$2,000 Tata Nano Goes On Sale

Sections: Efficiency | MINI Competitors Mar 27th, 2009 25 Comments

A car we have been hearing about for quite a while now, mostly because of it’s very low price, is finally almost available.

But six years after the project was conceived, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, announced on Mar. 23 that the world’s cheapest car would soon be available in one of the world’s fastest-growing car markets. Tata Motors, which is 37% owned by Tata Group, plans to begin a lottery to pick 100,000 people who will be eligible to buy the first Nano cars that roll off the production line. “We have made a promise and we have kept that promise,” Tata told journalists in Mumbai.

Only 50,000 will be produced this year with hopes of increasing production to 350,000 in 3 years.

As a MINI owner, would you ever think of owning one?

[ At Last, Tata Motors' $2,000 Nano ] BusinessWeek.com

Written By: DB

Ian F

Own one? Heck no. There was a good article about this car in Automobile recently. I’d joke that in the US we hold golf carts to higher safety standards. The car was designed to take the place of a 2-wheel scooter… and in that role, it’s a “safer” option. But other than that, it was designed purely to a price point with absolute minimal safey standards.
gokartride

Another development in a long list of fascinating innovations going on right now. Seems we’re back at the age of the Model T all over again!!
C4

Would I own one? It really depends on where I live. Doesn’t seem to be a really bad car for what it is (Based on reviews: See Jalopnik.com) but I can tell you it beats the heck out of the Smart in the price and practicality departments (It has 4 doors and a back seat).

Will it be safe? I dunno, it looks like it has the strength of aluminum tin foil paper.
Mark @ MINI of the Main Line

I don’t know about owning one. I’m sure it will feel like an economy car (isn’t that it’s job?) But what do you think this will do to the global demand for oil? Last year we saw gas peak at about $4 a gallon in the Philadelphia area. I’m sure if Tata starts selling 350,000 units a year to people that previously could not afford a car, and previously did not use any oil – yikes. I think we will be wishing gas was only $4 a gallon within a few years.
bee1000

I can’t wait to see Jeremy Clarkson test drive one on Top Gear.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1309343484 Neal Stangis

I’ll be frank â€” I drive my R56 because it kicks ass to be behind the wheel and puts a goofy grin on my face every time I go motoring. A secondary benefit (for me) is the fact that it gets twice the mileage of any other vehicle I’ve ever owned (Jeep Wrangler, GMC Jimmy, Buick Riveria, Mercury Monarch). I like the fact that I’m conserving (at least on those times when my car isn’t convincing me to take the long way).

I can’t ever see purchasing a disposable car.
JonPD

A great development for the market they are trying to help. I admire Tata on producing something that might give a lot of people that could not afford any other item except maybe a scooter a chance to have a car. While I would stick with the Mini hands down I can say that I think Tata hit one out of the park for developing something that is unique to the market and aimed towards a market that has serious needs.
dr

Sure I would

First, Regarding safety.. Are motorcycles safe? is a 1962 austin mini safe? Should DOT ban motorcycles? ban classics? DOT regs make cars much much MUCH more expensive than consumer demand for safety would be. If you actually had to pay for the safety features found in todays cars as options, few would spring thousands for safety features. I believe that people shoul be able to drive a car, if they choose, that is no less safe than a motorcycle.

Secondly, I have observed that much of the MINI community is made of people who dont really come from the socioeconomic level a car like this is for. Alot of people are rolling around in pieces of crap, they drive thier 80′s domestic sedan to thier low wage jobs and are lucky if it starts everyday. or are riding public transit. This kind of car is primarily for them not us.

Third, I would consider it, because I simply don’t need a “real” car for 90% of my driving. commuting to work and trips to the store don’t require a real car. Where a scooter or motorbike could fit the bill it doesnt because I dont care to sweat profusely or ride a scooter in the rain and snow. A smart car is ridicously overpriced for what it is (see point 2)If I could buy nothing more than A climate controlled golf cart for a few thousand dollars that I can make my short trips in. Then yes I would own one, I would also own my other cars for highway trips and shuttling kids… but a car like this does fill a need.
http://motoringfile.com Frank

Exactly. For someone living in the third world, the Tata Nano will be the equivalent of riding around in the Space Shuttle. This car is a much better alternative to walking or public transportation and this is pretty much the context from where it has to be viewed. For us, this car is a disposable, unsafe piece of junk. We will never give it the time of day. After all, we are spoiled brats riding around in high tech, powerful cars with cool design, the latest safety features and ladden up with electronic gadgets. We are lucky to still live in a “bubble” of sorts. But the reality for millions and millions of human beings out there is very different from our own. A car like the Tata Nano will bring the 4 wheel motoring experience to the vast majority of people that otherwise could never afford a car-anything in the first place.

Like they say…. Someone’s garbage is another man’s treasure.
Ian F

It seems neither of you read the article I was referring to…

Well duh… of course the car was never intended to be sold outside of India…

I don’t know why I even bother with this site anymore…
K

I’d rather pay 2 grand for this than 20 for that horrendous hybrid homunculus posted here on March 17th…. but would I? I dunno. All else fails, I can keep me pidgins in it…
Eric

Kind of looks like the MINI Micro Car in a previous post?

http://www.motoringfile.com/2009/03/17/minis-micro-car-plans-come-into-focus/
Greenie

Just what people in poor countries need – a poorly built, dangerous death trap of a car. Giving people cheap cars is not a real answer to any of the worlds problems. It’s only going to create new ones. More traffic, more pollution, more accidents… the modern world is finally trying to get away from oil burning dinosaurs like this, and now developing countries are making the same mistakes we did by trying to get a car in the hands of anyone with at least one working eyeball. In a car that makes even a Chevy Aveo look safe and well built.

Imagine the chaos if anyone anywhere could buy a personal helicopter for $500.

The rest of the world should not follow our lead. We’re a country obsessed with cars that create all kinds of pollution. Air pollution. Noise pollution. Even eye pollution – ugly cars and ugly roads and ugly parking lots almost everywhere we look.

Your $2000 would probably be better spent buying a used car. It’d probably be safer and just as reliable.
nervous

Is this really such a great feat? I just got on Tata Motors site & out of the 7 models they currently offer, I built a “Indica V2″ – I don’t have a clear idea of where the Indica V2 falls within their line or what level of options I chose, but I built it for 326,653 Rupees (roughly $6,500.00) in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh. Given more patience & knowledge you could probably build a current Tata offering for less.
lavardera

Why do the wheels look like they were an afterthought?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1020052226 Matthew O’Brien

I’d rather spend the 2 grand on a MacBook. It’d be prettier.
veggivet

The MacBook would probably be faster, too.
goat

Greenie (and others): you have perhaps inadvertently nailed the most fundamental dilemma in environmentalism… and it is a dilemma of ethics AND economics.

Namely, do developed nations (or one socioeconomic group within a nation), having accrued great material benefit since the industrial revolution relatively unimpeded by environmental/social concerns, now have the RIGHT to coerce now-developing nations into pursuing a model of material growth that incorporates environmental/social responsibility, thereby benefiting the developed nations yet further (i.e., by not burdening the global ecosystem shared by developed nations, and also not competing successfully in the global marketplace with developed nations)?
C4

Have any of you lived in the third world? I have and let me tell you that a car like the Tata nano has a rightful place. We like to see the world from the glass house of the developed/first nation perspective in which we automatically discard anything perceived as cheap, poor and dangerous.

Some of you would literally DIE to see how people drive in Latin America, Africa, middle east or the asian subcontinent. And somehow people live and still make it day in and day out.

I grew up in cars with no seat belts and my mother carried me in her lap in the front seat while riding in the family car. Any of these practices are deemed as suicidal and even criminal in our developed and safety conscious societies. But in most of the 3rd world these things are pretty normal and widely accepted (Regardless of whether they are right or wrong). Do any of you honestly think that a Tata Nano buyer will compare NCAP crash tests as part of their buying decision process?

Yes the world outside of the United States, Europe, Canada, Japan, etc is a pretty wild world in which some of you would not survive a single day.
Hai

^^ Very well said C4. Although it’s ugly but at that price point, it allows many people (especially those in developing countries) to finally own a car.
goat

Thanks for saying it so succinctly C4. And a very good answer to the environmental dilemma I posed. Ok, environmental ethics class dismissed! :)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=653192548 Aurel Savin

I’d buy one in a hearbeat. Not to replace the MINI but for a great runaround beater city car.
GregW

For the millions of Slumdog Millionaires in India, this is a Rolls Royce compared to a horse and cart or having to ride on the roof of a train. East Germany had the Trabant car – a two-stroke vehicle with a similar look to a Riley Elf (Mini variant). The waiting list was up to 10 years. So horses for courses!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=780739777 Chris Harte

Just because it is $2000 doesn’t mean it is cheap. Most working people in the US make in a week what people in LDC’s make in a year or more. I would feel it as a smack in the face if I were a proud Indian about to get my first car, possibly knowing people in the US want to buy them as beaters and trash them because they can.
http://www.carhire-rentals.co.uk Car Hire UK

Â Hey,nice post.Tata Nano is well famous in these days due to its low cost. Tata Nano is the worldâ€™s cheapest car. Thanks for sharing this article with us. I like this article. Its great keep sharing with us. Â

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