World’s cheapest car to go on sale in India

MUMBAI, India (AP) — The world’s cheapest car will retail for just over $2,000 and can be yours — if you live in India and are very lucky — by July, Tata Motors said Monday.

The Nano, a pint-sized vehicle designed to make car ownership accessible to millions of the world’s poor, finally goes on sale in India next month. Whether it will revolutionize the global auto industry — or turn around its manufacturer’s fortunes — has yet to be seen, and other automakers will be watching closely to see how consumers respond to the car. So will environmentalists.

“We can do what most countries felt could not be done,” Ratan Tata, chairman of the sprawling Tata group of companies, said at a launch ceremony Monday, as the swelling strains of the theme song to “2001: A Space Odyssey” died away in the warm night.

“Nothing is really impossible if you set your mind to it,” he said. “What we have done is given the country an affordable car.”

And, he pledged to go to Europe and America soon, with safer, cleaner but still ultra-cheap Nanos for the developed world.

The Nano was initially targeted at impoverished first-time car buyers in Asia and Africa, but the global economic meltdown has amplified Ratan Tata’s export ambitions.

Tata Motors unveiled the Nano Europa, a slightly more robust version of the Indian model, at the Geneva Motor Show this month, with a planned launch of 2011.

The company is now designing a version of the Nano that meets U.S. safety and emissions standards and should be ready for launch in about three years, Tata said.

“A year ago, I would have said the United States is not on our radar screen,” Tata said at a lunch with reporters Monday. Now, he added, “We see an opportunity for a low-cost car. In this economic situation we can see perhaps there is a place for it.”

The Nano, with a starting retail price of $2,233 is a stripped-down car for stripped-down times: It is 10.2 feet long, has one windshield wiper, and a 623cc rear engine.

The four-seater can travel up to 65 miles an hour and gets 55.5 miles to the gallon. The Nano does not have air bags or antilock brakes — neither of which is required in India — and if you want air conditioning or power windows, you’ll have to pay extra.

Tata said the car emits less carbon dioxide than most motorbikes.

Priced like a gadget or a piece of jewelry, the Nano will be sold not just at Tata car dealerships across India, but also online and at electronics and clothing shops owned by the Tata group of companies.

People flocked to the Nanos on display Monday night like moths to light, thwacking the doors shut, testing the seats, tooting the horns, and tugging on the flexible plastic bumpers.

“It is a proper car,” said Hormazd Sorabjee, editor of Autocar India, a trade magazine. He said the designers made clever compromises to keep costs down, scrimping on the plushness of the seats, but offering a comfy suspension and ample interior space.

The Nano should make global automakers stop loading their cars with costly gadgets people don’t really want, he added.