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Tata Motors' $2,500 1-Lakh car gets detailed

Remember that uber-cheap, almost entirely plastic car that India's Tata Motors was working up? Turns out, the still codenamed 1-Lakh automobile is expected to launch in mid-2008 and get around 15 miles-per-liter, which should give the Maruti 800 some serious competition in the budget car arena. According to R. A. Mashelkar, a nonexecutive director on Tata Motors' board, it should provide ample room in "both the front and rear" for a six-foot individual, and he also noted that a "new kind of welding" would be used instead of bolts in a variety of locations on the motorcar. Still, there's just something about the idea of riding in a brand new $2,500 vehicle that doesn't sit well with us -- probably something to do with the dearth of safety features, but who knows.