http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=145186The $2,000 Tata Nano Cuts Costs, Not Corners
By Nick Kurczewski, Contributor Email
The 2009 Tata Nano has the hopes and dreams of all India riding upon its tiny fenders.
With a starting price of only $2,000, the Nano has been built to provide affordable all-weather transportation to those who might have never before been able to afford a car. Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, says his decision to build the car came from seeing entire Indian families perched precariously on two-wheelers while negotiating the country's crowded streets and dusty rural byways.
We traveled to India to be among the very first to get behind the wheel of the 2009 Tata Nano, hoping to find out whether Tata's team of engineers have ingeniously cut cost and complexity out of the car-building process, or simply cut too many corners. Has the dream of building the world's cheapest car simply turned into a nightmare that's not safe to drive?
Taking Shape
When you see the 2009 Tata Nano in person, the first shock — other than its incredibly low price — is that the car looks, well, exactly like a car! When Ratan Tata first expressed his intention to build a "1-lakh" (100,000 rupee) vehicle some six years ago during the Geneva auto show, most automotive pundits thought he'd gone crazy. Speculation swirled that the car would look like a flimsy rickshaw, one of the wheezing three-wheelers that serve as taxicabs throughout India.
David Hudson, the engineer in charge of handling and NVH for Tata Motors, admits that some extreme design proposals were considered for the Nano project. A car with no doors was suggested. Plastic bodies were considered. And front- and rear-wheel-drive proposals were also part of the Nano's original blueprints. Finally the decision was made that the car had to look normal, like a regular car. Bizarre styling features would only make selling the Nano that much harder.
Mini Size
At only 122 inches overall, the four-door Nano is nearly 2 feet shorter than a Mini Cooper. But at 65 inches in height, the Nano is 10 inches taller than a Mini, so overall, the Nano looks much bigger than it is. The height and clever packaging help give the cabin plenty of space for up to four passengers. With the driver seat pushed all the way back, there is still plenty of head- and legroom for a rear-seat passenger to stretch out.
Media reports have run rampant with rumors that the Nano's body is plastic, the chassis is glued together, or that the motor is powered by a hamster in a wheel. None of these are true. In fact, the Nano is remarkably simple in terms of how it's built.
The body and chassis are constructed of steel; only the bumpers are plastic. Traditional spot-welding is used to fabricate the car. Computer-aided design has helped the engineers trim weight from the body and chassis. In its finished form, the Nano weighs only 1,320 pounds — roughly half of most economy cars.
The Nano has obviously been built to a price. But seeing the car outside under the bright sun rather than the harsh lights of an auto show proves that Tata Motors didn't skimp when it came to adding a little style. The curving cut of the front hood (which houses the spare wheel) and almond-shape headlights give the front end the appearance of a smile. With the Nano keys in our hand, we were finally ready to see whether we'd be smiling after several hours behind the wheel.
Hitting the Track
Our drive began at Tata Motors' engineering research center and high-speed testing facility in Pimpri, a drive of about two hours south of Mumbai. High speed is a relative term in the Nano, given that it's restricted to a top speed of 65 mph. With no tachometer in the instrument panel, we occasionally bumped into the fuel cutoff before shifting up to the next gear. The four-speed manual transmission — the only transmission on offer while an automatic is under development — provided short throws and direct engagement.
The rear-wheel-drive Nano has a 624cc two-cylinder engine mounted in the rear, and it's accessed via a removable panel underneath the foldable rear seat. The all-aluminum engine has been built exclusively for this car and produces 35 horsepower at 5,250 rpm and 35 pound-feet of torque from 2,500 rpm to 3,500 rpm. During a mix of city and highway driving, the Nano will average around 47 mpg, according to Tata Motors. Surprisingly, the engine emits only 101 g/km of CO2 emissions on the European driving cycle, which puts the Nano among the cleanest cars on sale anywhere.
Pulling away from a stop, the Nano's cabin is remarkably quiet considering the car's cost constraints. At top speed, the hum from the engine is never excessive or annoying. Acceleration is slow, yet adequate for the majority of driving situations in rural India and the country's bustling cities. The 87.4-inch wheelbase seems to deliver acceptable stability.
The steering is not power-assisted. But the car's light weight and rear-mounted engine mean that there is little weight on the front axle (Tata's engineers tell us the car has a weight distribution of 42 percent front/58 percent rear), so the steering effort is light. Only at a complete stop do you need extra shoulder muscle to twirl the Nano's steering wheel. Otherwise, the steering provides pinpoint location of the car, and the tight turning radius challenges the famously nimble London taxi in terms of maneuverability.
With a Tata engineer riding shotgun, we time a run from a standstill to 50 mph, the maximum speed permitted on Indian highways. Our best effort is 16.4 seconds. The engineer tells us that the company's internal testing time is about a second faster. A 70-hp Smart Fortwo could dust a Nano in acceleration. Yet for the price of that Smart, you could buy six Nanos.
The Luxury Message
Three trim levels will be available when the Nano goes on sale in April: base, CX and range-topping LX. With fees and taxes, on-the-road prices range from $2,200-$3,300. We spent the majority of our time with an LX model, which has features such as air-conditioning, power brakes, power windows (front windows only) and fancier seat and door-panel trim. No power steering is available, though.
Even so, a range-topping Nano is not what you'd call a luxurious car. The dash is mostly a bare expanse of gray plastic, with a centrally mounted speedometer and fuel gauge, along with fan and temperature settings. The optional air-conditioning was much appreciated on the day of our test, when temperatures exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest setting quickly cooled the cabin, and made little measurable impact on performance.
Functional, Frugal and Fun
Tata Motors has cut costs out of every aspect of the Nano. The 12-inch steel wheels are held in place by three lug nuts instead of four. The dashboard is a single-piece plastic molding, which can be converted to right- or left-hand drive. There is no opening for the luggage compartment, since a hatchback would add cost and weight. Instead, the trunk is accessed via the cabin, courtesy of the foldable rear seat. There are also no airbags.
Even the battery, located under the driver seat, is there for a reason. Mounting the battery in the nose would have been ideal from the standpoint of balancing the rearward weight bias. But since the battery cable is the most expensive part of a car's wiring system, Tata decided a central location provided the best compromise of cost and car balance.
So the Nano is pretty clever in the way it saves costs. You expect this. But you might not expect how fun the Nano is to drive. Pushing the car on Tata's test track, the little tires (135/70R12s in front and 155/65R12s in the rear) began to howl. There is plenty of lean in the suspension (struts in front and a semi-trailing arm in back with gas-charged dampers), but the car feels stable enough to coax the rear wheels into a gentle slide. Oversteer drift in a Nano? Absolutely!
The Road Ahead
The most important test of the Nano came when Tata allowed us to drive outside the test track and through the neighboring town of Pimpri. This is what the car was built to do. We weaved through the chaotic traffic, powering away from lumbering trucks and rickshaws. The Nano provided far more comfort and security than any scooter or motorbike.
Judging from the reactions we received, Tata Motors will not have to delve very far into its marketing budget to promote the Nano. A group of schoolchildren cheered and waved as we drove past. Several scooter drivers steered through traffic with one hand while snapping a cell phone picture with the other.
For now, the 2009 Tata Nano is in a market of one. The next cheapest car in India, the Maruti 800, costs almost double the Nano's base price. Other car manufacturers, like Renault-Nissan and Toyota, have committed themselves to entering the ultralow-cost car market within the next two to three years. But Tata Motors got there first, and the Nano sets the bar high.
The People's Car has officially arrived in India.
