Tata Motors has begun taking orders for its Nano minicar.
The Indian automaker on Thursday opened up its booking system for the high-profile Nano, which it has pitched as the "people's car"--a first automobile for families that, until now, have had to crowd onto a scooter. There are only approximately nine vehicles per 1,000 people in India, according to the Reuters news agency.
The deluxe version of the Tata Nano (photo from January 2008).
(Credit: Tata Motors)Bookings will close in just more than two weeks, on April 25. The company had made application forms for bookings available at the beginning of the month and said the response has been "very encouraging."
Priced starting at about $2,000 for the standard version, the Tata Nano is a very modest machine. It's about 10 feet long, weighing in at about 1,300 pounds, and Tata says it can "comfortably" seat four adults. The top speed for the car, which has a two-cylinder, 624-cc, rear-mounted engine, is about 65 miles per hour. The gas mileage is said to be about 56 miles per gallon.
Prospective buyers seemed most attracted by the low price (only about three times that of a low-end scooter), according to a Reuters report.
"I have experienced other foreign small cars," Denis Quadros, 42, who owns a Maruti Wagon R, told Reuters. "They are expensive to maintain and consume a lot of fuel. But look at Nano's mileage, and we know Tata cars are cheaper on maintenance."
Tata plans to begin delivering the cars in July.
But even then, there could be a long wait for those who've booked a Nano order. At the end of June, Tata plans to announce the allotment of the first 100,000 cars, as determined by a computerized random selection. News agencies reported that it will likely take Tata more than a year to fill the 100,000 orders.
The deluxe version of the Tata Nano (photo from January 2008).
(Credit: Tata Motors)An update has been added to this story. See below for details.
The Tata Nano may be small in stature, but it could be a big deal for car buyers in India.
Mumbai-based automaker Tata Motors on Monday announced that the time has come for the commercial launch of the Nano, a diminutive design intended to put four-wheeled transportation in the driveways of ever more Indian families. Some analysts also say the Nano signals positive development in the Indian auto industry.
"Nano is good for India. It marks the country's coming of age," Abdul Majeed, auto analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers, told ZDNet Asia in a phone interview.
When it unveiled the Nano in January 2008, Tata billed it as "the people's car," a step up from overcrowded, unsheltered scooters. (On Monday, for whatever reason, the "people's car" phrase was not to be found on the company's press material or the Tata Web site.)
That remains the driving notion behind the car. "It is to the credit of the team at Tata Motors that a car once thought impossible by the world is now a reality," Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata Sons and Tata Motors, said in a statement Monday. "I hope it will provide safe, affordable, four-wheel transportation to families who till now have not been able to own a car."
Just 3 meters long by 1.5 meters wide by 1.6 meters high (about 10 feet long by 5 feet wide and tall), the Tata Nano provides what the company says is "an incredibly spacious passenger compartment which can comfortably seat four adults." The company goes on:
The Tata Nano has the smallest exterior footprint for a car in India but is 21 percent more spacious than the smallest car available today. A high seating position makes ingress and egress easy. Its small size coupled with a turning radius of just 4 meters makes it extremely maneuverable in the smallest of parking slots.... Read more
From the size to the price--and possibly the build quality--everything about Tata's new two-cylinder ecomobile is "nano." It may not have a radio or power windows, but it proves that four wheels don't need to cost anywhere near five figures.
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Small is big in the automotive world lately as new and existing manufacturers scramble to downsize in the face of tough emissions regulations and changing consumer tastes. At this week's Geneva auto show, we took a look at some of the latest micro cars destined for forecourts around the world. Check out our photos.
The Air Car runs on compressed air.
(Credit: Zero Pollution Motors)A company named Zero Pollution Motors says it plans to bring a car powered by air to the U.S. sometime in 2009 or 2010. The six pistons in the Air Car's engine are pushed by compressed air rather than gasoline combustion, an idea developed by F1 race car engineer Guy Negre. The car carries a compressor, making it possible to fill its compressed air tank by plugging it into an electrical outlet. At low speeds, the engine is cranked solely by air from the tank. At high speeds, it uses gasoline to heat a chamber, giving the air pushing the pistons more pressure. In high speed mode, it also compresses air to inject into the cylinders. According to its initial, estimated, specifications the Air Car will go 848 miles on an 8 gallon tank of gas. The size of the compressed air tank isn't included in the specifications. Further, the car has a top speed of 96 mph, with its power plant putting out 75 horsepower. When traveling at low speeds, the car has zero emissions, while in high speed mode it has some emissions because of its use of gasoline.
The Air Car seats six in a fiberglass and foam body.
(Credit: Zero Pollution Motors)The Air Car was developed by The MDI Group, which received funding from Indian car maker Tata Motors to build the car for the Indian market. Zero Pollution Motors intends to market the Air Car in the U.S. The body of the car is made from fiberglass and foam, and is built as a six seater. Instead of the usual speed and RPM gauges in the dashboard, the Air Car will use an in-dash computer with displays for speed and engine revolutions. This dashboard computer will also be used for navigation, media playback, and communication. The Air Car sounds promising, and we will be eager to see if it really lives up to its specifications.
(Source: AutoblogGreen)
The People's Car from Tata Motors, also known as the Nano.
(Credit: Tata Motors)Got $2,500? Then Tata Motors may have just the car for you.
If you live in India, that is. The tiny little bubble of a car, which made its debut Thursday at the New Delhi Auto Expo, is expected to go on sale to Indian consumers later this year, but it won't hit the export market in the next few years--and then it'll likely be to dealerships nearby in Southeast Asia and farther afield in Africa and Latin America. Too bad for a San Francisco-based colleague of mine, whose first reaction was "I want one of those. It's like a big street-legal go-cart."
Officially, it's the Tata Nano, but the company's preferred moniker is the People's Car. Yes, at that price, it's intended for the masses. Not all at once, of course--the 10-foot long car will hold only about four people at any given time, and not much in the way of luggage or grocery bags.
For more about the Nano/People's Car and other models on display at the New Delhi show, see "Photos: Tata's $2,500 car."
If you're will to spend a little more--roughly twice as much--you might want to consider being the first on your block to get a car that runs on compressed air. Europe-based Motor Development International, which last year got a hefty investment from Tata Motors, is getting closer to delivery of its MiniCat city car and similar models.
For more on the MDI models, see "Photos: MiniCat car runs on compressed air."
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