Tata Nano-: Overview

Overview.

The Tata Nano is a rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by Tata Motors, aimed primarily at the Indian market. The car is very fuel efficient, achieving around 26 kilometers per liter on the highway and around 22 kilometers per liter in the city.

The introduction of the Nano received media attention due to its targeted low price. The Financial Times reported: "If ever there were a symbol of India’s ambitions to become a modern nation, it would surely be the Nano, the tiny car with the even tinier price-tag. A triumph of homegrown engineering, the $2,200 (€1,490, £1,186) Nano encapsulates the dream of millions of Indians groping for a shot at urban prosperity." The car is expected to boost the Indian economy, create entrepreneurial-opportunities across India, as well as expand the Indian car market by 65%. The car was envisioned by Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, who has described it as an eco-friendly "people's car".

In early 2008 the news magazine Newsweek identified the Nano as a part of a "new breed of 21st-century cars" that embody "a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, cheaper" and portend a new era in inexpensive personal transportation — and potentially, "global gridlock". The Wall Street Journal confirmed a global trend toward small cars, which includes the Nano.
"Nano" means "small" in Gujarati, the language of the founders of the Tata Group. "Nano" from the SI prefix for one-billionth is often used to mean "small" in colloquial English.
Nano has been greatly appreciated by many sources and the media for its low-cost and eco-friendly initiatives which include using compressed-air as fuel and an electric-version (E-Nano). Tata Group is expected to mass-manufacture the Nano, particularly the electric-version, and, besides selling them in India, to also export them worldwide.

Critics of the car have questioned its safety in India (where reportedly 90,000 people are killed in road-accidents every year), and have also criticised the pollution that it would cause (including criticism by Nobel Peace Prize winner Rajendra Pachauri). However, Tata Motors has promised that it would definitely release Nano's eco-friendly models alongside the gasoline-model.