Tata Nano may hit US streets by 2011

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/04/news/inter...oney_topstories

'World's cheapest car' coming to US

India's Tata Motors hopes to offer the Nano, which costs $2,300, to Americans within two years.

2009/06/04

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- India's Tata Motors hopes to offer the Nano, dubbed the world's cheapest car, in the United States within two years, its chairman said.

"It will need to meet all emission and crash standards and so we hope in the next two years we will be offering such a vehicle in the U.S," Ratan Tata told a panel at the Cornell Global Forum on Sustainable Global Enterprise late Wednesday.

The company plans to offer a European version of the car, which costs about $2,300, in 2011.

Tata got the idea to make a car that poor people could afford while thinking about the motorbike and scooter riders who maneuver through the streets of Indian cities with their children on board.

The four-seater car gets up to 65 miles per gallon. Cheap labor helps to keep the price down.

Tata said his company was also working to develop cars that run on fuels other than gasoline such as clean diesel, biofuels and batteries.

The Nano debuted in showrooms in January 2008, but production was delayed by protests over land use where a plant was to be located. The cars will be available in India by July with a lottery to select the first 100,000 owners.

I'd love to get one for short drives (such as Falls Church to Arlington, Falls Church to DC), and it would also work not-too-badly for "rush-hour" on Beltway.

[Ban Hammer 14,569]

cool, tatas for everyone!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

"It will need to meet all emission and crash standards and so we hope in the next two years we will be offering such a vehicle in the U.S," Ratan Tata told a panel at the Cornell Global Forum on Sustainable Global Enterprise late Wednesday.

I have a cousin who manages at Maruti (another Indian manufacturer), he tells me that if Maruti were to spend the money to get their cars up to US environmental and safety standards, Marutis would no longer be competitive in the US market.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It sounds like the 21st century equivalent of the Lada Riva.

[_Simpson_ 250]

They should be giving that thing away, although it would help promote absence.

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

cool, tatas for everyone!

yes. but, they would be small, very small. oh well, you get what you pay for.

Daniel

[almaty 19]

small and lacking any motorpower

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Can it do this?

If not, I'm not interested.

[_Simpson_ 250]

and safety, a fender bender could be fatal.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

small and lacking any motorpower

i resemble that remark

[Ban Hammer 14,569]

cool, tatas for everyone!

yes. but, they would be small, very small. oh well, you get what you pay for.

Daniel

most families could have 2. a new set of tatas for the home! :dance: :dance:

[Saddle Bronc 124]

small and lacking any motorpower

In US or Canada, true--especially if you want to use it on highway.

In congested city (and even some sections of interstate within these) such as DC or Chicago, the lack of horsepower not problematic.

(btw, the bhp on the Nano as-is matches that of a Standard Eight). Interior space matches that of Aveo, though boot-space is only about the size of a glovebox.

It sounds like the 21st century equivalent of the Lada Riva.

Except for being somewhat higher in technology (I've seen Riva in Canada, it was a no-tech car) as it has a 2-cylinder EFI system.

[Nagishkaw 510]

small and lacking any motorpower

i resemble that remark

[Niels Bohr 72]

Bye Bye Saudi Arabia!

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Bye Bye Saudi Arabia!

You're a little "behind times" I see; Alberta's tarsands now supply a larger portion of US energy needs than does the DMSA (degenerate monarchy of Saudi Arabia).