India’s Tata Motors announced on Monday (Mar 23) the commercial launch of Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car at 100,000 rupees (USD1,990) apiece.
Nano created huge buzz worldwide when it was unveiled in January 2008; the car is in hot demand in India where it’ll hit the roads in July 2009.
The demand for the car is so high that the company has to make a lucky draw to decide their first 100,000 customers for the first phase of deliveries. A dedicated assembly plant will be ready in 2010 with an annualised capacity of 350,000 cars.
There are reasons why Tata Nano is so cheap; but as it’s often stressed, the Nano’s main aim is to provide safe, affordable, four-wheel transportation to families… and we can’t argue that a car would be much safer than a bike.
Some environmentalists are not that fond of the car, as more cars = more pollution. Tata has responded to the issue that an electric version of Nano is in mind, which has sprung wide interest in western countries.
Btw, the car might lack certain comfortability features, but it’s not lacking in design… that’s one cute car that I don’t mind owning based on appearance alone.
