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‘nano’ – the Rs. 1 lac (approx. $2000) car and the much-much hyped and awaited

peoples’ car from the house of TATA MOTORS has finally been officially and formally launched here in

India

today, the 23rd day of March, 2009 --- the day that will perhaps be bookmarked as a landmark day in the history of the automobile industry at least.

Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman of the flagship TATA Group formally launched the ‘TATA nano’ today in India. The booking for the ‘nano’ will start from April 9 to April 25, 2009 with the forms being made available at an upfront nominal cost of Rs. 300 (about $6) from the State Bank of India branches spread across the length and breadth of the country, TATA’s own franchisee stores (Titan, Chroma, Westside), besides other likely outlets that may be announced in the days to come assuming the high numbers of people looking to lay their hands on the booking form.

The ‘nano’ – arguably the world’s cheapest full version car till date - may also be booked directly on the newly launched dedicated website for the car --- http://tatanano.com

Here are a few salient features of the NANO :

The ‘nano’ is to be launched in three petrol engine versions initially - the base version (costing about Rs. 1.12 lakh), the executive version (costing about Rs. 1.55 lakh) and the fully loaded luxury version (costing about Rs. 1.73 lakh).
The CX and LX higher end versions of the petrol engine version cars will have air conditioning (AC) features besides having power steering and/or power windows depending upon the respective models.
The booking of the Nano will begin on April 9 and remain open till April 25.
The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars are expected to begin in early July, while the applications for booking of the car will be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India.
State Bank of India will be the qualified banker for collection of bookings in 850 cities, he said.
The car can be booked by just paying Rs. 3,000 (some report it as Rs. 2,999) upfront while the rest can be secured by way of loan, he said.
There will be 15 preferred financiers for the booking whose names will be disclosed in three days.

Nano’s dimensions : (length = 3.1 meters, width = 1.5 meters, height = 1.6 meters)
Reasonably high ground clearance of 180mm
Weighs only about 600 kg (on an average), which makes it about 50 kg lighter than the present day nearest competitor, Maruti 800.
The company cites an average of about 20 km per litre, which is one of the highest in its class. The high fuel efficiency also ensures that the car has low carbon dioxide.
The car is about 8% smaller in size but about 21% higher in inside space volume when compared to the yesteryear small wonder from the house of Maruti Suzuki – the Maruti 800
All four tyres will be tubeless tyres but the front two ones will be smaller than the two rear ones, thereby requiring two steepeneyes.
The people’s car’s tailpipe emission performance exceeds regulatory requirements, the company boasts.
The nano is designed driving a family in mind; has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Four doors with high seating position make ingress and egress easy
Sports a rear-wheel drive and an all-aluminium, two-cylinder, 623 cc, 33 PS, multi point fuel injection petrol engine
It has an all sheet-metal body, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, and the rear tailgate glass bonded to the body.
The fuel tank capacity is about 15 liters