Tata Nano: Time is now to reserve world's cheapest car
http://www.theweeklydriver.com/articles/1369/1/Tata-Nano-Time-is-now-to-reserve-worlds-cheapest-car/Page1.html
By James Raia
Published on 03/23/2009
Tata Motors will announce reservation details today of its Nano, the pint-sized car designated as the “world's cheapest car.” Conceived in 2003, discussed for several years and now six months delayed from its originally scheduled debut, the Tata Nano specifications are unique. It's a four-door, five-seat, 10-foot automobile with a 2-cylinder, 33-horsepower, 624cc engine. It will have a five-speed (four forward) manual transmission. It's expected reservations for the Nano will be available for only two weeks in more than 400 Tata dealerships, with buyers first expected to take delivery in July.
Tata Motors will announce reservation details today of its Nano, the pint-sized car designated as the “world's cheapest car.” Conceived in 2003, discussed for several years and now six months delayed from its originally scheduled debut, the Tata Nano specifications are unique. It's a four-door, five-seat, 10-foot automobile with a 2-cylinder, 33-horsepower, 624cc engine. It will have a five-speed (four forward) manual transmission. It's expected reservations for the Nano will be available for only two weeks in more than 400 Tata dealerships, with buyers first expected to take delivery in July.Tata Motors will
announce reservation details today of its Nano, the pint-sized car
designated as the “world's cheapest car.” Conceived in 2003, discussed
for several years and now six months delayed from its originally
scheduled debut, the Tata Nano specifications are unique: It's a four-door, five-seat, 10-foot automobile
with a 2-cylinder, 33-horsepower, 624cc engine.
It will have a five-speed (four forward) manual transmission. It's expected reservations for the Nano will be available for only two weeks in more than 400 Tata dealerships, with buyers first expected to take delivery in July.
Priced at 100,000 rupees (approximately $1,950), the Nano is manufactured by the largest automobile manufacturer in India. The Nano base model, available in red yellow and silver, does not include airbags, air conditioning or power steering.
Tata is hopeful the Nano will allow poorer citizens in developing countries to purchase a car for the first time.
Only seven in 1,000 people in India own a car. About 550 per 1,000 people in Germany own a car.
A deluxe version of Nano will be available. And the Tata Nano Europa, which was unveiled this month at the Geneva Auto Show, is scheduled to launch in 2011.
Although the debut of the Nano has been much anticipated, it is not without controversy. Disagreements involving where the car should be built prompted production delays. And critics of vehicle fear the Nano will further crowd India's already clogged roads and add to the country's pollution woes.
Ratan Tata, company chairman, believes the Tata will be as revolutionary as the Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle.
The Nano was initially presented at the 9th annual Auto Expo on 10 January 2008, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India.
If nothing else, the Nano has generated as much controversy as it has curiosity.
Newsweek magazine described the Nano as part of a “new breed of 21st-century cars that embody a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, cheaper and portend a new era in inexpensive personal transportation — and potentially global gridlock.”
Tata Nano will initially be available in three models — the Nano (base model), the CX (mid-level model) and LX (top-end model).
According to the web site www.cartradeindia.com, the Nano will have a spare tire, but it can only be used to replace only the front tires. Only the driver’s seat is adjustable in the base model and the CX model will have air conditioning with a heater. The LX model will have power windows, central locking and fog lamps. The Nano will have a warranty of 18 months or 24,000 kilometers (approximately 15,000 miles).
Tata also is planning to offer various merchandise — phone to watches — bearing the Nano name.
The name Nano, according to Wikipedia, derives from the Greek prefix “nanos.” It means dwarf. Nano also means "small" in Gujarati, the native language of the Tata family founders of the Tata Group.
Here are details of the Tata Nano:
Dimensions — Length, 3.1 meters (10.23 feet); Height, 1.6 meters; Width: 1.5 meters;
Engine — Rear. 2-cylinder, 624 cc, multi-point fuel-injection gas engine, rear mounted.
Safety — Sheet-metal body, crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat-belts, rear tailgate glass bonded to the body, tubeless tires.
Performance — Top speed 105 kilometers (65 miles) per hour.
Fuel Efficiency — 20 kilometers per liter or approximately 50 mpg.
Production — 250,000 units, increasing to 350,000.
Competitors — Chery QQ (China), $3,600, Suzuki Maruti 800 (Japan), $4,800.
It will have a five-speed (four forward) manual transmission. It's expected reservations for the Nano will be available for only two weeks in more than 400 Tata dealerships, with buyers first expected to take delivery in July.
Priced at 100,000 rupees (approximately $1,950), the Nano is manufactured by the largest automobile manufacturer in India. The Nano base model, available in red yellow and silver, does not include airbags, air conditioning or power steering.
Tata is hopeful the Nano will allow poorer citizens in developing countries to purchase a car for the first time.
Only seven in 1,000 people in India own a car. About 550 per 1,000 people in Germany own a car.
A deluxe version of Nano will be available. And the Tata Nano Europa, which was unveiled this month at the Geneva Auto Show, is scheduled to launch in 2011.
Although the debut of the Nano has been much anticipated, it is not without controversy. Disagreements involving where the car should be built prompted production delays. And critics of vehicle fear the Nano will further crowd India's already clogged roads and add to the country's pollution woes.
Ratan Tata, company chairman, believes the Tata will be as revolutionary as the Ford Model T and Volkswagen Beetle.
The Nano was initially presented at the 9th annual Auto Expo on 10 January 2008, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India.
If nothing else, the Nano has generated as much controversy as it has curiosity.
Newsweek magazine described the Nano as part of a “new breed of 21st-century cars that embody a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, cheaper and portend a new era in inexpensive personal transportation — and potentially global gridlock.”
Tata Nano will initially be available in three models — the Nano (base model), the CX (mid-level model) and LX (top-end model).
According to the web site www.cartradeindia.com, the Nano will have a spare tire, but it can only be used to replace only the front tires. Only the driver’s seat is adjustable in the base model and the CX model will have air conditioning with a heater. The LX model will have power windows, central locking and fog lamps. The Nano will have a warranty of 18 months or 24,000 kilometers (approximately 15,000 miles).
Tata also is planning to offer various merchandise — phone to watches — bearing the Nano name.
The name Nano, according to Wikipedia, derives from the Greek prefix “nanos.” It means dwarf. Nano also means "small" in Gujarati, the native language of the Tata family founders of the Tata Group.
Here are details of the Tata Nano:
Dimensions — Length, 3.1 meters (10.23 feet); Height, 1.6 meters; Width: 1.5 meters;
Engine — Rear. 2-cylinder, 624 cc, multi-point fuel-injection gas engine, rear mounted.
Safety — Sheet-metal body, crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat-belts, rear tailgate glass bonded to the body, tubeless tires.
Performance — Top speed 105 kilometers (65 miles) per hour.
Fuel Efficiency — 20 kilometers per liter or approximately 50 mpg.
Production — 250,000 units, increasing to 350,000.
Competitors — Chery QQ (China), $3,600, Suzuki Maruti 800 (Japan), $4,800.