World's Cheapest Car is Launched at £1340

by Charlotte Cardingham
Published on 24 March 2009
Related Subjects:
World's Cheapest Car is Launched at £1340

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.

Source

Get more deals like this every week.
Enter your email and name below to join over 460,000 other members who benefit from our invaluable deals each week.
your email
first name
Add

Add a comment.

Login |
Sign Up
(optional)
Name:
Comment:

You have 1000 characters left
 

Refresh Image
Please enter the characters to the right
 
 
19

Your Comments

jayne clelland
on 26 Mar 2009 12:08
At last, if they can do it why can't we? It is about time Britain had this kind of foresight. I know the idea is to remove cars from the roads but that isn't going to happen very soon is it? Come on Britian get with it and supply us with this kind of transport at similar costs.
 
Rich
on 25 Mar 2009 20:55
My first job as a mechanic was for Yugo's at a new car dealership what a bad car I cannot imagine that this one is any better. I never seen one go over 50,000miles it was built as cheap as possible it was dangerous to drive remember what happened to one off the Mackinaw bridge. Please do yourself a favor and dont consider this as a viable alternative to a good used car!
 
mike
on 25 Mar 2009 19:56
nice looking wheel and headlight....
 
CatAdjusterJim
on 25 Mar 2009 17:51
Right, Lets kill the product before it even comes out. Its about time a vehicle came out with a price in line with reality. I refuse to buy any new vehicle with the 24,000 + price tag,because they are nothing but profit tools for the car manufacturers refusing to do anything about mileage. Even the prius is far overpriced. Detroit and Japan will do everything they can to kill this vehicle before it hits our shores, because they wont do what India can - make an affordable car for the masses. I cant wait to get one of these vehicles. Its about time!
 
TexasDawn
on 25 Mar 2009 17:15
Why are we bailing out our auto makers. They don't seem to care about making smaller,more affordable cars like this one... come on! Not all Americans are greedy overspending,consumers.Some of us can not afford anything over $3000.00, low paying jobs and high living expenses are killing most of us.And if you are living on S.S.I./S.S.D. there is no way to afford a dependable auto.Not at $20,000.00 and above...
 
Theron
on 25 Mar 2009 16:41
how soon??? where do I pick it up?
 
Bruce
on 25 Mar 2009 15:39
wont see it here unless it has airbags which is law. would be much higher than 2 grand
 
Dennis
on 25 Mar 2009 15:31
Might be too easy to steal,, Just pick it up and run !! Ford needs to bring back the Model T in a modern version with a .8 liter 4 cyl 50 H/P that seats 4 and gets 60+ MPG. Keep it simple and keep it low cost. At $5000 out the door they would have a real winner ,,,again
 
Frederick Hoymer
on 25 Mar 2009 14:25
the safety features in this car cant be very good. Like the old Minis, if your in an accident you are squashed like a tin can!!
 
I_ride_my_harley
on 25 Mar 2009 13:57
Heck I would drive it no shame in my game, if it only lasted me a year it would be worth the 2,000.00 it cost I just would not make long trips in it might get run over on the interstate. Renee
 
Rob Wallace
on 25 Mar 2009 13:15
So where can I/we get more technical specifications?
 
DanT
on 25 Mar 2009 11:33
I converted 100 000 rupees to us dollars and it's about $1,970.00. Here in the US you can buy a Volkswagen Jetta for $14,000.00 or a Suzuki for a little less. So, I'm not sure how accurate this is.
 
dave goodwin
on 25 Mar 2009 11:08
i would be interested to know how safe a car is made with so little money, i suspect you would be safer in a paper bag
 
Richard Miller
on 25 Mar 2009 10:34
I think that they sound fine for errands and all of the local running that we have to do. There needs to be a capab;e dealer or a capable repairman with the necessary parts in the area to make it fesible for people in this area to own these cars.
 
beba h.
on 25 Mar 2009 05:44
I would like to see this car in Canada--I am a single woman and new cars are not affordable for me--There would be a HUGE market for this car in Canada and I am sure in the USA--Why isn't it available--this needs to become a global car !!
 
megabyte
on 25 Mar 2009 03:43
at last i can afford a new car
 
Robert Moon
on 25 Mar 2009 00:08
Already the global warming alarmist are criticizing this new eco-friendly car. UN Cimate Control Panel is trying to undermine India's advancements into the 21st century.
 
a desautels
on 24 Mar 2009 23:13
Please I want one !!!!!!!!
 
Sam
on 24 Mar 2009 22:43
You mentioned that this car is Eco-Friendly twice in this article- without any support for that statement at all. While small, two cylinder vehicles get great MPG simply because they are light, they tend to be extremely inefficient and polluting. To be fair, I don't know if that applies to the NANO or not, but it would be nice to know exactly what makes the NANO eco friendly, besides the fact that it is probably very light.