kW engine, an overall length of 3.1m, a four-speed gearbox and manual steering may not be the sort of specification CarAdvice readers drool over, but imagine you’re an Indian office worker sick of riding a scooter to work in the monsoon and taking your whole family out on it on weekends. For the record, the body is sheet metal – it was going to be plastic – and air conditioning and an airbag will be optional on the luxury version.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony in New Delhi, Tata chief Ratan Tata said,
“I observed families riding on two-wheelers – the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family.”
One statistic tells why ordinary Indians are likely to snap up the Nano: New Delhi alone has an annual road death rate of 1800 – only 5 per cent of them are car occupants.
The Nano promises a revolution on Indian streets, still the domain of the ox-cart, the bicycle and the motor scooter in many parts of the country. Initial production will be 250,000 a year but Tata hopes to eventually sell about 1 million Nanos a year in India – that’s about as many cars as the entire Indian market buys now. But in a country where per capita wealth has doubled since 2000 – and is still growing – that doesn’t seem an outlandish boast.
Tata claims fuel consumption of 5 litres per 100km and says the clean sheet design will meet international standards for safety and emissions. The engine meets the Euro 3 standard and will be able to meet Euro 4, it says.
The Nano will go on sale in India later this year. Is there a chance of it coming to Australia? Don’t hold your breath, we say. After a difficult time selling Telcoline utes here in the late ‘90s Tata Motors was investigating launching its conventional Indica and Indigo cars here about two years ago but nothing came of it. And despite $1.50 a litre petrol there probably isn’t a market yet for a car with a top speed of 105km/h.
The effect of the Nano in first-world markets is likely to come from the rethink in manufacturing strategies and costs it has already sparked among rival manufacturers.
Volkswagen, leading Indian motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto, Renault and Ford have all said they are looking at building new cheap cars for India.
It’s likely the Nano’s formula of light weight, and rear engine will come here, either as Mitsubishi’s iCar, the production version of Volkswagen’s up! – or something else we haven’t even heard of yet.
Robert Wilson
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Tata also makes the Mini-CAT, that runs on compressed air to drive the pistons. The vehicle can be filled in minutes at service stations that provide an air compressor. It can travel at speeds of up to 110 km/h and for distances of up to 200 km. It produces no air pollution and no CO2 emissions.
It will cost around US$7000 and takes less than US$3 for a re-fill.
But I’d rather be driving a 12-cylinder 500 kph turbo-charged Aston-Maserarri Super-Hoon with lowered suspension and 10-speaker 6-CD sound system
i remember seeing a car driving on compressed air once (quite a while ago now)
i didnt think it was Tata though so obviously it been looked at by a few
hahahaha,,,,,,,you crack me up!!!!!
Yep I remember seeing the same thing the poverty version of it was the wound up rubber band engine!!!!!!!hehehe
Nice one Jumbo……..hahaha
The tyres were made by MRF(if u follow cricket, they have been the sponsor on tendulkar’s bat and also run the MRF Pace Foundation). The tyre is actually tubeless. Tata has applied for around 34 patents for this car.
This is the main site for the Tata nano car –> http://www.tatapeoplescar.com/tatamotors/
This car looks like a good candidate for car sharing programs (Like Honda’s DIRACC in Singapore. http://www.hondadiracc.com.sg/) around the Melbourne, Sydney & Perth CBDs. Just replace the gas motor with an electric one.
Oh, and I forgot to add, could work well as an electric-powered security patrol vehicle around uni.
Would sell in OZ if it passed crash and emmision tests, was equiped with A/C and a 5 speed gearbox (no need for power steering on something that small), rode and handled ok and wasn’t too noisy. It would also have to be reliable (not a Tata strong suit).
Oh, and needs to be less than $8000 drive away!
The point of this vehicle is its cheap, at $3000 it would sell… you start adding 5 speeds and safety and the prices flies up. Mind you I dont see the need for a 5 speed, Holden and Ford still think the 4 speed is acceptable on a 1600kg+ car with 170kw+
It was pretty silly for TATA to make it a petrol, it would have been more sensible to make it run on all electric!
I believe this little runabout would sell very well as a convenient citycar, and I think Tata should give it a go!
I’d buy one anyhow! Be very handy to do my quotes in! :)
My sister said that she would buy three of these the day they hit the Australian market!
how many cheap small cars have i seen in my lifetime, heaps im’ 71 yrs old..
There are plenty of older Aussies who would jump at the chance to buy it.. We don’t want high speeds, we want a cheap economical car we can safely drive. At that price you could afford to buy 2, incase one breaks down..please send them to Aus.
will the nano be sold in u.s.
Right on!!!!!!!!!!!!, send it to AUSSIE……… I love to get a hold of 1 or 2, if the price is what they say. Most car in here are DAMN RIPOFF.