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Tata Gets 203,000 Nano Bookings Before the First Sale

Benjamin Jones — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:16:44 +0000

Last month Tata decided that they would begin to sell their Nano by selling pre-orders for the car and then randomly choosing 100,000 of the pre-orders to actually take possession of the new vehicle.

It’s unfortunate for the company that they cannot magically produce 203,000 of the new, ultra-cheap car for the Indian market, but surely they are happy knowing that even in this global downturn they will have sold all of their vehicles well in advance for the foreseeable future.

The Tata Nano, while only being available in India for now, is sure to change the landscape of the global auto industry. This vehicle is so cheap that it will allow a whole new class of Indians to get behind the wheel, sure to cause increased traffic, vehicle fatalities, pollution, and fuel consumption that come with the other joys of car ownership.

However, no one is sure if that doomsday scenario will really play out on India’s streets, or if the people and the country will be able to deal with the flood of inexpensive cars about to hit the road.

Source: ABG

Tata Nano Poised to Take Over the World at 56 MPG

Benjamin Jones — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:40:21 +0000

The Tata Nano finally released commercially in India today. It’s been a long wait for the little car, which has been upset by protests, among other things. For about a year now people have been excited to see how this little car would change the automotive world by getting a whole new class of drivers on the road, and in fuel efficient style.

The Tata Nano will cost $1,985 dollars. For that price you get a 624cc, 2-cylinder engine that is capable of putting out up to 56 MPG (US). Of course, those are not EPA specs so you can’t compare them directly to what the EPA says about cars in the US, but nevertheless, they are impressive numbers.

No doubt this release will trigger the alarms of many environmentalists and safety advocates. India has become notorious for both dangerous driving and issues of environmental pollution, neither of which will be lessened by a flood of cheap cars onto the marketplace. However, no one can yet predict the lasting impact this car will have on India or the global auto industry.