Tata Motors to roll out Nano on March 23: Images

Tata Motors has announced that it will launch 'Nano', touted as the world's cheapest family car, on March 23, 209, in Mumbai and bookings will start from April this year.

The car was unveiled at the auto expo in Delhi in January 2008 and a function on March 23 would mark the car's commercial launch.

"The cars will be on display at Tata Motors dealerships from the first week of April 2009. Bookings will commence from the second week of April 2009," the company said in a statement.

The company expects to roll out cars initially from assembly lines in Pune (Maharashtra) and Pant Nagar (Uttarakhand), a makeshift arrangement till the main plant in Gujarat starts operations in October. In the first 12 months, the aim is to roll out around 100,000 cars.

The company said that the booking process and other details of the Rs one lakh car would be announced on the day of launch.

The Tata Nano will initially be available in three models — the Nano (base model), the CX (mid-level model) and LX (top-end model)

The cost of the base model will not exceed Rs 1 lakh (ex-factory, Pune)

Booking forms will be available at SBI, Westside, Croma stores and, of course, 400-odd Tata Motors dealerships

Booking forms will be available for only 14 days

Nano merchandise, including Nano phones and watches, will be marketed through various outlets
To begin with, only the petrol engine version will be available. The 624-cc two-cylinder petrol engine with a single balancer shaft (to avoid excessive vibrations) will have four valves. It will develop 35 bhp at 5,500 rpm and 4.8 kgm of torque at 3,000 rpm

The Nano should crack 60 kph in eight seconds and will have a top speed of 105 kph

The Nano will be available in BS II and BS III variants

The Nano will weigh 600 kg without load

The Nano will have only one spare tyre and it can be used to repair only the front tyres, since the rear tyre is of a different size. However, the car can be driven slowly even after a puncture (and should be repaired as soon as possible)

The Nano will have four forward gears and one reverse gear

The Nano will have a 15-litre fuel tank. With an expected mileage of slightly over 20 kpl, a full-tank will take you over 300 km

Only the driver’s seat will be adjustable in the base model

The Nano CX model will have air conditioning with a heater

The LX model will have power windows, central locking and fog lamps

The Nano will come with a warranty of 18 months or 24,000 km

The testing point, of course, will be when the diesel version is launched.

“Considering the teething problems of the Indica in its first few years, most customers will wait and watch . Also the volumes of 4,000 to 5,000 per month are too small to make any impact,” said a CEO of a leading automobile maker.

“Once the diesel version comes out, and I expect it to be priced at around Rs 1.70 lakh, the real volume numbers will come out. But that might take one to two years and pose a real challenge to small car makers,” he added.