Tata Nano first European frontal crash test

The Tata Nano is a rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by Tata Motors, aimed primarily at the Indian market. The car is very fuel efficient, achieving around 26.00km/l on the highway and around 22.00km/l in the city.

It was first presented at the 9th annual Auto Expo on January 10, 2008, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India. Nano had a commercial launch on March 23, 2009 and a booking period from April 9 to April 25, generating more than 200,000 bookings for the car.

The sales of the car will begin in July 2009, with a starting price of Rs 115,000 (rupees), which is approximately equal to UK£1,467 or US$2,421 as of June 2009. This is cheaper than the Maruti 800, its main competitor and next cheapest Indian car priced at 184,641 Rupees.

Tata had sought to produce the least expensive production car in the world — aiming for a starting price of Rs.100,000 (approximately US$2,000 in June 2009).

“Nano” from the SI prefix for one-billionth is often used to mean “small” in colloquial English. Coincidentally, it also means “small” in Gujarati, the language of the founders of the Tata Group.