India’s Tata Nano – bargain-priced motoring?

In the late-40’s, Germany built the first “people’s car” in the Famed Volkswagen Beetle.

Nearly 70 years on, Indian carmaker Tata Motors is hoping to repeat history with what has to be the world’s cheapest new car.

The release of the Tata Nano is certainly the freshest thing to happen to the global car market in years.

At a time when US car makers have their backs to the wall, the Tata Group seems to have come up with a winning combination of features and price – well, okay, price.

The fact that the Indian market can support a small two-cylinder, four-door car that sells for just 100,000 rupees (about AUD$2800) shows that its own low manufacturing costs don’t do it any harm. It’s certainly unlikely that even with the clever engineering incorporating inside the Nano that such a car could be made for this price anywhere else in the world.

With a 623-cc two-cylinder rear-mount motor and four-speed manual transmission, the base 100,000-rupee model doesn’t buy you much more than basic motoring – no air-conditioning, no power-steering, no power-assisted brakes. However, when you consider that you’re still actually getting an actual car for this price, it’s still surprisingly good value.

It’s the sort of price Australia hasn’t seen for a new small car since the early-70s.

The Tata Group has plans to release an “international” model however it remains to be seen whether it would pass the NSW RTA’s safety assessments before we see them whizzing along Australian streets.

You can see more pics and get more details at the Tata Motors website (english).

It’s nice that it’s already a right-hand-drive – that would be one step closer to passing Australian safety tests… :)

[NOTE: Sorry, this isn't a tech story but hey, it's a good-news motoring story and there haven't been many of those lately...]

Tata Motors already has the specifications of the Nano up on its website but in detail:

Dimensions

Engine and transmission

Suspension

Brakes

Wheels & Tyres

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