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World's Cheapest Car is Launched at £1340
http://www.money.co.uk/article/1003208-worlds-cheapest-car-is-launched-at-1340.htm
Priced at just 100,000 rupees, the eco-friendly Tata NANO has sparked interest from around the world.
Designed to bring four-wheel travel to India’s motorbike-obsessed masses, the newly launched Tata ‘NANO’ is officially the world’s cheapest car.
With the basic model priced at a mere 100,000 rupees plus tax (approx £1,337) for the first 100,000 owners, the NANO is already stirring up a storm both in India and around the world.
Officially unveiled by Tata Motors’ chairman, Ratan Tata, yesterday at the Delhi Auto Expo, the first batch of NANOs are set to roll onto garage forecourts in July. Interested parties will, however, be given the opportunity to pre-book their budget-vehicle between 6th and 25th April, provided they can part with the near-100% deposit required.
Dubbed ‘the people’s car’ by its manufacturers, Tata’s low-cost, eco-friendly NANO sits at just over 3 meters long, is fitted with a 33bhp two-cylinder petrol engine, seats 4 and has a top speed of 65mph (105km/hr).
The basic model is just that; by forfeiting ‘luxuries’ such as air conditioning, power steering and airbags, Tata have managed to drive down production costs and achieved their goal of creating a highly affordable vehicle.
However, while the NANO will be the first car to fall within the financial means of many middle-class Indians it’s unlikely to revolutionise the country’s transport system any time soon as while the demand is there, the production capability isn’t.
After experiencing a number of issues with their factories, Tata look set to complete just 50,000 vehicles within the next 12 months. Their new production facilities aren't expected to be ready until Spring 2010 at the earliest.
However, this limited availability is doing little to dampen interest and Tata Motors have already announced plans to use a lottery system to pick the lucky recipients of the first batch.
In fact, the level of interest expressed by parties from around the world has prompted Tata to embark on US and European models, with the latter looking set to be available from 2011.
Looks like a Smart car mated with a Yaris.
Comments
There were also rumors that they would be bringing it to North America (as stated in the article) but according to what I've heard, any foreign company that sells automobiles in North America must also produce them here. And since the low price tag is mainly due to the low low labor costs in India (and China for that matter), they can't sell it here for that price if they also have to produce it here. So yea, don't expect to see it here anytime soon
just like most chinese brand cars i doubt this would fare well in any kinda accident for 2500$ i rather buy a used volvo @ least i know id be in a metal tank :p
Holden makes the g8 in Australia, rebadges it as the Pontiac g8 and exports them here.
we have some pretty strict laws on this side of the pond and im glad we do...
there are both high speed and low speed requirements cars need to meet
thats why we dont have the toyota mrs nor the mitsu evo in canada cuz neither car can pass the low speed collision test (bumper pops rad from what i recall)
as for the chinese brands (and im sure the indian ones as well) literally break in 1/2 on head on impact... watch this vid for example...
(note the lexus does pretty bad too since the head bounces off the side)
if u wanna see just the azn cars skip to 1/2 way into the vid
[youtube]Dimg2n2Azwg[/youtube]
and holy fuck you would probably become apart of the wreckage in those Chinese cars
i also went by morrey mazda today to check out the new face lift on the mazda3's ... and man all i can say is that mazda butchered the hatchback, i mean i didnt really like the hatchback mazda3 to begin with but now they took it just way beyond ugly IMO... the sedan on the other hand has grown on me, at first i disliked the overly happy looking front end but ive come to like it, the rear end of the sedan is very nice, i just wish they woulda stuck with the blacked out taillights not go down chromy/clear path ... oh well
cant wait for summer and good weather time to hit up some test drives lol
and speaking of driving i havent hit up TBC:IR in sooo long :(
what do u guys think?
its kinda cool but i wouldn't wanna imagine the road rash ud get from hitting a rock :P
- 300 mile range
- 45 minute QuickCharge
- 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds
- Seats 7 people
- More Cargo space than station wagons
- 2X as efficient as hybrids
- 17 inch touchscreen lcd
more at http://www.teslamotors.com/models/index.php