Tata Nano: The World’s Cheapest Car

Tata Nano is a proposed city car - a small, affordable, rear-engined, four-passenger car aimed primarily at the Indian market - first presented by India's Tata Motors. Car Name "Nano" was chosen as it denotes high technology and small size. It's a car that has made history. On January 10, 2008 while a select few thousand watched the unveiling of the Nano, a million more around the world saw it on the internet or read about it in newspapers the next day; and it continues to make headlines.

Tata targets the vehicle as the least expensive production car in the world-aiming for a starting price of 100,000 rupees or approximately $2300 US despite rapidly rising material prices.

Newsweek identifies the Nano as a 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"

For decades, Tata Motors has been India's largest commercial vehicle maker the Tata logo appears on buses, dump trucks, ambulances and cement mixers. Sturdy as elephants, they are a fixture of the Indian landscape. The Nano will be launched in India later in 2008. The car will be available in both standard and deluxe versions. Both versions will offer a wide range of body colours, and other accessories so that the car can be customised to an individual's preferences. It is unlikely to be sold in the U.S. But it wouldn't be aimed only at India, either. Bottom-of-the-pyramid markets would be the best fit : places like Africa, Southeast Asia and maybe eastern Europe and Latin America, wherever income levels mirror India's.

There is a lot riding on its small wheels. It would herald the emergence of Tata Motors on the global auto scene, mark the advent of India as a global center for small-car production and represent a victory for those who advocate making cheap goods for potential customers at the "bottom of the pyramid" in emerging markets. Most of all, it would give millions of people now relegated to lesser means of transportation the chance to drive cars.

The introduction of the Nano received media attention due to it's targeted low price. The car is expected to boost the Indian Economy, create entrepreneurial-opportunities across India, as well as expand the Indian car market by 65%. The car envisioned by, Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, described it as an eco-friendly "people's car". Nano has been greatly appreciated by many sources and the media for its low-cost and eco-friendly initiatives which include using compressed-air as fuel and an electric-version (E-Nano).

No doubt, it is too early in the day to comment about its safety standards and environmental consequences, the car will stand up to the Tata repute of providing mobility with safety and an efficient mean of transport to match the requirements of a small middle class Indian family whose aspirations have been growing at a 'never before seen' pace to posses mobility, enhanced status and rise in self-esteem. Tata Nano will definitely set up a trend of the sort and debut a manufacturing era of low cost and eco friendly automobiles.
For now, Tata's Nano car has truly taken millions on 'the flight to fancy'!