Here are some supposed details of the Tata 1 Lakh Car (Rs 1 Lakh is equivalent to USD2,500) that is supposed to be ready by July 2008. A design sketch of the Tata 1 Lakh car has been shown to selected members of the media sometime earlier and is said to resemble a egg shaped car with a tall roof.
Now Overdrive reveals that the Tata 1 Lakh car will resemble a production version of Tata’s 1998 Zing concept car. It will be a 5-door hatchback but there will be very little space behind the rear seats for a boot. In fact, even rear bench space is expected to be at a premium, making the car a 2+2 of sorts.
Definitely a pure A to B city car with the distance between A to B limited to short journeys where you do not need to carry any luggage. Not a balik kampung car, definitely. The car will be built on a rear engine rear wheel drive platform and will be powered by a two-cylinder engine.
Two of these two-cylinder engines will be offered - a 660cc 2-cylinder petrol and the world’s first low-cost 700cc two-cylinder common rail diesel engine with a special low cost common rail system developed by Bosch. Bosch will also apply a fuel injection system called “value motronic” for the 660cc petrol unit.
Apparently in internal company tests, the petrol version managed to achieve a fuel efficiency of 26 km travelled per liter of fuel consumed. The diesel version is expected to be even better.
As for the car’s name - sources in Tata say the current most favoured name within the company is the Tata Jeh, named after Tata’s previous chairman, Jehangir Tata.
A Sri Lankan microcar - Rs 2.4 Lakh approx.
Tata Rs 1-lakh car ready, trials on
Even as the site of the proposed Tata Motors factory to manufacture its Rs 1-lakh car lies under siege in West Bengal’s Singur, chairman Ratan Tata on Thursday said the car itself is ready and undergoing tooling and testing and is expected to hit the roads between October and December, 2008.
“The car is ready for production and the project is on schedule. We will launch the car some time in the third-quarter, next fiscal,” Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata group, told FE.
Italian auto major Fiat, which has a joint venture with Tata Motors to manufacture cars and transmissions, engines, had agreed to sell the new small car in Latin America and other foreign Markets. Fiat would also give technical and design related suggestions to Tata Motors for the project.
“Fiat has shown interest in selling our small car in other Markets where it has strong brand value. We will also welcome any suggestions of our partner Fiat on this project,” Tata said. “It’s a fine car and we will help Tata Motors in this project,” Fiat chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo added.
Tata, however, admitted the car’s pricing could suffer because of inflation. “We will try our best to launch the car with a price tag of Rs 1 lakh, but if the inflationary and input cost pressure continues, the car may cost a little higher,” Tata added. He said variants of the car would increase its marketability.
The company’s proposed Singur plant is currently under the spotlight as local farmers, led by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, are opposing land acquisition for the car factory. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has, however, reiterated that the Tata car project is irreversible.
Now Overdrive reveals that the Tata 1 Lakh car will resemble a production version of Tata’s 1998 Zing concept car. It will be a 5-door hatchback but there will be very little space behind the rear seats for a boot. In fact, even rear bench space is expected to be at a premium, making the car a 2+2 of sorts.
Definitely a pure A to B city car with the distance between A to B limited to short journeys where you do not need to carry any luggage. Not a balik kampung car, definitely. The car will be built on a rear engine rear wheel drive platform and will be powered by a two-cylinder engine.
Two of these two-cylinder engines will be offered - a 660cc 2-cylinder petrol and the world’s first low-cost 700cc two-cylinder common rail diesel engine with a special low cost common rail system developed by Bosch. Bosch will also apply a fuel injection system called “value motronic” for the 660cc petrol unit.
Apparently in internal company tests, the petrol version managed to achieve a fuel efficiency of 26 km travelled per liter of fuel consumed. The diesel version is expected to be even better.
As for the car’s name - sources in Tata say the current most favoured name within the company is the Tata Jeh, named after Tata’s previous chairman, Jehangir Tata.
A Sri Lankan microcar - Rs 2.4 Lakh approx.
Tata Rs 1-lakh car ready, trials on
Even as the site of the proposed Tata Motors factory to manufacture its Rs 1-lakh car lies under siege in West Bengal’s Singur, chairman Ratan Tata on Thursday said the car itself is ready and undergoing tooling and testing and is expected to hit the roads between October and December, 2008.
“The car is ready for production and the project is on schedule. We will launch the car some time in the third-quarter, next fiscal,” Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata group, told FE.
Italian auto major Fiat, which has a joint venture with Tata Motors to manufacture cars and transmissions, engines, had agreed to sell the new small car in Latin America and other foreign Markets. Fiat would also give technical and design related suggestions to Tata Motors for the project.
“Fiat has shown interest in selling our small car in other Markets where it has strong brand value. We will also welcome any suggestions of our partner Fiat on this project,” Tata said. “It’s a fine car and we will help Tata Motors in this project,” Fiat chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo added.
Tata, however, admitted the car’s pricing could suffer because of inflation. “We will try our best to launch the car with a price tag of Rs 1 lakh, but if the inflationary and input cost pressure continues, the car may cost a little higher,” Tata added. He said variants of the car would increase its marketability.
The company’s proposed Singur plant is currently under the spotlight as local farmers, led by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, are opposing land acquisition for the car factory. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has, however, reiterated that the Tata car project is irreversible.
