Tatas' Nano Europa creates waves at Geneva auto show

04 March 2009

Displaying the international version of Tata Motors' much-acclaimed small car Nano at the Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata said it would come on the European market by 2011. Expected to be the cheapest car in the world, the Nano is scheduled to hit the Indian roads on March 23 this year.

"We hope to launch the Nano Europa in 2010-11," Tata said at a packed news conference during the show. He, however, refused to give away the cost of the European version of the car, saying a lot of factors needed to be looked at before the price could be decided. "But it'll hold to its image of being one of the cheapest cars in the market," he added.

Asked whether he wanted Nano to become the next people's car for Europe, just like Volkswagen had decades back, Tata said his goals were much more modest. "We are a relatively new car company in a relatively new car-producing nation. We just want to produce a car in India that's robust and can compete with the rest."

The Nano Europa has attracted the maximum attention at the Geneva show, which is among the world's top four auto exhibitions. With its reputation preceding it, journalists, exhibitors and engineers from across the globe were checking out the car throughout Tuesday.

The scrutiny was intensive and intrusive, so much so that Tata officials at one point decided to lock the car to save it from damage. "The way they are examining it is too aggressive," a Tata executive told the Hindustan Times. The lock, however, was soon opened - and the curious scrutiny continued.

The Nano, which was first unveiled during the Auto Expo in New Delhi last year, captured global headlines for its ultra-cheap pricing, and later when its manufacturing plant had to be shifted from Singur in West Bengal to Gujarat following a land row.