Though a lot has been said and written about the Nano, we just couldn’t stop ourselves from writing more about it. When Tata makes a promise, you can count on it. But to keep up a promise of providing a car for one lakh rupees is never easy. To lower the cost of Nano, Tata had to have its own steel plant big enough to supply to the needs. So Tata acquired Corus. Then the design, since the car has to be sold at such a low price, Tata’s engineers has to come up with ingenious ways to save every possible paise without compromising safety. Again a car for a mere lakh, calls in problems from politicians and social groups with their “traffic congestion probabilities “. The Nano might come cheap for the customers but it didn’t come cheap for TATA.
Nano was finally launched in Mumbai on March 23, 2009, after crossing all the hurdles that were in its way. It has a 624 cc, 2 cylinder, MPFI high performance engine and tubeless tyres. The mighty Bugatti Veyron and Tata Nano have one thing in common, the value for money proposition. It costs Bugatti 8 million dollars to make the Veyron and it is selling it at 1million a pop. We believe that if anyone else made the Nano other than Tata it would have cost them more than the price at which the nana is sold now.
Let alone the air around it, is the Nano any good? Let’s start by inspecting its interior space. Tata claims that the Nano has 21% more space on the inside than a Maruti 800. This is greatly because the Nano’s engine sits on top of the rear wheel. It also saves space by not having a bonnet. It is taller than the 800 by 21cms which means more head room. Nano has a wheel base of 2230mm, which is 55mm more than the 800. So it beats the cheapest car in the market with ease.
The centrally mounted instrument cluster looks quite neat. Deeply carved out storage areas are provided on either side of the central console, which will be more than enough for an urban cruise. Nano doesn’t have a glove box and the sun visor is available only on the driver’s side. The control knobs and switches are pretty simply and practical. The interior is rather well designed for a small car.
The cost cutting measures isn’t shown in its body design; it has as many curves as shakira. This shows that Tata didn’t want to gift the Indian masses a box in the name of low cost. The side engine cooling vents look French sexy. The car is real wheel driven, which is new for a small car in India. The bumpers are just right with triangular lights and the triangular exhaust mount makes the rear interesting. Nano doesn’t have a hatch in the rear. The rear is welded shut and the engine has to be accessed from the inside of the car. Boot space on the rear is similar to that of the 800, but an opening on the rear would be welcomed.
The engine is a 624cc, inline two cylinder petrol which produces 33bhp. Compared to the 800’s 37bhp it is a bit lower. But the performance will be similar to the 800 due to the fact that Nano weighs considerable less. It has a specifically designed valve motronic system designed by Bosch to help meet Barath stage III emission norms. This system runs with the help of a simple ECU and a few basic sensors. The smallness of the project is reflected in the gear change. Tata is working on a CVT automatic, similar to the one is scooters but it won’t be available before the launch.
The fuel tank has a capacity of 15 liters which is in the bike zone but then it has a mileage of 23kmpl. Nano will be soon available in the market in multiple colors including racing red, summer blue, champagne gold, lunar silver, ivory white & sunshine yellow. The price will range from Rs. 1, 23,000 to Rs. 1, 80,000 on-roads.
Tata Nano is available in three different variants
- Tata NANO (standard)
- Tata NANO CX
- Tata NANO LX
We wouldn’t recommend the standard model mainly because of 3 reasons. It looks cheap. It doesn’t have air-conditioning. The top end version doesn’t cost much more than the standard.
So the picture we are getting is pretty clear. The Nano is definitely not a no no.
September 1, 2009
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October 5, 2009
The news that mahindra has taken over kinetic is buzzing all around, they are coming up with these power scooters, all these other scooters like scooty pepp, nova, aviator looks very feminine, these scooters are much more masculine and mature in looks,
A very bold step by mahindra
I checked them out on http://by/15URxfit.l