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Tata unveils world’s cheapest car

Sandeep Joshi

The 623 cc ‘Nano’ with a 33 bhp petrol engine gets a rapturous welcome

— Photo: S. Subramanium

Small is beautiful: Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata unveiling the Rs. 1 lakh car ‘Tata Nano’ at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: Keeping his promise, made four years ago, to deliver a “people’s car,” Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata unveiled on Thursday the Rs.1-lakh car christened ‘Nano.’

The world’s cheapest car from the Tata Motors stable comes with a rear mounted all-aluminium two-cylinder 623 cc petrol engine, promises a mileage of 20 km per litre, and meets all emission and safety standards.

“The vision was to give the people of India a car which is not produced anywhere else in the world. Through Nano, which denotes high technology and small size, I have tried to provide a reliable mode of transport to every Indian family,” Mr. Tata told an overflowing press conference attended by Indian as well as international media at the inaugural day of the Auto Expo 2008 here.

Variants

To be formally launched in the second half of this year from its upcoming plant at Singur in West Bengal, the car will initially have three variants — standard and two luxury models.

More variants will be gradually introduced, including a car with a diesel engine. The standard model will cost Rs.1 lakh (excluding taxes and transportation costs). Deluxe models will cost more and their prices will be disclosed at the time of commercial launch.

Mr. Tata said that despite constant increase in inputs costs since the project was conceived four years ago, the company had decided to keep the price tag of the entry model at Rs.1 lakh.

“After all a promise is a promise,” he said, clarifying that it was not he but the media that mentioned the Rs.1 lakh price tag. “But I took it as a challenge,” the doyen of Indian industry disclosed.

3.1 metre-long

Nano is 3.1-metre long, 1.5-metre wide, and 1.6-metre high. “Though it is eight per cent smaller than Maruti 800 [bumper-to-bumper], it is 21 per cent more spacious from inside,” Mr. Tata pointed out. Referring to the safety aspect, he noted that the car had passed a full frontal crash test.

Nano comes in an all sheet-metal body, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat-belts, strong seats and anchorages, and rear tailgate glass bonded to the body.

Mr. Tata confirmed that Nano met all current legislative emission norms and could be upgraded to meet Euro IV norms.

“It has a lower pollution level than two-wheelers,” Mr. Tata assured environmentalists who have been expressing apprehensions about the impact of this project on the environment.

Mr. Tata warmly thanked the Left Front government in West Bengal for its support to the project during “difficult times.”

Choice of Singur

Referring to the choice of Singur as the location for this greenfield car plant, the Tata Group Chairman said: “East India has been industrially ignored. Therefore I decided to locate the plant in West Bengal so more investment could flow in the region. It was a big leap of faith for us. This project will definitely improve the quality of life in the entire Hooghly district where the new plant is located.”

Construction work on the 250,000 unit plant, which is expandable to 350,000, is going on in full swing, he added.

9th Auto Expo New Delhi 2008

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