Tata Motors moves first $2,500 Nano in Mumbai
By Laura June 
posted Jul 17th 2009 7:01PM
posted Jul 17th 2009 7:01PM
We've been following the development of Tata Motors' Nano -- a teeny little car whose main claim to fame is its tiny price tag of about $2,500 -- since way back when it was only an announcement. Well, today the cycle is complete: the first Nano has officially been sold to Mumbai resident Ashok Vichare, who says he bought the car (his first) because it's the smallest and cheapest sold in India. The company held a lottery to decide who could purchase the first 100,000 Nanos, and says its got a waiting list of about a year for further cars.
Kind of cruel that they held a lottery for it, being the fist one to buy it means being the first one to be killed in a head on collision with a small child on a tricycle moments after getting it off the showroom floor.
Life, for you, must just be one long string of bleak, soul-crushing moments waiting to happen, eh?
@Orinjz
oh you silly canadian
Makavre, I'll have you know that I don't like hockey and the top of my head is firmly attached to the bottom half. Canadian...crazy stuff, eh?
Nothing like the good ol' Tim's either, eh?
@corksean14
Thats the idea with around 1 billion people in India (noone really knows because they have never performed a census) this is just the perfect example of population control
@corksean14
Yeah, but the people that will be buying this car are currently riding around with entire families on a single motorcycle. Which is more dangerous?
@corksean
Although I've never been there myself, drivers in India are famous for driving crazy, but not crazy fast. I actually just happen to be reading this book right now: '...the average speed in a Bombay car journey is no more than 12 miles an hour... On Marine Drive, for example, the one road where people can really open up their cars, the average speed declined from a sedate 34 miles per hour in 1962, to 24 in 1979, and to a crawling 15 miles an hour in 1990... One happy effect of this is that the number of traffic accidents in the city has actually decreased...' (Suketu Mehta, 'Maximum City'). Again, haven't been there myself, but coming from New York, Tokyo, and Seoul, I can definitely picture it. I imagine it's very similar to the traffic situation in Mexico City, where drivers are crazy in terms of constantly switching lanes by turning into the slightest inch of free space between cars.
I've railed against the Tata Nano in the past, however, not because of its durability, but because it's TOO cheap. India, especially in Bombay, Calcutta, and other major cities, is incredibly dense in terms of population. Air pollution is a huge, huge problem there, and to put a car in the reach of the average family almost seems irresponsible. Just saying that bothers me, and I'd hate to think that anyone is denied the privilege of car ownership, but seriously... There are just way too many cars on this planet.
I'm an idiot, I forgot to add the most important part of the quotation:
'This confirms something I can see for myself in Bombay: in the mad driving, hardly anybody seems to get hurt. They aren't going fast enough to do serious damage and can brake on a dime.'
I agree it isnt the safest of the cars but it isnt that bad either.. see this recent article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/5843705/Tata-Nano-safety-boost.html
bring that car up here so our hummers and suvs can run it over! fuck them stupid little cars
"Kind of cruel that they held a lottery for it, being the fist one to buy it means being the first one to be killed in a head on collision with a small child on a tricycle moments after getting it off the showroom floor."
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/14/report-tata-nano-passes-european-crash-testing/
You may now proceed to remove the foot from your mouth.
The lottery system was brought in because they has issues where they had set up their farm.
"Singur gained international media attention since Tata Motors started constructing a factory to manufacture their $2,500 car, the Tata Nano at Singur. The small car was scheduled to roll out of the factory by 2008. [3] The choice of Singur was made by the company among six sites offered by the state government. The project faced massive opposition from 2,000 of the 12,000 displaced farmers. The unwilling farmers were given political support by West Bengal's firebrand opposition leader Miss Mamata Bannerjee with an eye to the upcoming Lok Sabha (Parliamentary) elections. Miss Bannerjee's "Save Farmland" movement was supported by celebrity environmental activists like Medha Patkar, Anuradha Talwar and Arundhuti Roy. Miss Bannerjee's movement against industrialization of Singur was also supported by several Kolkata based intellectuals like Aparna Sen, Kaushik Sen, Shaonli Mitra and Suvaprasanna. Ultra left activists also shared the platform with Miss Bannerjee's Trinamool Party. The Tatas finally decided to move out of Singur on 3 October, 2008. Mr Ratan Tata blamed violence by Miss Mamata Bannerjee and her supporters for the pullout decision. The pullout decision meant, loss of huge investment for the state of West Bengal. On 7 October 2008, the Tatas announced that they would be setting up the Tata Nano plant in Sanand, Gujarat." - Wiki
ha. This is exactly the kind of mindset most americans have (not saying you are an american. I am). They see a small car like the smart car or some other fuel efficient or economic car, and they immediately say they are not safe... Yet the reason they are not safe is because there are so many idiotic people who think they need a freakin TANK (SUV) to be safe. Those people continue on to be idiotic drivers who crash into people.. now if you had a teenie weenie little car, you would likely get destroyed by this said tank.. but if everyone was driving around nanos, I think you'll be fine. And like someone pointed out, the Nano, and most of these little cars for that matter, are not unsafe, they just have the Image of being unsafe from the Ford/GM/ and even ToyotaUSA advertising camp.
You knowledge of the ground realities in the market where the Nano is being sold is as appalling as is your knowledge of the car's construction.
It's strange that instead of accolading an engineering wonder that puts safer transport (when compared to the current mode of transporting people on motorbikes) within the reach of millions who also aspire for 'your' lifestyle, idiots like you are busy running it down.
Bender is correct. Just because its parts are glued, its not unsafe or unstable. Glue-tech has come a long way. Mercedes and BMW use it all the time - my Merc doesn't have a single screw in its door. How do you think they managed to keep all those three sheets of metal that comprise the door hold together? Glue is essential to modern automobile design, and in this case it is being applied also to reduce costs.
I think this is a positive breaking change for the automobile industy - that till date was inefficient, expensive (due to lack of good design and processes) and lacklustre.
@Matthew
This is just like Gas being too cheap in US. People go on road trips, don't use public transport as much, hardly use trains.
I am surprised to see how few households here use use fluorescent lights (CFLs etc) as compared to India.
There... feel less frustrated now
@synn: i think that's the specially adapted european version which will cost over 5000€
@G: Actually, no.
They did the crash test on the India-specific model with minor mods. The European model is yet to be mass produced. Needless to say, it's made to higher standards.
can they start selling here?
do you think Obama would let a vehicle that produces CO2 to be sold here for under $3000? by the time you get it off the lot it would be cheaper to dump the old Tata and buy a new one that it would to replace the transmission-- besides how would Government Motors compete with this?
No Airbags
No Power anything
624 CC motor, that's 0.6L
43 MPH top speed
Plastic and Steel
Glue not welding is the preferred method of construction.
If you were hit in this by any can on the road in the US you would be killed.
I recall reading while back that if they sold it in Europe it would have to be considerably more expensive to meet CO2 emissions standards and safety standards. Despite that it seems they're going ahead with a Euro release since a European spec version just passed safety tests:
http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/15072009/36/tata-nano-safe-uk-roads-0.html
There's no mention of the price but if they could sell it for £3K or under it would be great. However, when something like the Toyota IQ is £10K I really can't see this selling for less than £5K. If it's £5K or above I'd rather have a decent second hand car for the same price.
I'd rather they not sell them here (if possible, anywhere else for that matter), it's way too cheap. How safe can a car made with less than $2500 worth of materials be!? If you drove it in New York (or anyway else in the U.S.) it's like saying "please crash into me." Sure getting things on the cheap is good, but when it comes to certain objects, you have to come to a point that if it's too cheap you realize it's defective, unsafe, or has a nefarious catch behind said price. There's no way a car at that price is environmentally-friendly, and at THAT PRICE it just makes it non-environmentally-friendliness all the more harmful. When everyman and his dog has a car like that, then what!? I'll tell you what: global warming and air pollution is gonna kick our asses that much harder. It should be almost a crime to release something like this to third-world countries. I'm don't support denying someone the right to own a vehicle, but those countries already have deep problems with air pollution. To make a car so cheap that it's practically available to every pedestrian in India, is criminal, the air pollution would skyrocket worst than it is already (air pollution is already one of India's strongest problems). Then when half of the millions of former-pedestrians start driving gas emission vehicles, global warming comes in and everybody feels the hurt. Cars should only get this cheap when:
1. Lower price doesn't affect quality/safety of construction
and
2. When the vehicle in question is fully electrical or an efficient hybrid.
Until then, I wish they would keep this nonsense off our streets.
@ Peter
I consider myself EXTREMELY conservative- so i don't understand how can say if people drove this around in New York it would be dangerous to drive- like you said EVERYONE would buy one so 2 lane roads could become 3 lane roads allowing more people to drive on the same size street, parking would be easier since more cars can fit in a smaller space.
There is NO PROOF of global warming that is why they call it "Climate Change" and it is convenient that it's OK to force electric cars down our throats but have no massive way to recycle all the batteries, so you are causing more problems to the environment than you are solving
so your point is what again peter?
@ chris
glue was used at bmw munich factory to put together my bmw 3 series.
*first one to buy it^
PRetty sure it won't meet emissions, dot, customs and whatever else is required to drive in the U.S. Making it U.S. certified would probably double the price at least.
The interesting thing is that if it gets in a moderate accident it's probably cheaper to buy a brand new one then repair. hahaha
invest?!
(colour keyed "bumpers" cost extra)
The temporary number on that car is from Delhi, not Mumbai... are you sure that the first car wasnt in Delhi?
Holy crap. That costs less than my MacBook Pro... sigh... I'd rather have the car.
Holy crap, you paid over $2500 for a mac laptop... or a laptop in general?
The price of hype is steep.
You get what you pay for, ask Tata
There's more metal in your macbook pro. ;-)
for the love of tandoori! I wish I could get my mits on one of those...maybe two? :)
why don't they just buy used cars from respectable automative companies? Even 15 years old toyotas are reliable than this piece of machinery.
And you've actually seen reliability figures for the Nano?
... Toyota had more recalls last year than sales
What's special about this car that it gets a post on engadget? Yes, that's a serious question.
$2500
And cheaper than a macbook.
And the fact that it actually Happened instead of announced.
Price. The low cost of production and the low costs to the consumers makes it hugely attractive to a country with over a billion people. It's caused controversy over the speculated quality of the build (people are skeptical that a safe car can be built so cheaply), and, more importantly, it potentially puts cars in the hands of millions of people who heretofore could not afford one, which in turns puts millions of new drivers on the already insufferably congested roads. Air and noise pollution is already at near-debilitating levels in Bombay, and adding that many more drivers makes a bad situation worse.
Possible answers:
1. They're desperate for content
2. Someone doesn't get that a new, cheap car that won't be for sale in most of their target market (USA, Canada, Europe) belongs on a car blog, not a tech blog
3. Somewhere along the line, someone is passing money to someone else to get this PR item out to the world.
Lately engadget seems to be in a race with gizmodo to see which one can suck more. I need another tech site that concentrates on tech news, not whatever crap their lame 'writers' think they can post to make themselves look cool.
ouch.
but its funny you mention the whole "passing money along" i don't believe that engadget would be doing this (don't let me down) there has been a growing number of states that want companies to say WHO they are giving promo products to (as in bloggers and reviewers) to see if it is just propaganda coverage, not news but an ad.
Why on Engadget? Because AT $2,500 it's priced like a gadget!
You couldn't have found a more unflattering picture if you tried. Once again we see Engadget's Apple bias. They can't stand the thought of any other Nano taking the spotlight off the Ipod Nano.
So true...and so sad.
That car is ugly enough that this is the most flattering picture.
Tata cars are so cheaply made not just due to low labor costs but what's missing from the auto!
No a/c, power steering, ABS, air cushions, radio, air pollution equipment, etc...
Anything else missing?!
iPod interface.
(This is Engadget, after all)
Woah. It looks like a Prius with a huge ass bumper from the front view...
I haven't been to india, but my impression in a lot of other countries where "drivers are crazy" is that the odds of getting killed or seriously injured are worst in the US. The problem is not the speed or the size of the cars, but the attitude of the drivers. In the US, drivers feel they OWN the road and have a god given right to travel unimpeded at 60mph no matter what. If a bicycle, slow vehicle, or any inconvenience appears, the response in belligerence and anger. I other countries, there are plenty of interruptions and drivers expect it. More importantly they don't view bicycles and scooters as a personal affront. Action is fast and at close quarters, but the at least the driver is not TRYING to hurt you.
Agreed. Whenever I go back to Seoul or Tokyo, I feel like a huge jackass while unlearning my US habits for the first couple of days.
In the US there are more freeways and highways. Those are where many of the fatalities happen.
You should try driving in Saudi, most people wouldn't last 5 minutes there.
I'd rather have 2,500 Western Bacon Cheeseburgers or iPhone service for a month instead of this.
i guess that's why u guys are considered to be dumbest people on earth
Dignity
strange that it was sold to a Mumbai resident but with Delhi registration...
@murmermer
FYI, you should probably stop reading comics for your facts. Census does take place in India but not that often
Have these guys never taken an Econ class? If they are outstripped for 1yr+ they are clearly selling for too low of a price!
Not that I would touch that POS.
Looking at the picture, I figure the first safety violation was "Do not over inflate".
I'd hit it.
And then it would explode.
Looks like $5k a year is entry level technical.... but only goes up to $20k a year (in India), so, if you make $5k a year, you should be able to afford one of theses..... but what about the rest of the country, I bet they are like in China, where allot of people make nothing....
Hmm.... "Save The Tata's?" Is that what those bumper stickers where talking about?!
Oh yeah.. So what do all you Canadians and Americans think that we shd produce some oil guzzlers that sip gallons of oil before moving even an inch. Americans, you still have to ratify the Kyoto protocol, you're the most polluting people in the planet (30%). If you've any doubts then please go and see An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore.. It will enlighten you.. you're so called $10000 or more priced vehicle pollute so much and have such a bad fuel efficiency that I think that it is a piece of crap...
Al Gore could poop on a plate and you would eat it and ask for seconds!
When you can explain why they changed it from global warming to climate change you will understand al gore was full of crap
@murmermer, please get an education. Or, read.
CO2 in the atmosphere affects all aspects of 'climate.'
'Climate' is more than 'temperature.'
Got it?
are you people blind ,the number is of DELHI and launched in MUMBAI ,what an IDEA.....haha ....Wrong news Dimag ki baati jal gayiiii....
Dude, that's not an 'Actual' registration no. It's sort of a 'temp' while the vehicle is still in the showroom and is yet to be officially registered by the RTO ('Regional Transport Office'). If you look closely, the 'Registration' Plate says 'Tata Nano'. That's the place where the official registration no. will be after registration from the RTO.
It's a temporary plate.
I hear a lot about Tata car but when it will be sell in USA?
Never unless they change the design drastically. Again there are standards for a reason in the US. They aren't meeting those standards and its why the thing is cheap as hell. well that and unless I'm drastically mistaken no union in India.
From Wikipedia: "The car is very fuel efficient, achieving around 26.00km/l on the highway and around 22.00km/l in the city."
Wow.
I come from a fairly well off Indian family where we own some really nice cars. At first, I too thought that the Nano is gonna really clog up the roads and shouldn't be made available. But when you really think about it, the poor people also have as much right to own a car. If the government has to control the number of cars on the road, it should be done across all types of cars at all price points.
As far as the car being junk goes, I agree, but it's a dream come true for a lot of people.
I dnt seem to agree with you. The question that should be asked is wether we have the infrastructure to handle it. The answer is we dont.
I am from Mumbai & i know it would add to the mess with all the bikes & rickshaws.
From the safety point of view I dnt see why such small cars would need ABS & power steering. Air Bags is again controversial, the safety norms in India are not strict. Airbags in not a requirement. Most Indian cars dont have it. The WORLD should not worry as and when the car launches in their country they will have Airbags. the use of airbag if you are gonna drive it at 50 kmph Whats
We might not have the infrastructure to add many more cars to the road, but why the Nano? Why not all other cars too? Sure the Nano will sell more because of it's price, but regulate all cars. It's only fair.
Apart from this, what we really need is the government to have proper driving tests before issuing a license. Where is the concept of lane driving? I drive to work everyday using an 8-lane expressway and that too can be a pain sometimes. You can have the widest roads, but if you have bikes zig-zagging around you and pr1cks driving at 40kmph on the right-most lane, it's still gonna be as bad.
airbags? hmm.. they said that driving in plastic constructed car will need the nerve of steel. hehehee...
In an event of collision, the drivers will say "wow... the airbags saved my head... but i lost my arm, legs and waist down".... hehehehe
Ken Doll Sold separately.
You want to know why its so cheap? One guess and the hint is why its not available in the US. *coughs*emissioncontrol*coughs*safety*coughs* I'll be interested in what smog is like in 10 years in areas where these things are in high density....my money is its going to make Beijing look like the middle of a rainforest.
PS- Before someone mentions the 2.5 years, theoretical launch in the US....guess how long a redesign takes? Again it would have to pass a whole hell of a battery of standards that I highly doubt it would currently do, and doing so would increase the price.
PS- Tata is a shit company anyways. Ive dealt with their consulting service. Their techs based out of India are some of the most cluless people I've ever dealt with. Seriously. I'm trying to explain what is going on with the server and they do not "get it". This is not a raciest thing. Its an employing-qualified-people-who-have-the-brains-to-think-on-their-own-and-figure-out-a-problem-without-needing-a-script thing. Seriously every time I dealt with their techs I was about to put my head through the server rack.
From the Telegraph UK report I can easily see them producing with more safety features, airbags, ac, power steering, co2 emission pass, more hp and ship it to the States like England around 2012-2014 range. Price will probably fall around $5,6k. I'd buy one to be frank, they made a nice compact vehicle that needs some work in progress.
"Drivers are Crazy" in India! WTF is this? Some kind of stereotype? Is it the next iteration of Gods Must be Crazy series?
Drivers are not crazy in India, its the Transit Authority and the whole system. Go and see driving of the folks in city like Chandigarh and Pune. Traffic rules r most stringent in Chandigarh and here u are not allowed to skip for traffic misdemeanors with a rather slap on the wrist Traffic ticket. Cops here immediately confiscate ur license and impound ur vehicle too on the spot. That's a totally different issue that let u slip after u pass 'em couple of quids. Tata's Nano is not a production car, rather a socio-economic experiment as there r going to be only 100,000 of these for sale and since it has been made for India only, stop comparing it with US cars and how it would perform there. Its car for small family, mileage conscious people. Those who do have money buy Hyundai,Suzuki cars here. As for Airbags, well everybody hopes that the situation may never arise when one has to pray for their deployment and accidents in India are of extremes, either u survive unscathed or u die! People here need education regarding Traffic system and lane driving. Travel on any national highway and u'll see people properly following traffic and lane laws. People aren't bad drivers here, situation and circumstances make 'em such.
Indians learn to drive mostly from their peers, we don't have proper driving instructors here and detailed driving tests like in U.S but the fact remains. Ours is a system of harmony in chaos, it may suck but still works and gets the job done.
Why the hell don't you leave the Indians alone? What's with you if they want to drive that thing?
I'm tired of this American/European BS trying to tell the world what to do. Fix you houses first, for they need fixing.
You're talking way too much sense, my friend. It's wasted here.
@ Chris
" No Airbags
No Power anything
624 CC motor, that's 0.6L
43 MPH top speed
Plastic and Steel
Glue not welding is the preferred method of construction.
If you were hit in this by any CAN on the road in the US you would be killed. "
of i thought america was clean!!!
Jealous Americans!!!
FYI. It passed European crash standards. Do some research before posting
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/14/report-tata-nano-passes-european-crash-testing/
show me your tatas!
pre-coffee humor today ;d
did any1 see the crash test for this car... ;D
front crumbles like a soda can, rest remains intact. you take all the force.
but then again, no one in mumbai drives over like 30 mph lol
just what we need, a developing country increasing their carbon footprint, and on the cheap no-less.
And what have you done to decrease yours? Just shut the flying fuck up. Bitch
Before climbing to to the Moral Highground pedestal, let us look into some facts:
which country has max PER CAPITA CO2 emissions?
Which country has max PER CAPITA energy consumption ?
Which country has done max damage to environment by nuclear explosions, Agent Orange blah blah and blah?
Well if every one becomes as irresponsible (environmentally) and belligerent as U Americans , even for Planets will fall short to accomodate.
So get your head outta your a$$ and ponder.
Calling Indians bad drivers :-O,,,,look at any US/Canada Taxi Stand or look behind the wind sheild of a truck on US/Canada highway
yes, but how many mp3 can it hold?
Woah, a carbon bicycle costs more than that. On the the other hand, if you are fit you can probably go faster on the bike as the acceleration on this thing is probably somewhat less than stellar.
i wonder who's gonna win the tata or the cow.
Lucky for them they aren't so obese like we are.
TATA now owns Jaguar and Land rover
Review of the Nano
http://www.zigwheels.com/Reviews/Tata-Nano-First-Drive/Nano_20090323-1-8