Tata Nano test drive, road tests and much speculation

In a rare first, the Tata Nano made itself visible to a group of people residing in the hilly town of Gopeshwar in Chameli district. Residents of Gopeshwar got a rare glimpse of the Rs 1 lakh Tata Nano car parked on a roadside.

As everyone under the sun knows, the Tata Nano is supposed to be the world’s cheapest car, which will be available to customers in India at an approximate price of $ 2,500 (Rs 1 lakh). Add another Rs 25,000 to that for the on-road price of the Nano.

(For a bit of fun, click the link at the end to read our initial out-of-breath report about the live launch of the Tata Nano)

It seems the Tata Nano was taken out on a tough terrain test drive and was returning from Pantnagar. The Rs 1-lakh car was back after leaving behind the rugged roads of Uttarakhand, reaching picturesque Gopeshwar in the Garhwal Himalayan region.

The Tata Nano, which was test-driven in the toughest of conditions is said to have returned a mileage of 17-20 km per litre in the hills.   Tata Motors engineers said that they conducted the test drive of Nano in the hills of Uttarakhand and Pune.

Tata Motors had said earlier that they would initially sell the Nano in B-class cities, as the Nano is really meant for the customers there. Therefore, testing the Nano’s road worthiness in bad roads and hilly terrain is a priority.

It is expected that Tata Motors will launch the Tata Nano the first quarter of the next financial year, the official said. The exact date of the launch is yet to be decided. Earlier, we had heard that the launch would be before March 2009; now it looks like a launch in April 2009 is more likely.

An Uttarakhand launch would happen very soon, according to feelers the company has sent to the Uttarakhand government. Tata Motors in fact has a relationship with the state. It currently manufactures its Ace trucks at the Pantnagar facility in the state.

Tata Motors is said to be planning to set up a permanent manufacturing facility for Nano at Pantnagar. A financial daily reported that the state government has been trying to lure Tata Motors to set up a permanent plant for the Nano at Pantnagar.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors is going great guns fast readying its Nano at the mother plant in Sanand, Gujarat. CM Narendra Modi has embraced Ratan Tata’s dreams and provided the Tata group with what he could best do after the Singur debacle. Here is an article on the benefits of the Tata Nano project to Gujarat

So far, very few have managed to get a test drive in the Tata Nano. Avid car enthusiasts have said that they have caught the Nano several times on test drives on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

Car Magazine of UK had a brief test drive in the Nano a month back, and came away impressed that such a small, ultra cheap car could offer relatively good comfort and driving habits in such a small, cost-effective package.

We had talked to a few automotive magazine journalists a while back. They told us that there is no immediate chance of any of them landing a test drive of the Tata Nano. However, they also said, whether Tata offers them a car or not, it would be easy for them to snag the Nano once it is with dealers and take it for a test drive.