$2500 Tata Nano Car Unveiled in India

theodp writes "After months of rumors and tantalizing leaks, Tata Motors has finally unveiled the Tata Nano, its already legendary $2,500 car that promises to change the face of not only the Indian car market, but the global auto industry. The tiny car is a four-door, five-seat hatch, powered by a 30 hp engine that gets 54 miles per gallon."

Comments

Somewhere

[elrous0]

Ralph Nader just fell out of his chair.

Re:Somewhere

[SQLGuru]

I'd buy one for my commute. I have a Nissan Armada that I bought before gas prices went skyrocketing. I needed something with lots of space because of what I was carrying around and it was the roomiest. My needs have changed and I can't get out of it what I owe (who wants a gas hog these days). This car would be perfect for my commute (against traffic, 10 miles - takes less than 15 minutes each way even if I hit all of the lights) and would fit within my budget.

I wouldn't even need any extra garage space.....I could just build a ramp up into my Armada and park it there.....three cars in a two car garage.

Layne

Re:Somewhere

[Bearhouse]

Having driven in India, I'm damned if I'd buy one there, either. I would not feel safe in anything less than a heavy tank.
Rover's 'CityRover', (a re-badged Tata), was a failure in the UK, being panned for virtually everything.

Still, some people in the West have bought the appalling 'Gee Whizz', which lets you have windscreen wipers, or lights, on a rainy night - but not both. It also virtually guarantees that you perish in the inevitable accident. If you want all-electric, get a Tesla, (rather pricy, though)

The Smart car is much safer, but a commercial failure.

BTW, the Beetle was not VW's idea - it was Hitler's. VW was created to produce the Beetle, which was designed by Dr. Porsche, (who also did other fun stuff like Panzers).

Re:Somewhere

[bleh-of-the-huns]

And when you go on holiday to another big city, you just pack the Tata into the back of your Armada and drive off :)

Re:Somewhere

[plague3106]

No. I doubt that the 30 HP engine could climb some of the hills and mountains we have here in Vermont.

Also, lets be real. How effective is a 30HP car going to be moving a family of fatass American families weighing in at ~1000lbs total.

Re:Somewhere

[johnlcallaway]

I have seen the roads in India, specifically Chennai and Mumbai, and cars like this can improve safety. I saw many little 150cc motorcycles with 3, 4, even 5 people on them tooling around. Many of the bikes with only two people had a woman on the back with a sari, just waiting to get caught in the rear wheel. In fact, one of the accessories for Indian motorcycles is a sari guard, designed just for this purpose.

These new cars are probably a lot safe than the auto-rickshaws running everywhere also.

$2,500 may not seem much to a USA citizen, but it is a huge mount to many Indians. Motorycles are in the $700 range, so this is a 400-500 percent increase when factoring in taxes, etc. New USA motorcycles above 650cc are in the $5,000 and up range, new cars are only about 2.5 to 3 times more expensive.

I applaud Tata motors for bringing to India an automobile that addresses safety and pollution concerns. Would I buy one?? If I could commute completely on city streets, which I can, then yes. You can't buy a used motorcycle of any size in the US for $2,500. Right now, I ride my motorcycle to work as often as I can (probably at least 4 out of 5 days), but even in Phoenix it rains sometimes. For those days, I have to depend on a truck that gets 20 mpg. What a waste for one person, I would rather look into one of these.

And don't tell me about SmartCars. They cost over $20K. I'm not spending that for a car I would use 10 or 15 times a year.

Re:Somewhere

[TW Atwater]

The original VW Beetle, which managed to go all over Germany with 4 lard-ass Germans had a 25 hp engine.

Re:Somewhere

[argiedot]

Agreed! I live here in Chennai, and though I hate the fact that this car just means that there'll be much more traffic, this will be much safer than those two wheelers for those people and it'll be nice for all those people who crowd four people onto a motorbike (it's only twice the cost of a reasonably powerful bike). In that way it's nice. I wonder if there'll be an LPG version, I'm sure that'll be hugely popular if it does come because LPG is about twice the mileage per rupee.

Re:Somewhere

[savuporo]

Ah, but you dont take the inflation and exchange rates into account ! A modern american lard-ass works out to be roughly 4.67 units of the original VW Beetle era german lard-asses.

Re:Somewhere

[hey!]

Well, since 1 HP is the power to lift 33,000 lbs one foot in one minute, 30 hp should be able to lift 990,000 pounds one foot in one minute. Assuming that the car weighs in at roughly 2500 pounds, and four jumbo sized American occupants of 300 pounds each, we have a total weight of 3700 pounds, which a 30 HP engine should be able to raise 267 feet/minute, exclusive of frictional losses, especially air turbulence over relatively flat terrain.

An extremely steep public road might have a grade of 15% (rise over horizontal distance, or roughly 8.5 degrees slope. Traveling a measured mile along such a road yields an elevation gain of 780 feet, which might indeed prove a challenge for our 30 hp engine with our four sumo sized occupants, which exclusive of losses is capable of gaining that altitude in a bit under three minutes. However, there are very few straight roads this steep; if we assume lots of switchbacks and hairpin turns, an average speed of fifteen mph or so is not utterly unreasonable, although people who live at the top of such a hill might opt for a more powerful car.

A very steep section of highway might have a grade of 5% or maybe 7%. A measured mile at 7% is a gain of 370 feet and our engine could lift our sumo crew that height in one minute, twenty three seconds, limiting our speed to around 44mph on this stretch theoretically. Let's say we have a continuously variable transmission, or at least one that is appropriate to this car, we might end up limited to 30 mph on this stretch.

Of course, with a single, 250 pound occupant, our engine could raise the car and occupant 370 feet in 62 seconds. Since that would be almost 60mph over our measured mile, our actual speed would be limited by aerodynamic, frictional losses, and the ability of a rudimentary transmission to keep the engine in its power band, but assuming that the transmission is designed for efficient operation in the 30-40 mph speed range, it shouldn't be impossible for a single commuter to achieve speeds of 45mph over such a stretch of highway. Given that this piece of highway probably has a climbing lane, this vehicle would not be impractical for a single occupant, provided he'd rather have fifteen grand in his pocket from the purchase of the car than fifteen mph on that stretch of road. Not to mention the cost of gas.

Re:Somewhere

[AeroIllini]

Talk about your double standards. Everyone in your city is going from 50% to 100% in excess of the speed limit but if the cops give any of them a ticket it's a 'revenue generation stakeout'? It's only a double standard if you assume the speed limits are correctly set, and that people are driving unsafely. Many times this is not the case, and the speed limits are set arbitrarily low, sometimes as revenue generation mechanisms, sometimes as misguided attempts to save lives. I've found that aside from the occasional nut, the majority of people do not drive any faster than they are comfortable with (hazardous conditions aside), and if traffic is consistently faster than the posted limits then the limits are too low.

In either case, making certain sections of roadway significantly slower than other sections will often cause more accidents as people slam on their brakes to avoid a ticket. Setting large areas of a roadway to a too-slow limit will cause larger numbers of traffic jams as the "good citizens" who insist on driving what it says on the sign slow down everyone else who is driving what the road can safely handle (this happens a lot here in Seattle, where the freeways have a 60 mph limit but free-flow traffic routinely does 65 or 70).

What's in a name

[Ilan Volow]

When I hear the phrase "$2500 tatas", cars isn't the first thing that comes to mind.

Please import this to the States...

[ciaohound]

because the Nano's bra is the only one I have any chance of taking off. (No, I don't live in my parents' basement, I am married with young kids. The effect on one's sex life is the same.)

Re:30BHP and only 54MPG?

[Da Fokka]

Unbelievable! Especially since the Punto is only 8 times as expensive. You are comparing apples and golden oranges.

Re:30BHP and only 54MPG?

[Albanach]

For example, the Fiat Punto 1.3 Multijet diesel gets a combined figure of 63 miles per (British) gallon.

But it's a diesel so you're comparing apples to oranges.

Normally you pay extra for a diesel engine, sometimes almost as much as the $2,500 that is the entire cost of this car.

Some addtional facts.....

[8127972]

... Besides being the largest car company in India according to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Motors

They are in the process of buying Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080103.wford0103/BNStory/Business

It also owns pieces of Daewoo to boot. They're not a small player. The big three might want to take notice.

Good Business Oppurtunity

[madhatter256]

I think this car would fare better in city markets. They can be used as taxis and replace the gas guzzling V8 Taxis that take up the road in NYC. With the size of the car being small, this can put more cars on the road.

Re:crumple...

[Malc]

And affordable is that to the people of India?

Two Cylinder - Four Stroke

[sjbe]

well, it's a two-stroke, very simple, very cheap, very easy to service

It's a two cylinder, four stroke engine. I misread that the first time too. From TFA:

powered by a 30 HP Bosch 624 cc four stroke engine mounted out back and mated to a CVT. That makes the Nano the first time a 2-cylinder gasoline engine will be used in a car with a single balancer shaft.

Re:the VW idea lives on...

[Applekid]

Yes, we're keeping Hitler's idea alive and well these days So, the idea of an affordable car for everyone is invalid because it was Hitler's, or do you have a real argument against it?

I heard Hitler liked breakfast, too.

Re:I'd buy one, too.

[moosesocks]

Yes, but the mentality of a motorcycle driver is somewhat different from the the mentality of a car driver.

A motorcycle driver *knows* that he will very likely die if he crashes at high speed. Car drivers typically don't tend to exercise the same amount of caution.

Likewise, the handling and braking on a $2500 car can't be all that good. Pedestrian injuries seem extremely likely.

Safety is relative

[Chrisq]

I'd be the same, but for the families that drive with 4 people on a motor scooter in India this is a vast improvement in safety.

Missing the point again

[Kupfernigk]

I love it when so many people so comprehensively miss the point. Guys, first visit India, then understand the problems, then you are qualified to comment (and yes, I have worked in vehicle R&D and yes, I have spent time in India)

First, to all the Diesel supporters out there (I'm one too, currently driving my fifth one, and I keep them a long time.) The real reason that the US hardly sees European advanced Diesels, and that India can't use them, is that they don't have the refining and distribution capability to make the fuel needed by advanced car Diesels. There is a reason why my car has a 4-valve per cylinder DOHC with common rail and variable vane turbo, and my boat has the same engine with two valves per cylinder and produces one third of the horsepower. The boat will run on heating oil. The car needs low sulfur fuel with plenty of additives.

Second, to all the "this is underpowered, this is dangerous" mob out there. The alternative is either people hanging off a scooter, or a powered tricycle with no safety features whatsoever. This thing is a huge advance. Thirty HP is plenty for India, where acceleration has to take place in the middle of slow moving traffic, and where the motorway speed limit is 60.

Also, you may not have realised that the quoted fuel consumption of cars is on a special test cycle. American cars with their hugely over-horsepowered engines (often using a 2 litre plus engine where the Europeans would use 1300cc, and around 200HP where we would use 100) exceed the EPA consumption as soon as you put your foot down, yet most of the power can never be legally used for more than a few seconds. A limited capacity, limited power engine will in reality get better MPG simply because you cannot use it to waste fuel in rapid acceleration followed by heavy braking.

It seems to me that what this demonstrates is that Indians are capable of thinking about what works for their society, which is their huge advantage over most of the Third World.

Re:I'd buy one, too.

[tthomas48]

On the upside small cars like the smart car(search youtube for the smart car road test hitting a brick wall at high speed with no cabin intrusion) are made to withstand accidents exceedingly well, while SUVs are not. Anyone who's seen an SUV/compact car accident can tell you that the compact car usually looks completely destroyed, but the cabin looks intact, while the SUV is upside down with its roof collapsed in a ditch.
The lack of maneuverability in SUVs and Trucks combined with their top heaviness, often makes what should have been a simple physics equation (heaviest guy wins) devolve into complete randomness. And unfortunately weight is not a predictor of safety once you're airborne.

Wish it were available here

[hey!]

At $2500, a vehicle like this would be worth buying just for hacking.

You could take the engine out without a block and tackle, carry it into your apartment, and mess with it on your kitchen table. You could play around with different engines about as easily as you swap a video card in your computer, playing around with Stirling engines or electrical motors or series hybrid configurations, with the the help of a local machine shop, or with after market kits.

When I was a kid, nearly everybody could do a little work on cars, and everybody at least knew somebody who did fairly major maintenance to their cars, and it was not at all uncommon for people to redesign various aspects of their cars, from boring out their carb jets to monkeying around with their suspension. Today cars are really, really good, and really really reliable. There just isn't much incentive to muck with a $30,000 machine that is pretty damned good already.

But at $2500, it'd be worth doing just for curiosity, not to mention much easier given the small size of the thing.

Re:crumple...

[Rogerborg]

If you do some background reading (on your iMac, doubtless) one of the goals of this car is to provide an affordable (economically and environmentally) way of getting Indians off of motorbikes and spit-and-construction paper trikes into something that does at least have a crumple zone. Wait - you do live in India, right?

Re:Nope

[GORby_]

Well, of course...

When a car with 30hp clashes with one with 150, who do you guess is gonna win?
I know hitpoints aren't everything, but I fear the nano hasn't got much of a chance there :-)
One critical hit would be enough to kill it.