Tata Nano India Review: Secret Behind Peoples Car

No single car by the Tata Motors has been talked about as much as the Tata Nano. Classified as being part of the new breed of 21st century cars the Nano symbolizes the new age philosophy of smaller, lighter and cheaper cars. The project was initiated in the year 2003 to construct a small sized car in the range of one lakh rupees i.e about $2100. This was done after considering the fact that India had a considerable number of families that were being forced to drive around on two wheelers due to the lack of finance for a four wheeler.

Hundreds of reviewers who took Nano for a ride had a different take on it. But there was a lot that all agreed on. Nano is a ultra compact but looks bigger due to its height and wide stance. Its interior is unexpectedly roomy with decent quality material used for furnishing. The car is more than capable of accommodating four adults along with few small bags in its 130 litre boot volume. Fold down the rear seat and the parcel tray fixed to it and you can reach the luggage area.

Everything seemed almost normal till now but to make the cheapest car in the world there has to be few things outside the ordinary. Looking causally at the car inside-out you can feel that there is something different in Nano. Look carefully and you can see lot of cost-cuttings. Tata Nano has about one third of the usual number of parts which is made possible due to its centralised wiring; wheels mounted with three rather than four bolts, missing left hand side wing mirror and seats moulded in one single piece. These are just few of the innovative techniques used to cut price and weight to bare minimum resulting a 600kg car versus 683kg for its nearest competitor Maruti Suzuki 800.

The Nano is powered by a tiny 624cc engine big enough to drive it to a top speed of 106kph. The all-aluminium parallel-twin petrol engine makes 35ps of power at 5250rpm and a max torque of 48Nm. The fuel consumption is claimed to be 23.5km/l while emissions are very low. Nano meets all current regulatory requirements in India including full frontal crash, head impact on steering wheel, body block impact on steering and seat belt anchorage strength.

This rear wheel driven machine is a genuine car in every sense of the word and earns the well deserved honour of being the cheapest (most affordable) means of private transportation.

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Photo Gallery: New Tata Nano Pictures.

Spy Video: Tata Nano Caught Testing

The buzz about the upcoming $2500 Nano hatchback had kind of died down after its debut at the Delhi and Geneva Auto Show. The focus had shifted to the Indian carmaker Tata Motors takeover of Jaguar and Land Rover. But now the worlds cheapest car, Tata Nano is back in news with its spy video being uploaded on Youtube.

This is the first time that Nano has been caught on video. Till now nobody had seen any spy photo or video of this cute little hatch due to the high level of secrecy that Tata had maintained about its pet project. The video below shows the base model (black bumper) of Nano being tested on the old Bombay Pune Highway in India without any camo whatsoever.

Tata Nano coined as “The People’s Car” in India due to its rock bottom prices has a RWD all-aluminum, two-cylinder 623 cc petrol engine making 33 hp and is efficient enough to attain a fuel economy of about 55 mpg. The car is expected to hit the Indian market later this year and its delux model might have a $10 airbag (Read).

Tata is also said to be working on the world’s first compressed air car called Tata OneCat which Tata expects to be more efficient than any present hybrid car. We'll be on lookout for more about about this concept but till then checkout the Nano in action below.

Via: TopSpeed
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Spy Video: Tata Nano On the Move.

Tata Wants $10 Airbag For Small Car Nano

The Indian car maker Tata Motors, is planning on a $10 airbag for its worlds cheapest Nano supermini. Now this seems quite logical if not realistic as a conventional airbag would almost cost 10% of the retail price of $2500 (1lakh) Nano. So to keep prices under control Tata has asked occupant safety systems supplier Autoliv IFB to develop airbags that cost only $10 each. How and when, if ever a dirt-cheap airbag gets developed remains to be seen, but one thing is certain that nobody does cost-cuttings better than Tata Mototrs.

The base variant of Nano will be a no-frill car, thats is no airbags, no air-conditioning, just a five seat skeleton car that moves. But the delux or the high-end version of Nano is expected to have two frontal air bags plus the regular air-conditioning, music system and alloy wheels, all for little more that $2500 (1lakh).

Nobody beleived Ratan Tata, chairman Tata Motors when he disclosed his intent to develop a $2500 small car. Within few years he proved his critics wrong by launching his promised budget car Nano, that will go on sale in India later this year. So when Mr Tata says he plans to get a $10 airbag, you better beleive him. Moreover, Autoliv is the worlds largest manufacturer of air bags, and given the large volumes that Nano is expected to sell, Tata and Autoliv may be able to pull off the deed. Atleast their chances are bright.

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