BRAND NEW CAR FOR 100,000 Pesos

image from wikipedia

KOREK! 100,000 Pesos talaga. Matapos ng isang taon simula ng unang mabalita, malapit na malapit ng lumabas sa market ang kotse na TATA NANO. Sa India muna lalabas, pero may plano na rin na lumabas sa US.
Di sya sobra mabagal, puwede sya umabot ng 100 kmh. Isa lang ang wiper, maliit lang at 623cc engine. Pero 4-seater ito ha.
Sobrang landmark innovation ito pag nagkataon. Kasi kung gagawin mong hulugan, e puwede na talaga itong maging kotse ng mga mahihirap. Nice.
MUMBAI, India - The world’s cheapest car will retail for just over $2,000 and can be yours — if you live in India and are very lucky — by July, Tata Motors said Monday.
The Nano, a pint-sized vehicle designed to make car ownership accessible to millions of the world’s poor, finally goes on sale in India next month. Whether it will revolutionize the global auto industry — or turn around its manufacturer’s fortunes — has yet to be seen, and other automakers will be watching closely to see how consumers respond to the car. So will environmentalists.

And, he pledged to go to Europe and America soon, with safer, cleaner but still ultra-cheap Nanos for the developed world.

The Nano was initially targeted at impoverished first-time car buyers in Asia and Africa, but the global economic meltdown has amplified Ratan Tata’s export ambitions.

Tata Motors unveiled the Nano Europa, a slightly more robust version of the Indian model, at the Geneva Motor Show this month, with a planned launch of 2011.

The four-seater can travel up to 65 miles an hour (105 kilometers an hour) and gets 55.5 miles to the gallon (23.6 kilometers per liter). The Nano does not have air bags or antilock brakes — neither of which is required in India — and if you want air conditioning or power windows, you’ll have to pay extra.

Tata said the car emits less carbon dioxide than most motorbikes.

Priced like a gadget or a piece of jewelry, the Nano will be sold not just at Tata car dealerships across India, but also online and at electronics and clothing shops owned by the Tata group of companies.

The Nano should make global automakers stop loading their cars with costly gadgets people don’t really want, he added.

“Finally, it’s going to make people realize they should be building cars that people need,” he said.

“This is where multinationals have failed.”

The prices are only guaranteed for the first 100,000 cars, and given the production constraints, consumers may well have to wait until 2010 to get cars they book in April, company officials said.

Until then, eager Nano customers will have to console themselves with the spiffy array of Nano T-shirts and Nano key chains the company has spun out — all designed to make the Nano seem not just cheap but cool.