Tata's 2,500-dollar compact car to be light and fuel efficient

Dec 19, 2007, 9:26 GMT

New Delhi - India's Tata Motors said that its 2,530-dollar automobile, expected to roll off assembly lines by mid-2008, will get 25 kilometres per litre of petrol and be light on its tyres by using more plastic and less bolts, news reports said Wednesday.

Tata's car, not yet named, has generated worldwide attention. Tata Motors has kept a tight lid on engineering specifications.

RA Mashelkar, a non-executive director on the Tata Motors board, recently rode in a prototype and said the inspiration behind the car was Ratan Tata, the chairman of India's largest private conglomerate Tata Group.

'I remember 7-8 years ago, Ratan Tata saw a family of four on the road riding a scooter in the rain and getting drenched. Tata said, 9We should do something for them9, or in other words, put them in a car with four wheels,' Mashelkar said.

Tata announced the project at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2003.

'It's spacious both in the front and in the rear and its design has been finished by indigenous Tata Motors' engineers,' Mashelkar said.

The car will create a paradigm shift in low-cost transport, he said, including the use of much more plastic and less metal bolts than normal vehicles,

'These kind of fuel-efficient cars will be in demand as pollution is on the rise, climates are changing and fossil fuels are running out. People are looking at a new global eco-car.'

Currently, the least expensive car in India is the Maruti Suzuki 800, priced starting at 5,600 dollars.

Tata Motors said in September that it will roll out 250,000 units from the small-car project in 2008, and the production is likely to reach 350,000 cars in the next few years.