AT LAST TATA NANO HITS ROADS

The Tata Nano is a rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by Tata Motors, aimed primarily at the Indian market. The car is very fuel efficient, achieving around 26.00km/l on the highway and around 22.00km/l in the city.[4] It was first presented at the 9th annual Auto Expo on 10 January 2008, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India.[5] Nano had a commercial launch on March 23, 2009 and a booking period from April 9 to April 25, generating more than 200,000 bookings for the car.[6][7] The sales of the car will begin in July 2009,[8] with a starting price of Rs 115,000 (rupees), which is approximately equal to UK£1,467 or US$2,421 as of June 2009. This is cheaper than the Maruti 800, its main competitor and next cheapest Indian car priced at 184,641 Rupees.[9][10][11] Tata had sought to produce the least expensive production car in the world[12] — aiming for a starting price of Rs.100,000 (approximately US$2,000 in June 2009).[13][14]
In early 2008 the news magazine Newsweek identified the Nano as a part of a "new breed of 21st-century cars" that embody "a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, cheaper" and portend a new era in inexpensive personal transportation — and potentially, "global gridlock".[15] The Wall Street Journal confirmed a global trend toward small cars, which includes the Nano.[16]
"Nano" from the SI prefix for one-billionth is often used to mean "small" in colloquial English.[17] Coincidentally, it also means "small" in Gujarati, the language of the founders of the Tata Group.