Nano: A historic feat achieved by Ratan Tata and Indian automobile industry.

Losing sleep over dream projects seems to have become a habit with industry doyen Mr. Ratan Tata! The Tata Group chairman slept hardly two-and-a-half hours last night, as he remained engaged in the dry run for the big day - the launch of 'peop le's car' today. Nano is the world's cheapest car priced at Rupees 1 lakh (dealer price). Citing moments in history including the first manned flight by the Wright Brothers and man’s landing on the moon, Ratan Tata, the chairman of the company, revealed a cute, compact car designed to appeal to first-time car buyers in one of the world’s fastest growing car markets. “I hope this is a car that changes the way people travel in rural and semi rural India. We are a country of a billion people and most are denied connectivity,” he said. “This is a car that is affordable and provides all-weather transport for the family.” "Let me assure you and our critics the car we have designed will meet all safety norms and all foreign environmental criteria," Chairman Ratan Tata said as he proudly unveiled what had been dubbed the "People's Car" at the Auto Expo in New Delhi. There is a a story behind how this Target price of NANO was arrived at. A friend of mine who works with the Tatas told me about it. This is the story in the own words of Ratan Tata:

"It was never meant to be a Rs1-lakh car; that happened by circumstance. I was interviewed by the [British newspaper] Financial Times at the Geneva Motor Show and I talked about this future product as a low-cost car. I was asked how much it would cost and I said about Rs1 lakh. The next day the Financial Times had a headline to the effect that the Tatas are to produce a Rs100,000 car. My immediate reaction was to issue a rebuttal, to clarify that that was not exactly what I had said. Then I thought, I did say it would be around that figure, so why don't we just take that as a target. When I came back our people were aghast, but we had our goal"

The aluminium car contains a rear-loaded 33 horse-power two-cylinder petrol engine and weighs about half a tonne. It is 3.1m long, 1.5m wide and 1.6m high and has four wheels pushed out to the corners to improve its manoeuvring. The standard version – which will cost 120,000 rupees on the road after tax and delivery – comes complete with most features in any ordinary car: four doors, a four-gear manual transmission, seatbelts, locking and a steering wheel. A small boot allows enough room for a duffle bag.

The deluxe version, costing slightly more, will have air conditioning and central locking, while features such as radios and sun visors can be added at extra cost. The Nano is about half the price of the cheapest car available. Both the Maruti 800 from India and China’s QQ3Y Chery sell at about $5,000. Although it’s the basic model costing Rs. 1 lakh is emotionally priced, Mr. Jagddish Khattar of MUL described this model a new segment creator. [ all 2 two wheeler makers go, run ,hide ]