Live Chennai, Tata cars, tata, nano, tata nano, tatanano, nano cars, cheapest cars, Tata motors car

Here what Tata's Rs 1-lakh car - the Nano - looks like!

The Tata Rs 1-lakh car is here! And it's called the Nano!

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata on Thursday unveiled the Tata Nano at the 9th Auto Expo in NewDelhi.

Details of the Nano:

Ratan Tata, while unveiling the Nano, said: "The car will meet all current safety norms and all emission criteria. The pollution it will cause will be lower than 2-wheelers."

The car, he said, is smaller than a Maruti 800, but has 21 per cent more volume or space inside than the 800. He said that the dealer price of the car will be Rs 1 lakh, plus value-added tax (VAT) plus transport charges.

The car's dashboard features just a speedometer, fuel gauge, and oil light. The car does not have reclining seats or radio. The shock absorbers are basic.

It will sport a 30-litre fuel tank and 4-speed manual gearshift. One of Nano's three versions will come with air conditioning, but will have no power steering. It will have front disk and rear drum brakes. The company claims mileage of 23 km per litre.

The Nano, designed with a family in mind, has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy.

Yet with a length of 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres, with adequate ground clearance, it can effortlessly manoeuvre on busy roads in cities as well as in rural areas.

Its mono-volume design, with wheels at the corners and the power train at the rear, enables it to uniquely combine both space and manoeuvrability, which will set a new benchmark among small cars.

When launched, the car will be available in three versions. All versions will offer a wide range of body colours, and other accessories so that the car can be customized to an individual's preferences.

Nano has a rear-wheel drive, all-aluminium, two-cylinder, 624 cc, 33 bhp, multi-point fuel injection petrol engine. This is the first time that a two-cylinder gasoline engine is being used in a car with single balancer shaft.

The lean design strategy has helped minimize weight, which helps maximize performance per unit of energy consumed and delivers high fuel efficiency. Performance is controlled by a specially designed electronic engine management system.

Nano's safety performance exceeds current regulatory requirements. With an all sheet-metal body, it has a strong passenger compartment, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, and the rear tailgate glass bonded to the body. Tubeless tyres further enhance safety.

The Nano will come in three variants -- standard and two deluxe models with AC. The standard car would be available for Rs 1 lakh (ex-showroom), while VAT and transportation costs are extra.

The Nano is expected to be commerically launched in the second half of 2008. News reports say that Tata Motors hopes to sell 500,000 units of the car, almost four times the number of Indicas it sells. Tata plans to focus on a market segment hitherto untapped.

Not since the launch of the Maruti 800 in 1983 has any car gripped the imagination of a nation and indeed car manufacturers the world over so intensely. If commercially successful, the Tata Nano can alter the passenger car market in India, and perhaps the world, beyond description