MUMBAI
The world’s cheapest car will retail for a little more than $2,000 and can be yours - if you live in India and are very lucky - by July, Tata Motors said Monday.
The Nano, a pint-sized vehicle designed to make car ownership accessible to millions of the world’s poor, finally goes on sale in India next month. Whether it will revolutionize the global auto industry - or turn around its manufacturer’s fortunes - has yet to be seen, and other automakers will be watching closely to see how consumers respond to the car. So will environmentalists.
“We can do what most countries felt could not be done,” Ratan Tata, chairman of the sprawling Tata group of companies, said at a launch ceremony Monday, as the swelling strains of the theme song to “2001: A Space Odyssey” died away in the warm night.
“Nothing is really impossible if you set your mind to it,” he said. “What we have done is given the country an affordable car.”
And, he pledged to go to Europe and America soon, with safer, cleaner but still ultracheap Nanos for the developed world.
The Nano was initially targeted at impoverished first-time car buyers in Asia and Africa, but the global economic meltdown has amplified Mr. Tata’s export ambitions.
Tata Motors unveiled the Nano Europa, a slightly more robust version of the Indian model, at the Geneva Motor Show this month, with a planned launch of 2011.
The company is designing a version of the Nano that meets U.S. safety and emissions standards and should be ready for launch in about three years, Mr. Tata said.
The Nano, with a retail price of $2,233, is a stripped-down car for stripped-down times: It is 10.2 feet long, has one windshield wiper and a 623cc rear engine.
The four-seater can travel up to 65 miles an hour and gets 55.5 miles to the gallon. The Nano does not have air bags or antilock brakes - neither of which is required in India - and if you want air conditioning or power windows, you’ll have to pay extra.
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