India's Tata Motors blazes the automotive trail with the world's cheapest automobile.
The cars aren't literally free, but at its expected $2500 price tag, it is closer to a giveaway than any other car company has managed. It’s creator? India’s Tata Motors, the overly ambitious auto manufacturer, and its leader Ratan Tata who is playfully referred to as the Henry Ford of India.
His latest vision is a four-seat car with a rear engine and built in the cheapest way possible in factories residing in his native land. The car will then be shipped to buyers in locations such as Afghanistan and Zanzibar. The expected price once it hits the U.S.? Around $2500. Probably.
Tata's Latest Visual For The World's Cheapest Car: Source: Edmunds
The $2500 price tag comes from its direct dollar conversion from 100,000 rupees, making the car’s buying cost about half of India’s currently cheapest automobile. Since we Americans like to complicate things with taxes and hidden fees, it may be much more than $2500, but for now that is the pie in the sky figure being given to consumers.
Now Ratan Tata is pushing the envelope even further with his cheap as dirt car design, declaring that it will produce less pollution than any other vehicle currently cruising the streets of India. However, environmentalists are crying foul, since an uber-cheap car will cause more traffic congestion and still, in turn, trigger higher pollution levels.
Drive a Piece of Crap and Save the Environment
One other issue with creating the world’s cheapest car? A conflict of interest. Tata is slated to potentially acquire the Land Rover and Jaguar units of Ford, leaving people asking – how can the king of the $2000 car sell a different automobile for over $100,000? Apparently India’s most innovative car dealer doesn’t take solely one demographic into consideration.
Source: Edmunds
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Submitted on December 9th, 2007 by Anonymous (not verified)US (worlds largest polluter) may evince interest once the gallon hits $10 mark
Sorry...The US no longer
Submitted on December 9th, 2007 by Luis (not verified)Sorry...The US no longer carries that distinction in any of the major pollution indexes. ALOT has changed in the last 5 years since the Kyoto accord, and signing the accord HAS NOT lead to reduction from most signers! China is in many instances,including now being the worl lead in CO2 omissions( carbon Dioxide, the largest pollutant)... India leads in others, and when measuring certain indicators the US ranks well below many large countries like Russia. And when compared with smaller countries the US does better in once again many areas especially treatment of solid wastes like garbage) and "green Friendly" deals with toxic wastes. For example, The average person in the countries listed below puts more demand on the global ecosystem than any other, giving these countries the world's largest per-capita "ecological footprint", WWF data shows.
Here is the top 5 most polluting countries on Earth:
1. Qatar
2. UAE
3. Kuwait
4. Bahrain
5. USA
Now granted, due to the smaller populations of these countries they emit less over all pollutants. But I could go on in many other areas where the US does much better than many countries...I do however hope that as the US continues improving it's scores, others will join in...and as for the car... I hope they have it available here in Mexico Soon!
$2500 car sold for $100,000
Submitted on December 20th, 2007 by Anonymous (not verified)Seriously, If Tata CAN manufacture a new car AT A PROFIT for $2500, out of the exact same amount of raw materials it takes to make a can you're prepared to pay $100,000 then how foolish do you feel buying the expensive version.
They are made using the same technology from the exact same material, yet with Tata you don't have to support a Formula One team, or 100 years worth of dead weight overhead. The raw materials cost about $500 in each.
So what kind of SUV do you drive?
Submitted on January 31st, 2008 by ambulocetus (not verified)The United States may not be the number one polluter under your strict parameters, but I do believe we bear a responsibilty to set a good example for the rest of the world. We used to be known for that.
Tata, Land Rover & Jaguar
Submitted on March 31st, 2008 by AnonymousI believe the LR and Jaguar brands will definitely be separate and Tata isn't going to rebadge them unless they've gone insane!
hmmm
Submitted on August 10th, 2008 by Anonymousfirst of all the first picture is of TATA INDICA not NANO.....INDICA was launched 5/6 years back and costs a lot more than nano....secondly the car maybe crap according to US standards but think of africa,afghanistan,poor countries....the car is designed for these countries
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