Autocar has got the latest skinny on the Tata Nano Europa – the European-spec version of the world’s cheapest car.

The car will be powered by a 1.0L 3-cylinder engine which will dish out 60 bhp. It would also get a five-speed manual gearbox compared to the four-speed Indian version.

The car also gets ABS, traction control, electric power steering and two airbags.

The Nano sells for $2,500 in India but will get a huge price bump since the car would have to have more safety to pass the safety ratings. Estimates say that the new price can be as high as £5,000.

That price, however, would move it just too close if not more expensive than other cheap cars from the Pacific rim like the Perodua Kelisa.

This should be interesting. Indian automaker Tata is now keen on developing a hybrid version of their now-popular Nano “people’s car.” Turning the Nano into a hybrid shouldn’t be much of a puzzle given that even Top Gear can create their own EV.

The better question would be how Tata will be able to keep the price down close to the regular Nano’s $2,500 price tag. While new batteries are now cheaper, hybrid tech still has quite a bit of premium to it.

Tata plans an international offering for the Nano with Euro-spec and US-spec reported to be currently in the works. An addition of a hybrid Nano might probably make the Nano more attractive in these regions.

We think that Tata should focus on marketing the car to third-world markets where the price tag would be a bigger selling point rather than trying to penetrate markets such as the US and the UK especially when Tata still has to invest in making the Nano pass more stringent safety standards.

The Nano has been a hit since it has been launched in India with Tata even having to resort to a raffle to determine who gets the first units. The car retails at just $2,500 making it quite an option for third-world markets.

What I see here is that Tata wouldn’t want to spend more to ramp up ther production of Nanos to cope with demand. Instead, they can just make money selling rights so that other production lines will be able to build their own versions of the “Nano.”

Pretty smart? Maybe.

Tata is equipped to build 250,000 Nanos a year using their facilities. Selling the rights would allow other automakers to build 10,000 units.

Source: Autocar

Tata has yet to fill up all the orders with only 2500 Nanos delivered to their proud owners. With demand that high, that only leaves the winners with much on which to capitalize. Tata Nanos are being resold with a 30% markup from its standard retail price.

Indian dealerships report that most cars are resold even before they got out of the showrooms.

Tata will be picking up its production pace by next year and the second-market prices are expected to drop aby then. But hey, there’s a premium in being one of the first to drive a fad, right?

Source: Autocar

So GM has finally declared bankruptcy and, with the help of the US government, is aiming to rebuild. While they are restructuring their brands, GM is also looking into increasing its hold on the non-US market that makes up two-thirds of its sales last year.

Their plan – to tap into emerging markets by focusing on low-budget cars. And that means taking on the “people’s car” – the Tata Nano. The Nano has been making a killing since being released in India. With its $2,500 price tag, it’s also bound to make a killing in other markets in emerging economies as well.

GM wants a big piece of that market. However, GM isn’t intent on matching the Nano on pricing but it will be developing cars based on different emission standards and specifications that are oftentimes different from markets in the first world.

Given the status of the world’s economy, it’s most likely that GM penetrates the Asian market. With cheap plastic Chinese cars also flooding the market, a low-priced quality car with an American badge would be a welcome addition to the market.

Source: Automotive News (subscription required)

The Indian automaker who also owns known British luxury brands Land Rover and Jaguar defied analyst’s forecasts with the number. This is thanks mostly to accounting policy changes that it made.

Tata made $107 million in the quarter. It’s overall revenue, however, went down by 8% meaning that the company’s cost-cutting had a lot to do with its profit.

Still, concerns over Jaguar and Land Rover remain. “We are going ahead with their proposals and this is going to improve the cost reduction efforts in JLR,” Vice Chairman Ravi Kant told Reuters. More job cuts and plant closures are expected.

Source: Reuters

However, hurdle after hurdle came Tata’s path. First with the soaring the materials costs that threatened the $2,500 then the legal battles they had to deal with their plant location. Ultimately, the Nano missed their launch date.

Despite these, Tata still has some fire in them. Now that they have a second plant up and running, they think they’d be able to roll out 80,000 Nanos out of the assembly line by 2010. And, by 2011, Nano will be slapping on diesel engines to the car. Small. Affordable. Economical. Now only if the build quality doesn’t kill you first.

Tata commented at a speech in an American university that the Nano could be launched in the US by 2012, and that the car would pass strict emission and crash tests in America. Good confirmed the comments, and added that the Nano will be distributed through Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships.

The Tata Nano is billed as the world’s cheapest production car. ‘Nano’ means ‘small’ in the Tata founders’native tongue of Gujarati, and is also incidentally a word generally connoting small things. The car has had excellent success in the market, especially at a time of economic decline.

With the European Nano due in 2011 and Indian deliveries slated to start next month, there are some busy times ahead for Tata Motors. It’s all good.leon professional the dvdrip

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