Tata starts exporting world's cheapest car

Marketwatch ^ | May 9, 2011 | Santanu Choudhury

[MulberryDraw]

NEW DELHI (MarketWatch) -- Tata Motors Ltd. TTM -0.42% has started exporting the Nano minicar from April, a move that will likely help India's largest auto maker by sales further lift sales of the world's cheapest car and reduce its sole dependence on the home market.

The Mumbai-based company, which controls the Jaguar and Land Rover luxury car brands, exported 498 units of the Nano in the past month, according to data issued Monday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the local automotive industry lobby group.

...

The company has said also that it could start selling the Pixel, a new city car concept for Europe based on the Nano, in two to three years. The Pixel could be fitted either with a 1.2-liter, turbo-charged diesel engine, or an electric one similar to that used in its Indica Vista EV hatchback.

[verity]

[sitetest]

No problem. It’s still a bunch of fun to drive, and it’s kinda cool going nearly 600 miles between fill-ups.

[Harold Shea]

If you live long enough in it to need new tires just hop down to the hardware store for new ones

[MinuteGal]

Didn't Princess Beatrice wear that on her head at the Royal Wedding?

Leni

[hoosierham]

The people who have the Metro Geo,Ford Festivas and similar cars are saving a bundle in gasoline every day.

And yes,they are at higher risks of injury or death in any crash.

The laws of physics are not THAT complicated: it takes more energy to move a larger mass;if you want to use less fuel then you must make the car lighter.

Every choice has costs and consequences.

[BwanaNdege]

The Tata Nano is to give folks like this an affordable, better option.

It's a great idea!

[hoosierham]

By the way,isn't the export sales of the TAta about equal to the GM total sales of the Chevy Volt?

And which car is most likely to still be running ten years from today?HINT:battery packs wear out and are horribly expensive.

[BikerJoe]

Not even if you bought a pair of them.

Yeah, I hate cheap Tatas...

[Jagermonster]

Bump to your post -

The misunderstanding of the world on Free Republic is boundless.

The cars depicted are for the masses in megacities, those with populations greater than 10 million. The people there need cheap cars to navigate the busy and crowded city streets. The megacities customers may very well buy them by the hundreds of thousands because they exactly fit their needs.

The world population is moving to the mega cities where poor people are becoming middle class people who need transport, cheap transport. There is no need for concern with garage height and gull wing doors when there is no garage. there is congestion that makes opening a door in traffic a problem.

The designers no doubt developed a feature rich car for the specific intended use having nothing to do with our concepts of need

Oh yes........ denigrate diesel at your peril. Diesel rules the future

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Didn’t Princess Beatrice wear that on her head at the Royal Wedding?”

Where’s the Photoshop guys when ya need ‘em?

[GonzoGOP]

The Tata Nano is to give folks like this an affordable, better option.

Granted it makes a lot of sense in India. But the article was about exporting it to the US and Europe. And despite Obama's best efforts we don't have conditions like that here. And on US roads the thing will be positively dangerous.

[Yo-Yo]

Tatas will last a lifetime, if they survive the first drive home from the dealership. This is what's known in the electronics world as 'infant mortality.'

[SC_Native]

I travel to India often, and in fact I am sitting in a hotel room in Gurgaon (near New Delhi) right now. I have only seen a couple of these Nano’s on the road here, though they do look neat. They were aimed for the families that can only afford motorcycles, which is the majority. Tata makes some really nice cars.

[who knows what evil?]

Can you just imagine this POS on Interstate 40 traveling thru Knoxville? They’ll be able to remove the remains with a spatula...

[RichInOC]

In a related story, these guys are going to be doing recurring guest-hosting for the Magliozzi brothers on “Car Talk”:

[ReneeLynn]

“I think many Freepers have never been outside of the United States.”

You say that as if it’s a bad thing. I’ll stay out of the rest of the world if this crap car will stay out of the United States.

[Erasmus]

The Jaguar dealers I’ve seen have bodacious ones.

[Gena Bukin]

You say that as if it’s a bad thing. I’ll stay out of the rest of the world if this crap car will stay out of the United States.

This crap car isn't coming to the United States, not in any model that so much as vaguely resembles the one this article is discussing.

This crap car will, however, be sold in the millions upon millions to the residents of developing nations enabling hundreds of millions of people to become consumers of petroleum. You don't need to ever leave the country to have this unpleasant but very real fact affect you greatly.

Remain willfully ignorant of the outside world at your peril. Don't feel bad. You're hardly alone among Americans who haven't the slightest clue --or care, of how the world outside our borders functions.

[ReneeLynn]

Well, aren’t you elite? I’m so glad that we have you to pass judgement on FReepers, to make assumptions(and you know what they do) and to preach to the rest of us about the world outside of the US.

Since my b-i-l went to war after 9/11 I think I know enough. Oh, yes, and this car is crap. These other countries should get out of the 17th century, so maybe their people wouldn’t have to buy small, crap cars to get around. You know, freedom, free market and things oh so United States.

[SpinnerWebb]

The diesel powered. VW Jetta with a manual trans get 46 miles per gal.

I can vouch for that. Even with the tiptronic transmission in automatic mode most of the time.