At just $2,500, the Tata Nano is easily the world’s cheapest car. However, as Tata expands its tiny Nano into other global markets – such as Europe and the United States – that price will grow tremendously, possibly costing the city car any chance of success.
The $2,500 India-spec Nano is essentially the barebones vehicle you’d expect to get for $2,500 – no air bags, no real crash protection and a tiny two-cylinder engine. However, that would all have to change for the European and U.S. markets.
“The structural changes that would need to be made, the changes that would be required as far as emissions are concerned, and some of the features that would be appropriate to add to the vehicle for the North American market, obviously that would drive up the price point,” Warren Harris, Tata Technologies president, told The Detroit News.
According to a source familiar with the situation, those improvements will more than triple the Nano’s price of entry. European buyers can expect to shell out about $8,000 when the Nano hits the market next year, with U.S. buyers likely to see a similar retail price.
While U.S. sales of the Nano are still at least three years off, a price point of $8,000 would likely kill any chances for the Nano’s success. Although an $8,000 price tag would undercut the next cheapest new car option by about $2,000, there are still plenty of quality used cars available in America for that kind of money.
