Not to be upstaged by its domestic rival, India’s Bajaj Auto has unveiled its version of “the people’s car.” The mini car — which is still technically a prototype — will be built and designed in India but will be produced under the Renault-Nissan-Bajaj alliance.
But unlike the Tata Nano, Bajaj is planning to market its car for $3,000 — $500 more than its cross-town rival. In addition to the Bajaj model, the alliance will also produce Nissan and Renault-badged versions of the car with styling unique to each brand. Earlier reports indicated that Nissan was considering bringing its version of the mini car to the U.S.
But while Tata’s Nano will begin production in the coming months, the Bajaj mini car is likely at least two years out from production.
01/10, 2:29 PM
posted by:
autonut
For 25% premium you do get a better looking car. With French pedigree.
01/10, 2:37 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Agreed autonut. I’m just relieved you didn’t say GOOD looking car.
01/10, 2:58 PM
posted by:
F3INT))AP3X
Ya I agree it doesn’t look good but It definitely looks like its worth the extra 500$
01/10, 3:01 PM
posted by:
global_lightning
I see a lot of similarities between these cars and the European micro cars from the 50’s and 60’s like the FIAT 500, Cooper Mini, and Isettas. After WWII these cars were critical to provide transportation and helped get their economies functioning again. These were basic, no frills transportation (but they also lent themselves to hot-rodding). Yeah, so they won’t win any races or beauty pageants, but that’s not the point. Cars like this one and the Tata may be crucial in letting poor Indians get better jobs, improving their economy and reducing poverty.
01/10, 3:08 PM
posted by:
Impulsive
LLN, get rid of these annoying Workopolis ads. They’re bull****.
01/10, 3:09 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Thank you, Impulsive.
01/10, 3:29 PM
posted by:
SS4LIFE
Looks better then the Tata’s $2500 creation.
01/10, 4:25 PM
posted by:
maximus
agreed, the extra $500 looks like it’s worth it for at least the styling.
01/10, 5:58 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Guys, AdBlock FTW. And if you’re not using Firefox, you deserve to see those ads.
01/10, 6:01 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Looks like a Prius
01/10, 6:34 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
Does anybody have a link to a document about the Tata Nano? I looked it up on google, and not much came up.d
1c3d0g- Adblock only blocks pictures and stuff, not links and adobe acrobat… as far as I know.
global lightning- True, but reducing poverty? Probably no… And the way I see it, these vehicles are similar, but are more complex, it’s not just no thrills transportation, the people who created those cars only had pure function in mind.
01/10, 6:34 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
nevermind, just found it on LLNS front page…
01/10, 10:06 PM
posted by:
Veda
Bajaj has a special place in my mind as the worst abomination ever to grace the public asians streets. It would be very hard indeed to change that perception regardless of how good their products are.
01/11, 6:25 AM
posted by:
1c3d0g
jayjc08: well, you can always throw wildcard rules at it, such as *annoying_pdf_link* etc. Seriously, I don’t see anything that annoys me with AdBlock enabled (I’m using custom filters though).
01/11, 7:32 AM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
You know, cars that look just like this already exist all over the world. The Daewoo Matiz comes to mind.
01/11, 3:47 PM
posted by:
sharpie
For 25% premium, you get a passenger side mirror, but you still don’t get a chance to live in an accident.
And I use Firefox and there is NO AD here!
01/11, 6:37 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
1c3d0g- Nevermind, you were right. When I had installed it I had only installed custom features (click on a picture and add it to the block list), but I recently reinstalled it and it gave me the option of blocking numerous items in a package.
Deanster- Daewoo Matiz (which the Chery QQ is a total copy of, you can mount the doorhandles and trim with little modification), Fiat Cinquecento, there’s plenty. But they’re still not THAT basic, and this isn’t AS basic as older cars like the MINI, etc.