Word: indias
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...developing world to park their scooters. Competitors dismissed the idea as folly. The Maruti 800, the Nano's closest competition, sells for about twice as much. Yet Tata has been as good as his word. The Nano is going on sale on April 9 at 470 outlets across India at a factory price of 100,000 rupees, not including taxes and transport costs. Within a few years, Nanos could also be available in Europe...
...comes at a time when the entire auto industry is in crisis. Demand for vehicles has plunged with the global recession, hobbling two of Detroit's giants, GM and Chrysler. Even Toyota, the model of a modern car company, is facing its first operating loss in decades. Tata Motors, India's largest automaker, is not immune. Sales of its commercial vehicles and cars have slumped, and debt from the company's purchase last year of luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover is weighing on Tata Motors' balance sheet. Tata argues that the Nano is exactly the right car for these...
...rear (like the classic people's car, the Volkswagen Beetle) and can power the Nano to a top speed of about 62 m.p.h. (100 km/h) in 23 seconds. Fuel economy is excellent: about 56 miles per gallon (24 km/L), better than a Prius, Toyota's hybrid sedan. (Read "India's Top Automaker, Tata Motors, Hits a Rough Patch...
...like a lightweight on the road. I drove one on an empty test track at Tata Motors' main plant in the western Indian city of Pune and found that, while the interior is spartan, the Nano handles as well as any of the other low-end minicars available in India. The brakes lack feel and there's little storage space, but the car turned heads. Our photographer drove a bright yellow Nano - this one fully equipped with air-conditioning - through the highways, cobbled avenues and side streets of Pune. People swerved and tailgated to get a closer look, waving...
...costs, she says. There's more profit to be made from fully equipped Nanos with air-conditioning, power windows and upholstered seats, which cost about $3,300. "How they're really going to make money is by selling the high-end version," says Tilak Swarup, general manager of SupplierBusiness India, whose team of analysts tracks suppliers to the global auto industry. But the company has not yet decided how many high-end versions to produce...