Amazing, isn't it. The things that every person that has a basis in reality about cars is that the way to reduce fuel consumption is to reduce the size of the vehicle and the overall weight of it. Imagine though driving one of these small cars in the USA on a road with a 75MPH speed limit where large tractor-trailers hauling massive loads are, which also have a huge wind gust following them everywhere they go. Would you want to have your family in one of these vehicles? Technology will eventually arrive at a point where we can have a safe and fuel efficient vehicle that does not require massive amounts of energy and resources required to manufacture. Today, technology is not at that point. You can pick conventional, lower MPG, safe vehicles that are not out of line for overall invironmental impact, or you can have cheaply built, high MPG vehicles that are at best unsafe for the occupants, or you can have costly environmentally damaging in creation hybrids that get high MPG but overall cause the same environmental damage over a lifetime as a conventional vehicle, while at the same time being slightly less safe and less useful. Your choices, I could care less what you PICK, just so long as my choice of a conventional vehicle is not infringed upon.

More like a Fiat 126p than a smart. Thanks, but no thanks. I bet it will fall apart in 1 year.

@drut1234 - so what? I spend an upwards of $10,000 a year on a car and dump it? If this thing could last a year, then I'll just buy another one.

People say the same thing about cheap computers, but people continue to buy and replace...

That deystroys the Fortwo's rating...Of course it also has less powa.

I heard of vehicle design 70 year old that gets 75 MPG, has a top speed of 300km/h, and makes you look badass at the cost of several thousand dollars. Its called a motorcycle. You can easily get better mpg if you reduce weight, but is it for the best?

Yup ;-)

I'm interested in these covered motorcycles, like the monotracer.

How hard is it to get 56MPG when your car weighs 1300 or so pounds and only has 35HP. I could build a go cart that gets better fuel mileage than that but that doesn't make it a good car.

ok where / when can i buy one, it looks greats for teens and city driving...

You realize of course that these small cars are built for folks who live and commute into the city, with much stop and go traffic and very limited highway use? Yes, we have different options, because not everyone needs the same thing. Market segmentation we call it.

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This is the same mentality that has forced the US auto makers into making huge SUVs that suck down gas. It's not that small and efficient cars are not safe, it's that the huge SUVs are unsafe. When two compact cars hit each other, the drivers walk away, but when an SUV hits a compact car, it never ends well for the driver of the compact car.

Fair enough. If you lived in Mumbai or Dehli you probably wouldn't need anymore power than the Nano has. The small girth would also likely be welcome giving the car better maneuverability.

The bikes that get up to 186mph(Hayabusa ZX-14 that I can think of) do not get 75mpg, more around 30-40mpg, still better than a car IMO.

I do have a bike that gets 75mpg that tops out at 100mph though.

i agree this is not a care you want to be on the highways with, but this is the perfect car for city driving where you basically do 25-30 mps and the big thing is finding street parking. plus for $2-3k if they ding it who cares...

If They can build a whole car for under $2000.00 why are we paying the prices that we pay for cars. Or for that matter motorbikes which cost far more and 4 wheelers. Just goes to show you that the capitalistic pigs are raping us and living fat. When is this all going to end. Well in the history of man we have never been able to govern ourselves successfully. No we all know in business that if a model does not work we need to change it. Well this model of governing ourselves is not working. We have tried them all. Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Kingdoms,Dictatorships and whatever else out there. Still have not got it right.
What Now??????
Stay Tuned for the answer!!!!

Exactly, we all know car companies are just raking in record profits.... wait, that's not right...




25-30 meters per second is pretty fast for city driving (around 55-65MPH), unless you meant miles per second, in which case I want the vehicle you're driving.

This is a great product, enough with the lame "what if you get hit by a semi" argument, there's no guarantee that SUV drivers are going to survive that either, despite that extra 5000lbs of vehicle they don't need to drive one person to and from work. What are the odds of getting hit by a semi, like maybe 1 in 10,000 people has such an accident in their life? It's time to start thinking responsibly about conservation instead of lifestyle.

An old concept made new, in my opinion. First, it was the Citröen 2CV, then the Fiat 600, the english original Mini Cooper, the Renault 4, all the japanese minis out there, and I can go on. Mini cars have been among us since the vehicle industry can remember. The Nano is just another mini, adjusted to these economically difficult times we are facing. One more option, I say welcome to it.

this car has no safety things, no seat belts (not necessary in India), no airbags, no radio/airco, and when a frontal hit to a car/concrete log at 40mph there's above 75% probability of (instant) death!
No safety zone (where a car would catch the impact on a hit).

Actually I heard they are sold for around 1300 over there.

I don't know what country you live in, but if it's the US, then this automobile will not be sold in the US because it cannot meet safety standards that are required criteria.

You might be able to find one in the US, but it won't be able to be legally licensed. You will stick out like a sore thumb and probably be pulled over.

Seriously, what a waste of effort. My jeep has a two stroke Detroit Diesel 3-53T in it and I get 34mpg, which is more than most cars. And guess what the engine was designed in 1938.
It doesnt look all that hot now does it. My vehicle is 4500lbs too

My scooter has a 7.8hp engine on it and I get 196mpg. It has 4 wheels and a single speed with a centrfgal clutch able to go 55mph. It accelerates faster than that car, and oh yeah. It only cost me the price of the wheels to make it, so $60

K-TRON

Tata is going to modify this car for USA, well it wont be $2k, it will definitely be aroung $4.5K , even then cheaper by many standards. Nad they have the tech to make it give 50mpg. Engine will be upgraded to hit the max speed limit of USA, with seat belts, air bags, ABS, all disc brakes. etc.. which complies with the USA regulatory standards. Now imagine was/is there any other car which costs less than $5K.

You never need to go more than the speed limit, you can save your money from getting into rich people's pocket.

The target market for this car are the people who ride motorcycles. Look for pictures of entire families riding on one in India. No, these cars are not safe by US standards, but they're a lot safer than a motorcycle.

56mpg + airbags, AWD, traction control, ABS, ESB, wide tires, etc., =26mpg.

I was test driving a Honda Fit and I noticed the EPA mpg was a little higher on one of the Fits than the other. The salesman said the Fit "Sport" got one or two mpg less because of added weight/drag of the various spoilers and side skirts meant to give it a "sportier" look. And that's just some plastic. Honda held off on stability control for the Civic for awhile for same reason - weight (well, cost also).

City fuel economy is based on three things, weight, weight, and weight. And no fair railing against SUVs when many 4 door sedans with a six cylinder are lucky to break 20mpg in city driving (translated - almost all driving)
Example for 2009: GMC Acadia, a small SUV - 17mpg city. Toyota Camry 19mpg city. I know the Acadia is no Suburban but it's an SUV and looks the part.

Why can't it be a car on the highway. People riding motorcycles - course you don't put your whole family on a motorcycle (usually). Americans IMO are too worried about every little thing. I bet you could put the basic safety equipment in the nano and still get 40mpg for under $5000. And then let the modders loose - imagine a whole market of car modding opened up by your starting price only being $3-5K.

Amercian safety standards are ridiculous. A car like this is perfect for big city driving and you don't need all the safety features because you would rarely go above 30-40mph. People should be able to choose the safety feature they want based on their needs, instead the government forces prices up with stupid mandates. To the guy who said capitalism doesn't work: Capitalism does work, we just haven't lived in a truly capitalistic society since before the Great Depression.

I don't think you truely understand what a crash at 30-40 MPH will result in. Check out http://www.iihs.org/ and watch some of their tests on modern and safe cars with crumple zones and many airbags. All the IIHS's tests are run at 40MPH into a non moving barrier. If you crash in the real world, both objects could potentially be going 30-40MPH which is more like 60-80MPH combined force. Think of crashing your $2k tin can at those kind of speeds. Just something to think about.

The thing about this little piece.. WAIT TILL A HUGE SUV HITS YOU AND YOU ARE DEAD....I would not feel safe in that little thing with hummers and ford trucks all over the place

I drive a small car, but for me that car looks ugly as hell.
That said, if they beef up the safety a bit more, this car might be great as taxies in NY.

Anyway, I think FULLY electric cars are what we need to invest on. Make better batteries, that last long and recharge quick (recharge time is very important).

Looks like a nice deal for 2k but I don't think that the wieners at the oil companies will let this car get to the US. Just look at the electric car, the oil companies just started to cry and threaten the government and what happened to the electric car? They were taken away from the people and hippies by force.

I saw someone say that if two of these crased into eachother, the driver would be ok. These are made of aluminum! They would take both cars to the scrap yard before they tried getting the body out.
Seriously, these are good for city only driving at low speeds with stop and go conditions. Just hope that no one backs over it without noticeing

For those complaining about safety:
http://upload.ecvv.com/upload/Info [...] 428453.jpg
Those are what are used in India today. I'm pretty sure the Nano is MUCH safer than that.