What are the features of the world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano?

If you’re looking forward to having your own car yet on a tight budget, the Tata Nano could have been your best bet. Tata Nano is a compact vehicle, created and marketed by the Indian automaker, Tata Motors. The Nano’s promising idea is to bring road transportation to Indian masses, especially to those who never had the opportunity to use one before. With an initial price of one lakh rupees or roughly US $2,500 in 2008, it earned itself the reputation of being the world’s cheapest car.

With that, innovative cost-saving features brimmed the Tata Nano. It has a single wiper, flat side glass, absence of a tailgate, three wheel nuts, no stereo, thinly-padded seats, and a single door lock. All elements gear towards keeping the price of the vehicle low. Though the initial model has no air-conditioning, the succeeding models, the CX and LX, both feature ACs.

Tata Nano, for such low price, also offers a wide array of customization options and accessories, ranging from body kits, decal sets, and even dashboard kits.

Moreover, the vehicle boasts a twin-cylinder engine with a 625 cubic centimeter capacity. With the low weight at 600 kilograms, the car makes it possible to travel at 50-55 miles per hour. While such weight only needed drum brakes, Tata Nano features a self-reliant suspension in front and rear wheels, but sans the anti-roll bars.

When used on the road, the Tata Nano performed decently. Its engine starts pleasantly, plus its gearbox is convenient to use. While the power of the engine seems modest, it was ample enough for traveling across the town.

Fuel consumption, on the other hand, is pretty average. Steering is smooth and adequately crisp. It does pretty well in India’s rough roads saved by its tires, though, you should expect that the driving journey can be jumpy.

Unfortunately, the Tata Nano was only offered in India. Plus, despite its low price, it had already seen the end of the road in 2018, when Tata Motors halted its production.

Tata Motors was under the idea the low price would be ample to hit the market and get people to buy the Tata Nano. However, the Indian automaker company did not consider people’s proposition that cheap prices mean low quality. Though the company marketed it as the ‘People’s Car,’ not many wanted to have a personal car that appears to be mediocre and seems cheaply made.

Not only that, as consumers tend to be conscious of their status and others’ perceptions of them. People want to have things that would make them appear more well-off compared to their counterparts. While getting a car seems to be a good development, getting a Tata Nano, which is marketed as cheap, tends to say otherwise.

It didn’t help that the Tata Nano also experienced other problems. Several cars caught fire just two years after its launch. While Tata Motors corrected the issue, the damage to its reputation has been done. Moreover, there were production delays that drained the hype over the world’s cheapest car. Lastly, the riding journey was really jerky, as the vehicle lacked stability, more weighty cars are able to provide.