US Tata Nano to Cost Four Times More than in India

If you want more, you'll have to pay more... That's true in almost every single aspect of modern-day life, and couldn't have been any other way in the automotive industry. And since different markets have different wants, even a very low cost car like the Nano might get a price hike as it hits more pretentious shores.

The Nano will come to the US, there's no question about it, even if no one, not even Tata, is capable of saying when exactly that happens. But when it does, the Nano would have shed the “cheapest car in the world” tag. Because the Nano will cost more in the US than in India. A lot more.

Fitting all the required safety systems into the Nano for the Americans will bring the price of the Nano to $7,000 or $8,000, way up for the average $2,000 for which it sells in the home market, but still one of (if not the) cheapest car on the US market. Even more, overall, the US Nano will not be the Nano as we know it.

According to Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata, cited by The New York Times, the Nano for the US will be based on the same design philosophy and frugal engineering that gave birth to the Nano, even if the car itself might be a bit different. “But it will still be, in comparative terms, a car that the US would accept,” Tata added.

Tata struck gold when it launched the Nano in 2009, only to lose its way because of a series of strange incidents which culminated with more than a handful of Nanos spontaneously combusting on Indian streets. Now, things seem to have cooled down again and Tata is looking for more markets to conquer.