Everything about Tata Nano totally explained
The
Tata Nano is a proposed
city car debuted by
India's
Tata Motors at the 9th annual
Auto Expo on
January 10,
2008 at
Pragati Maidan in
New Delhi,
India.
Called
the people’s car in Tata's promotional material, it was projected to be the least expensive
production car in the world. The standard version of the Nano is projected to sell for Rs. 100,000
(approximately US $2500, GBP 1277, or € 1700) , not including fees or delivery.
Newsweek identifies 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 confirms a global trend toward small cars, led by the Nano.
The prefix "Nano" derives from the
Greek root 'nanos', meaning dwarf — as with
nanometre. "Nano" also means "small" in
Gujarati, the native language of the
Tata family, founders of the
Tata Group.
History and conception
The project to create a 1
lakh (1 lakh = 100,000) rupees car began in 2003, under the Chairman of Tata Motors,
Ratan Tata. The strategy behind the project was the awareness of the number of Indian families who had two wheeled transport, but couldn't afford a four wheel car, and was based on the company's success in producing the low cost 4 wheeled
Ace truck in May 2005. The Chairman is reported to have said, "It isn't a car with plastic curtains or no roof — it's a real car." The eventual
new Mini was much larger and technically conservative. The independent, and now-defunct,
MG Rover Group later based their
Rover CityRover on the
Tata Indica.
Technical specifications
According to
Tata Group's Chairman
Ratan Tata, the Nano is a car with a 623 cc
rear engine and
rear wheel drive, and has a fuel economy of 4.55
L/100 km (21.97 km/L, 51.7 mpg (US), 62 mpg (UK)) under city road conditions, and 3.85 L/100 km on highways (25.97 km/L, 61.1 mpg (US), 73.3 mpg (UK)). It is the first time a two-cylinder non-opposed
petrol engine will be used in a car with a single
balancer shaft. Tata Motors has reportedly filed multiple
patents related to the innovations in the design of Nano, with
powertrain design alone having 34 patents. The head of Tata Motors' Engineering Research Centre,
Girish Wagh has been credited with being one of the brains behind Nano's design.
According to Tata, the Nano complies with
Bharat Stage-III and
Euro-IV emission standards.
Powertrain
Performance
Acceleration: 0-: 14 seconds
Maximum speed:
Trunk capacity:
Suspension, tires and brakes
Front brake: disc
Rear brake: drum
Front track:
Rear track:
Ground clearance:
Controversies
Mass motorization and climate change
As the Nano was conceived and designed around introducing the automobile to a sector of the population who are currently using eco-friendly bicycles and motorcycles, environmentalists are concerned that its extraordinarily low price might lead to mass motorization in countries like India and therefore possibly aggravate pollution and global warming as well as increase the demand for oil. Rajendra Pachauri, an Indian and chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said he was "having nightmares" because of this car and added that the car represents bankruptcy of India's environmental policy. The ecology focused German newspaper die tageszeitung feels that such concerns are "inappropriate" as the Tata Nano has lower emissions compared to the average Volkswagen, and that developing countries shouldn't be denied the right to motorized mobility when industrialized countries should be looking to reduce their emissions and usage of cars. Die Welt reports that the car conforms with environmental protection, and will have the lowest emissions in India.
In crowded metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Ratan Tata has conceived a scheme to only offer the Nano to those individuals who don't have an automobile already. The Nano will also replace many overloaded and worn-out two-stroke polluting vehicles, both two and three-wheeled.
Singur car factory land dispute
Controversies also arose about Tata's planned manufacturing unit for the car in Singur, West Bengal, where the state government of West Bengal has allocated to Tata Motors. The construction of the car factory on that tract of land will require fertile agricultural land and the expropriation and eviction of ca. 15,000 peasants and agricultural workers. The affected farmers fear that'll receive inadequate or no compensation and therefore lose their livelihoods.
Activists near Kolkata, where Tata's manufacturing unit is located, started burning the car in effigy. In New Delhi, a group of six women protested wearing T-shirts bearing slogans that said, "The Rs 1 lakh car has Singur people's blood on it." The Trinamool Congress alleged that Tata motors usurped the agrarian land for the construction site and have threatened to stall the manufacture of the car. The 11 cases were dismissed.
Used Car Market Effects
The Nano is alleged to have severely affected the used car market in India, as many Indians opt to wait for the Nano's release rather than buying used cars, such as the Maruti 800 (a rebadged Suzuki Alto), which is considered as the Nano's nearest competitor. Sales of new Maruti 800s have dropped by 20%, and used ones by 30% following the unveiling of the Nano. As one automotive journalist summarises; “People are asking themselves – and us - why they should pay, say, 250,000 Rupees for a Maruti Alto, when they can wait and get a brand new Nano for less in a few months’ time, a car that's actually bigger”.
Competence
Bajaj Auto-Renault-Nissan ULC. Further Information
Get more info on 'Tata Nano'.
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