MOVIES WORLD

Just when you thought you were spoilt for choice, there is Tata’s Nano, the car for the common man. So what are the options before you — in case you’ve decided to sell your bike and go for a four-wheeler?
Tata’s Nano
When Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Motors, unveiled the people’s car ‘Nano’ in New Delhi, it took the global automobile industry by surprise. Nano has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head-room. It can comfortably accommodate four persons. With a length of 3.1 metres, width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres, Nano can effortlessly negotiate the roads in cities as well as in rural areas. Nano has a rear-wheel drive, all-aluminium, two-cylinder, 623 cc, 33 PS, multi point fuel injection petrol engine. The lean design helps maximise performance per unit of energy consumed and delivers high fuel efficiency (20 km/ltr). Nano comes in three variants. Standard and two deluxe models with AC. The standard one will cost Rs 1,00,000, excluding VAT and transportation cost. “The car has also gone through a full frontal crash test as per standard norms,” says a press release from Tata. “The Nano is eight per cent shorter than Maruti 800, the cheapest car on offer currently in India, on bumper to bumper length, but is 21 per cent more spacious,” claims Tata. The people’s car will be launched in India by the end of 2008.