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Nano to enter global contest
Tata Motors’ big plans for its little Nano will see it compete for the Progressive Automotive X Prize, a US$10 million purse for a real-world car which can exceed 100mpg, or 42.5 kpl. While that figure might seem achievable if the car is driven
with an extremely light foot, the catch is that, to compete for the prize, the Nano will have to race other competitors! And it won’t be a Nano as we’ll be buying in India, but a petrol-electric hybrid instead.
Tata also plans to enter a purely electric-powered car in the Alternative category of the awards. Jonathan Etherington will head Tata’s team. With the first stage races to be held in New York in September 2009, there is little time to engineer a hybrid platform, but for Tata this is an exercise for the future; with sky-rocketing oil prices hybrid technology will be commonplace soon.
The X Prize Foundation aims at ‘fostering innovation through competition’, and what better lure than a US$10 million pot at the end of the rainbow to kick-start Tata’s alternative energy programme. There are a total of 70 competitors from across the globe in the race, and a good showing by the Nano will be the perfect exercise in goodwill for the Jaguar-Land Rover owners, whose biggest market is the USA.
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