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The Tata Nano, dubbed the people’s car, is the least expensive production car in the world. It is a city car launched by India’s Tata Motors at the 9th annual Auto Expo on January 10, 2008 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India. The standard version of the Nano (without air conditioning, radio or power steering) will cost Rs 100,000 (not including levies such as VAT/LT, transport and delivery charges) (US$2500, GB£1277, €1700),. The choice of price has led to the Nano being called the “one lakh car” (after the Indian word, meaning ‘100,000′)
History and conception
In 2003 Ratan Tata, the Chairman of the Tata Group, mentioned his intention and dream of coming out with a 1 lakh rupee car. The reason behind Tata’s intention and ambition were the daily but common images of an Indian family of four, with the parents and two children, travelling in the dense Indian traffic precariously positioned on a two wheeler.
While industry rivals said a car couldn’t be made at this price, Tata said “They are still saying it can’t be done, Everybody is talking of small cars as $5,000 or $7,000. After we get done with it, there will hopefully be a new definition of ‘low-cost.’”
Initial media speculations was that this low cost car would be a simple four-wheeled auto rickshaw. This changed when Tata decided that a contemporary car not unlike its costlier models could be made at a low cost. Tata had decided to come out with a well-designed car instead of making a simple four-wheeled auto rickshaw as thought of by their rivals. As Tata said at that time “It is not a car with plastic curtains or no roof — it’s a real car.”
To stick to the rigid six figure price, TATA had to reinvent and minimize the manufacturing process. It also had to bring in innovative product design and other related details to effectively drive out the vehicle. It also had to get their component makers to look at current work and design approaches in a different perspective so that they could come out with logical, and more important, simple solutions.
The car was designed at Italy’s Institute of Development in Automotive Engineering, with Ratan Tata ordering certain changes during the process, such as reducing the number of windscreen wipers from two to one.
Interiors and exteriors
The Nano has 21% more interior space and an 8% smaller exterior, when compared with its closest rival, the Maruti 800. The car will come in different variants, including one standard and two deluxe variants. The deluxe variant will have air conditioning, but no power steering. The car is expected to be produced in the Singur plant in West Bengal which is under construction. The initial production target set by Tata Motors is 250,000 units per year.
Rear mounted engine
The use of a rear mounted engine to help maximise interior space makes the Nano similar to the original Fiat 500, another technically innovative ‘people’s car’. A concept vehicle similar in styling to the Nano but with frontwheel drive was proposed by the UK Rover Group in the 1990s to succeed the original Mini but was not put into production. The now-defunct Rover Group later based their City Rover on the Tata Indica while the eventual ‘new Mini’ was the much larger, technically conservative Mini (BMW).
Technical specifications
According to Tata Group’s Chairman Ratan Tata, the Nano is a 33 PS (33 hp/24 kW) car with a 623 cc rear engine and rear wheel drive, and has a fuel economy of 4.55 L/100 km (21.97 km/L, 51.7 mpg (US), 62 mpg (UK)) under city road conditions, and 3.85 L/100 km on highways (25.97 km/L, 61.1 mpg (US), 73.3 mpg (UK)). It is the first time a two-cylinder non-opposed petrol engine will be used in a car with a single balancer shaft. Tata Motors has reportedly filed multiple patents related to the innovations in the design of Nano, with powertrain design alone having 34 patents. The head of Tata Motors’ Engineering Research Centre, Girish Wagh has been credited with being one of the brains behind Nano’s design.
According to Tata, the Nano complies with Bharat Stage-III and Euro-IV emission standards.
Powertrain
* Engine:
o 2 cylinder petrol with Bosch multi-point fuel injection (single injector) all aluminium 623 cc (38 cu in)
o 2 valves per cylinder overhead camshaft
o Compression ratio - 9.5:1
o bore × stroke 73.5 × 73.5 mm
o Power: 33 PS (33 hp/24 kW) @ 5500 rpm
o Torque: 48 N·m (35 ft·lbf) @ 2500 rpm
* Rear wheel drive, 4-speed manual transmission
* Steering – mechanical rack and pinion
Performance
* Acceleration: 0-70 km/h (43 mph): 14 seconds
* Maximum speed: 105 km/h (65 mph)
* Fuel economy (combined City + Highway): 20 kilometres per liter (5 L/100 km, 47 US mpg, 56 UK mpg)
Body and dimensions
* Seat Belts: 2
* Trunk capacity: 30 L (1.1 cu ft)
Suspension, tires and brakes
* Front brake: disc
* Rear brake: drum
* Front track: 1,325 mm (52.2 in)
* Rear track: 1,315 mm (51.8 in)
* Ground clearance: 180 mm (7.1 in)[citation needed]
* Front suspension: McPherson strut with lower A arm
* Rear suspension: Independent coil spring
* 12-inch wheels
Controversies
Mass motorization and climate change
As the Nano was conceived and designed around introducing the automobile to a sector of the population who are currently using eco-friendly bicycles and motorcycles, environmentalists are concerned that its extraordinarily low price might lead to mass motorization in countries like India and therefore aggravate pollution and global warming. Rajendra Pachauri, an Indian and chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said he was “having nightmares” because of this car and added that the car represents bankruptcy of India’s environmental policy. The ecology focused German newspaper die tageszeitung feels that such concerns are “inappropriate” as the Tata Nano has lower emissions compared to the average Volkswagen, and that developing countries shouldn’t be denied the right to motorized mobility when industrialized countries should be looking to reduce their emissions and usage of cars. Die Welt reports that the car conforms with environmental protection, and will have the lowest emissions in India. In crowded metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Ratan tata has conceived a scheme to only offer the Nano to those individuals who do not have an automobile already.
Singur car factory land dispute
Controversies also arose about Tata’s planned manufacturing unit for the car in Singur, West Bengal, where the regional government of West Bengal has allocated 997 acres (4.03 km²) to Tata Motors. The construction of the car factory on that tract of land will require fertile agricultural land and the expropriation and eviction of ca. 15,000 peasants and agricultural workers. The affected farmers fear they will receive inadequate or no compensation and therefore lose their livelihoods.
Activists near Kolkata, where Tata’s manufacturing unit is located, started burning the car in effigy. In New Delhi, women protested wearing T-shirts bearing slogans that said, “The Rs 1 lakh car has Singur people’s blood on it.” The Trinamool Congress alleged that Tata motors usurped the agrarian land for the construction site and have threatened to stall the manufacture of the car.