The world's cheapest car Tata Nano from India Could Cost $8,000 In U.S Version

The world's cheapest car

Tata Nano from India Could Cost

$8,000 In U.S

DETROIT (AP) -- The world's cheapest car is being readied for sale in the U.S., but by the time India's Tata Nano is retrofitted to meet emissions and safety standards, it won't be that cheap.

NEW DELHI - India's Tata Motors on Thursday 10th January 2007 unveiled the world's cheapest car, bringing new mobility within the reach of tens of millions of people and nightmares to environmentalists, traffic engineers and safety advocates

Tata Technologies Ltd., the global engineering arm of the Tata group conglomerate, brought the tiny car to Detroit as a publicity stunt for the engineering group.

The car has a fuel efficiency of around 26 kilometres per litre (73 mpg-imp; 61 mpg-US) on the highway and around 22 kilometres per litre (62 mpg-imp; 52 mpg-US) in the city.

Tata officials, while maintaining that they couldn't speak for Tata Motors, maker of the $2,500 Nano, said they were involved with the Nano from concept until it launched last July in Mumbai.

They wouldn't say when the Nano might arrive in the U.S. or how much it might cost here, although Ratan Tata, chairman of the group of Tata companies, has said it should be ready for U.S. distribution in about three years.

"Nano" means "small" in Gujrati, the language of the founders of the Tata Group."Nano" from the SI Prefix for one-billionth is derived from the Greek νᾶνος, meaning dwarf, and is sometimes used to mean "small" in colloquial English.

Tata Motors already has made a European version of the four-seat car that will cost about $8,000 when it debuts in 2011, and a Tata Technologies official said privately that the U.S. version is expected to have a comparable price. The official did not want to be identified because the price has not been made public.

Warren Harris, Tata Technologies president, would only say that the price would be more than the roughly $2,500 charged in India.

"The structural changes that would need to be made, the changes that would be required as far as emissions are concerned, and some of the features that would be appropriate to add to the vehicle for the North American market, obviously that would drive up the price point," he said.

Tata Technologies could be involved in bringing the car up to U.S. standards, said Tony Jones, associate vice president of the global automotive practice.

Before it can be sold here, the car's two-cylinder, 623cc engine would have to be engineered to meet stronger U.S. pollution standards, he said. Airbags would have to be added, the roof strengthened and the front bumper lengthened to meet U.S. requirements to limit damage in a 5-mph crash.

The Spartan interior, with flat bucket seats, three knobs, a horizontal switch and a steering wheel, also would have to be changed to comply with U.S. safety standards that limit movement of passengers not wearing seat belts.

The Nano has 21% more interior space (albeit mostly as headroom, due to its tall stance) and an 8% smaller exterior compared to its closest rival, the Maruti 800. Tata offered the car in three versions: the basic Tata Nano Std; the CX; and the LX. The CX and LX versions each have air conditioning, power windows, and central locking. Tata has set its initial production target at 250,000 units per year.

Jones said the Nano Europa has airbags and has passed European safety tests with flying colors.

The Nano, with 12-inch diameter tires, electric windows in the front and crank windows in the back, gets 50 mpg on the highway and has a top speed of 65 mph.

If the $8,000 price tag holds true, it would cost far less than the $9,970 Hyundai Accent, currently the car with the lowest base sticker price in the U.S., according to the Edmunds.com automotive Web site. The price excludes shipping.