Tata unveils world’s cheapest car…
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By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer
NEW DELHI - India’s Tata Motors on Thursday unveiled the world’s cheapest car, bringing new mobility within the reach of tens of millions of people and nightmares to environmentalists, traffic engineers and safety advocates.
Company Chairman Ratan Tata, introducing the Nano — price tag $2,500 — during India’s main auto show, drove onto a stage in a white version of the tiny four-door subcompact, his head nearly scraping the roof.
With a snub nose and a sloping roof, it can fit five people — if they squeeze. And the basic version is spare: there’s no radio, no passenger-side mirror and only one windshield wiper. If you want air conditioning to cope with India’s brutal summers, you need to get the deluxe version.
But it’s cheap. The Nano’s closest competitor here is the Maruti 800, a four-door that sells for nearly twice as much.
Tata, however, is targeting people moving up from the lower ends of India’s transportation spectrum, where two-wheeled scooters selling for as little as $900 are often crammed with entire families.
While the price has created a buzz, critics say the Nano could lead to possibly millions more automobiles hitting already clogged Indian roads, adding to mounting air and noise pollution problems. Others have said Tata will have to sacrifice quality and safety standards to meet the target price.
The chairman, though, insists the car will meet safety standards and pollute even less than motorcycles, passing domestic and European emission standards and averaging about 50 miles per gallon. Girish Wagh, who headed the design team, said it had an oxidation catalytic convertor and it emitted 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer.
Chief U.N. climate scientist Rajendra Pachauri, who shared last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, said last month that “I am having nightmares” about the prospect of the low-cost car.
