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World's cheapest car in US market - Nano adapts to US standards
Monday, 18.01.2010.
13:53
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If the pint-sized Tata Nano - world's cheapest car - ever makes it to U.S. roads, it is expected to cost significantly more than the $2,500 sales price it goes for in India.
It made its U.S. debut at Automobile Show in Detroit this week.
Ratan Tata, head of Tata and Sons, the company that oversees Tata Technologies and Tata Motors, has said he hopes to get the Nano to the U.S. in three or four years.
The car on display Thursday was shipped to Detroit by Tata Technologies, an arm of the parent company that owns Tata Motors. The car would need significant overhauls to make it road-worthy under U.S. safety standards, which are much higher than those in India. Those changes could make it not financially feasible to built the Nano for the U.S. market.
Tata Motors has already made European version of the automobile with four seats, which will cost about 8,000 USD (5,750 EUR) when it appears in the market in 2011.
It is expected that the price will be similar for the US version.
Nano is a small, city car that, according to weekly magazine Newsweek, represents "the new breed of automobile of the 21st century" that embody "a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, cheaper".
Nano is designed in Italy, certain parts are from Germany, and Tata Motors has reportedly filed 34 patents related to the innovations in the design of Nano
In order to be cheap, the Nano's car boot does not open. Instead, the rear seats can be folded down to access the boot. It has a single windscreen wiper instead of the usual pair. It has no power steering. The base model has only three lug nuts on the wheels instead of the usual four.
The base model has only one side view mirror, manually operated side windows, airbags and air conditioning/heating are not parts of base model.
Nano is a 35 HP car with two-cylinder non-opposed petrol 624 cc rear engine and rear-wheel drive. It has a fuel economy of 4.55 l/100 km under city road conditions, and 3.85 l/100 km on highways. Its maximum speed is 105 km/h.