Small is big in India

The Indian company in the front-line of bidding for British motoring icons Jaguar and Land Rover has launched India's “people's car”, a $2835 four-seater.

With Ford's decision on the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover imminent, Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata has unveiled the budget hatch at the New Delhi Motor Show.

Critics say while the Nano will bring motoring to India's masses, it may also clog the roads and create an environmental nightmare.

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The four-door car is basic. It has a high ground clearance for India's rough roads and its simple rear-drive, 24kW, 623cc, two-cylinder petrol engine under the rear seats powers it to a top speed of 105km/h and delivers 5.0 litres for 100km.

It will be available in three models — Standard, Deluxe and Luxury — and will be sold in left and right-hand drive.

Tata plans to add hybrid and diesel versions to the line-up.

Despite being only 3100mm long, 1500mm wide and 1600mm high — significantly shorter and narrower than a Mini Cooper — the Nano meets Indian crash legislation, Tata claims, but it can be strengthened for other markets.

It will be launched later this year and sold across India, and there are plans later to export it to developing countries.

Tata expects to sell 100,000 Nanos a year initially. Company executives say the car will be pitched at budget buyers who now own motorcycles.

Tata says he wants to give Indian families more mobility.

“I see families riding on two-wheelers, the father driving, a kid standing in front, his wife seated behind holding a baby,” he says.

“It led me to wonder whether we could design a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family.”

They could. It took four years.

“Today we have a people's car that is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, to be fuel-efficient and low on emissions,” he says.