Tata going for broke

Tata is barely remembered in Australia for its range of light commercial vehicles and the Safari, a diesel SUV sold in small numbers up until a few years ago.

But in India, Tata is a large concern -- so large that it's hell bent on buying Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.

What's more, Ford seems anxious to sell the two iconic British marques to Tata -- and not just for the Rupees. Tata has mounted the most credible post-Ford strategy for Jaguar and Land Rover of the three short-listed companies bidding.

That makes Tata's announcement that the company will build a new light car, named the Nano, all the more bemusing. It's like Prodrive announcing it's going into the golf buggy business.

See, the Nano is small and cheap -- really cheap. It will go on sale later this year at a price that makes it highly affordable for India's increasingly affluent society, priced below AUD $3000 in its home market and aimed at Indian buyers who cannot typically afford transport other than a motorcycle.

Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, Ratan N. Tata, said: "I observed families riding on two-wheelers -- the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby.

"It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family."

The Nano's engine is mounted in the rear, a la smart fortwo. Unlike the smart however, the Nano will accommodate four occupants and offers two extra doors for access.

Despite the packaging, the Nano is just 3.1 metres in length, only 1.5 metres wide, but 1.6 metres high. To put that in perspective, it's over half a metre shorter than the original Daihatsu Sirion, 10cm narrower, but stands 15cm taller.

Some of that height stems from added ground clearance, which is a necessity in India, as Ford Australia found when developing the Fiesta for the sub-continent (more here).

The Nano will be released in two levels of trim, Standard (pictured here with black bumpers) and Luxury (body-coloured bumpers).

A two-cylinder petrol-injected engine displacing 623cc is fitted at the rear of the car and features a single balance shaft to keep NVH to a minimum. Power is somewhere in the vicinity of 24kW. Tata claims that the car is cleaner than many motorcycles produced in India today.

In respect of safety, the Nano is built from steel and features crumple zones and seatbelts. Whether it could match stringent safety requirements in countries outside India remains unclear, but Tata hasn't announced export plans anyway, so the point is probably moot.

Tata, if it can establish a market for the car in its home country, may not have the market to itself for long. Already, another Indian company, Bajaj -- a company with Nissan/Renault connections -- is planning to launch a rival to the Nano.

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