This is what the Democrat party has in mind for all of us. A good "People's" car!
Posted on 01/09/2008 11:30:46 PM PST by Arjun
The Tata Rs 1-lakh car is here! And it's called the Nano!
Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata on Thursday unveiled the Tata Nano at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi.
Details of the People's Car:
Ratan Tata, while unveiling the nano, said: "The car will meet all current safety norms and all emission criteria. The pollution it will cause will be lower than 2-wheelers."
The car, Tata said, is smaller than a Maruti [Get Quote], but has 21 per cent more volume or space inside than the 800. He said that the dealer price of the car will be Rs 1 lakh, plus value-added tax (VAT) plus transport charges.
The car will have a 624-cc petrol engine generating 33 bhp of power. It will sport a 30-litre fuel tank and 4-speed manual gearshift. The car will come with air conditioning, but will have no power steering. It will have front disk and rear drum brakes. The company claims mileage of 23 km per litre.
The car's dashboard features just a speedometer, fuel gauge, and oil light. The car does not have reclining seats or radio. The shock absorbers are basic.
Nano, the world's cheapest car, costs almost half of the cheapest car currently available anywhere in the world.
''Since, a promise is a promise the standard dealer version will cost Rs 1 lakh,'' said Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata.
He informed that the car is 8 per cent smaller bumper to bumper, than the Maruti800 but at the same time 21 per cent larger in its interiors and can sit up to four people.
Dispelling myths that the car was not safe enough Tata said, 'The car has passed the full-frontal crash and the side impact crash''. He also side stepped emission concerns and said the car will meet Euro IV norms.
While critics had been sceptical throughout about the car meeting safety and emission norms, coming as it is at that price, Tata said he was happy to announce that Nano meets all norms as would a modern car.
The car is eight per cent shorter than Maruti 800 on bumper to bumper length, but is 21 per cent more spacious, claimed Tata.
Alluding to fears expressed by environmentalist R K Pachauri and green activist Sunita Narain that the car at that price would add more vehicles on the road leading to higher vehicular pollution, Tata said the 624 cc, 33 HP petrol engine meets Bharat Stage-III emission norms and can also meet the Euro 4 norms.
"Pachauri will not have a nightmare and Sunita Narain can also sleep," he quipped, while recalling that some people had suggested that the car should be called 'Pachauri' and some others said that it should be named 'Mamta' � probably referring to the position TMC leader Mamta Banerjee had taken against the setting up of the small-car project at Singur in West Bengal.
Commenting on the safety standard, he said the car has gone through a full frontal crash test as per norms.
The Nano will come in three variants -- standard and two deluxe models with AC. The standard car would be available for Rs 1 lakh (ex-showroom), while VAT and transportation costs are extra.
The Nano is expected to be commerically launched in the second half of 2008. News reports say that Tata Motors [Get Quote] hopes to sell 500,000 units of the car, almost four times the number of Indicas it sells. Tata plans to focus on a market segment hitherto untapped.
Not since the launch of the Maruti 800 in 1983 has any car gripped the imagination of a nation and indeed car manufacturers the world over so intensely. If commercially successful, the Tata Nano can alter the passenger car market in India, and perhaps the world, beyond description.
Strapped to the front of my van, maybe.
nor around here, midwest winters and all
I will let a liberal feel good for the both of us LOL
That's what I don't understand about some people. You don't live in you car (if you otherwise spend lots of time in one, by all means treat yourself), why drop that kind of cash on an asset that depreciates so rapidly?
Its the perfect car for a high density low-low income nation with minimal transportation highways.
So everybody here posting should STFU and just be glad we CAN afford to drive our gas guzzling SUVs, and be able to defend that freedom unlike other countries that will not.
My car is the cheapest new car I could find that fit me comfortably. The stove in my kitchen, on the other hand, is top-of-the-line, and a real work of art. I get a lot more enjoyment out of the stove than I would out of a fancy car, and the difference in my auto insurance premiums over five or six years is enough to pay it. When I sell the house, I'll get most of the money back for the stove.
Look around. There are a lot better ways to spend your money than on expensive wheels.
“Not exactly a Bodacious Tata.”
I must respectfully disagree. It is round, it appears to be firm, and you can bet that when Apu, Manjula and their eight kids go for a drive, it will be fully packed.
Those tires are very scary.
“I would drive one as a station car, or as an alternative to a motor scooter around town, which is pretty much the intended use. I think Tata has a winner, here.”
Or you could keep a couple in the trunk of your regular car for emergencies, sort of like life rafts.
In case you’re curious what a $2500 car looks like.
(No, it’s not a Yugo.)
They look like training wheels.
bttt
Does this car use donut spares as tires?
“The shock absorbers are basic.” It uses old chinese newspapers and apple cores.
This is what the Democrat party has in mind for all of us. A good "People's" car!
the organ donor car
I think its mileage is figured in hectars per liter.
When do you think Chuck Schumer will roll up to the capital steps in one of these to push for higher CAFE standards
Volkswagen Bug started out like this...
33 HP. I think there are riding mowers with more horsepower. Can it even get up to American highway speed (say 70 mph) with four passengers?
In any case, I think this is a great car - for India. I don’t think it would work in the US. It is a good concept, though: compact, fuel effecient and cheap. American motor companies could learn a lot from the Tata. Give it, say, another 50 HP, an A/C, and a radio/CD player, charge $5000 and it would fly.
And I just love to think about the advertising campaign. “Like my Tatas?”
...Or just list right over.
I ride a 750cc Kawasaki motorcycle. It barely has enough power to accelerate at a decent rate. The four passengers would have to be 85 pounds each before a CAR would even move.
This looks like it would be perfectly at home, on a golf course.
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