TATA unveiled its long awaited 1 Lakh rupee car (actually a little over 1 lakh after tax) for the masses and they call it “The People’s Car”. It’s a sweet looking small car, just enough to take four people around the city. Though this is a break through in the automotive technology as far as the price of the car goes, people are sceptical about what already congested roads will look like once TATA Nano “The Peoples Car” hits the road.

1 Lakh rupees roughly translate to 2500 rupees monthly installment and because of this reason TATA is expect to sell record breaking numbers and leave Indian roads blocked.

Following TATA Nano car specs in comparison with Maruti 800

• Overall Length of Nano is 3100 MM which is 7% shorter than Maruti 800
• Overall Breadth of Nano is 1500MM which is 4% Wider than Maruti 800
• Overall Height of Nano is 1600MM which is 14% Taller than Maruti 800
• Overall inside Space of Nano is 21% Bigger than Maruti 800
• Engine Capacity 623CC 2 Cylinders, Maruthi 800’s got 3 Cylinders
  
• Power 33BHP, less than Maruthi 800
• Top Speed: 120 Kmph Top Speed Lower Than Maruti 800
• Fuel efficiency is 20 Kmpl just as Maruti 800

TATA Nano will hit the roads during the second half of 2008 and as you can see it is a definite threat to Maruti 800.  TATA stated that the initial production of this car will be of 250,000 a year. In about four years we should expect to see TATA Nano (1 lakh rupee car) in other markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa.

TATA Motors is one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in India which also dreams of selling Jagura and Land Rover as its in the lead to buy these brands. TATA Motor’s current Market Cap stands at 7.51B and surprisingly the launch did not have any affect on TATA Motors’s stocks which opened at $19.24 and closed at $19.44 as on 10th of Jan, 08.

Hindustan Times captured a few reactions from the competitors in automobile industry who will certainly be affected by TATA Nano’s launch.

"An official of Hyundai Motors, which unveiled an LPG version of its Santro Thursday, was more circumspect.

"We definitely see it as impacting our sales," he said in halting English, preferring to maintain anonymity.

Jagdish Khattar, a former head of Maruti 800 manufacturer Maruti Udyog Ltd, says it’s too early to say whether the Nano will overtake the original.

"It’s a good product but it’s still too early to say whether it will overtake the 800 because it caters to a totally new market segment," he said while watching a live telecast of Tata’s press conference after unveiling of the Nano. "

Watch the TATA Nano Car Launch Video Below

The Car that I am talking about is called MiniC.A.T. An Indian Automotive company, TATA signed a deal with MDI last year to produce and deliver these cars in the market. If you are thinking that these cars will only serve the basic purpose, let me tell you that these cars are a state of art piece of technology. Something we have never seen before in automobile industry. Like they say “Necessity is the mother of invention” and the necessity in this case was to keep it light.

Body is made of fiber and is glued to the chassis, No keys are required for this car, it works with an access card. Here is what the site has to say about the features of the car.

“The vehicles do not have normal speed gauges. Instead, they will have a small computer screen that shows the speed and engine revolutions. The system allows for infinite possibilities such as GSM telephone systems, GPS satellite tracking systems, programs for delivery people, emergency systems, internet connections, voice recognitions, map presentation, traffic information… in three words: the future is now.”

This car can cover about 200 Km’s for a tank full of Air. Refueling takes about 2-3 minutes and will not cost more than 2-3 dollars. This car will be out in the market during the summer of 2008 and to start with they will be available in India and Spain.

If you are thinking that these will be to expensive to be owned then check this out. The basic model, OneCat, will be priced at 3,500€ which is around INR 2 Lakhs and other models go up to 9,500€’s.

That’s not a bad deal when it comes to saving our world.