World’s Cheapest - Tata’s $2500 Indian Car
Just when you thought inflation had hit every market, leave it to India to build the world’s cheapest (insert anything you want here). Ratan Tata, the Henry Ford of India, is fulfilling his promise of “The People’s Car” by promising to unveil it next month at the Auto Expo in New Delhi.
Details are still a bit sketchy, but Tata Motors is expected to build a a compact four-seater with a rear-mounted engine, built on the cheap in India and shipped to first-time buyers in markets from Afghanistan to Zanzibar. How cheap? Tata wants to sell his car for 100,000 rupees — one lakh, in Indian parlance, thus the vehicle’s unofficial designation as the “one-lakh car.” That’s roughly $2,467 US dollars.
What’s even stranger is the fact that Tata is also in the market to purchase the high end Land Rover and Jaguar units from Ford. There is speculation as to what that might do for the perception of quality when spending $100,000 or more dollars on a premium luxery car - knowing that the lot next door might sit a car built by the sister company for sale on the cheap.
Either way, that’s not stopping them. For the record, the current cheapest automobile is the Maruti 800, produced by Suzuki Motor and sells for a mere $4,000. As for competition in this ever growing market - Ford, General Motors and Toyota are all developing or have produced low-end car to sell in India, Russia, China and other such markets.
If you think something like this is perfect for your daily commute - don’t get your hopes up. Tata Motor’s on-the-cheap car won’t conform to European safety and emissions which means it’ll surely fail American standards with flying colors.