The world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano, is now eying the title of ‘world’s cheapest hybrid’. Tata Motors is considering a micro-hybrid version of the Nano with ‘Start-Stop Technology’ technology that allows the vehicle to reduce fuel consumption by 5% and cut emissions by up to 10%.

The Tata Nano, as we all know has faced a King’s share of political reality in the recent past. 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, to taste road reality! Residents of Gopeshwar got a rare glimpse of the Rs 1 lakh Tata Nano car parked on a roadside.

Head of Tata Motors’ engineering department, Nagbhushan, said that Tata Motors has sent ‘Release Candidate Test Mules’ of its one-lakh car - The Nano from its Pantnagar plant to three cities DehraDun, Almora and Ranikhet in the state of Uttarakhand, where its test run would be conducted for a day or two - in order to check the cars road ability and to implement vital updates to the cars dynamics.

One of our readers has emailed us a bunch of Tata Indica Vista Anniversary Images from what looks like a company PowerPoint presentation file. The images point out the special features of this car. In case you missed the Tata Indica Vista Anniversary edition post, it included the Press release.

The Anniversary Edition Tata Indica Vista can be booked today in both diesel and petrol variants at any of the Tata Motors dealerships. Bookings opened on 30th December.

Tata Motors is in the process of analyzing a port at Simar to export its global car –Nano - to overseas markets. Gujarat is all set to become an important auto export hub in the country, with Mundra Port already setting up a dedicated car terminal for Maruti Suzuki.

As 2008 draws to a close, all eyes will be set on the much-awaited Tata Nano, reportedly to be launched in the last quarter of this financial year (Jan-Mar’09). The company dealers however are still left clueless and are not in any position to tell customers when ‘the people’s car’ will be launched. Tata motors is taking a defensive by not revealing much about the Nano. IAB to the reader’s rescue!

Tata Indica has been around for 10 years now, since its launch, back in 1998. To mark this milestone Tata has announced a New Limited Edition Indica Vista to be launched on December 30, 2008.

In the first decade, the company has sold 9.4 lakh Indicas of the 1.2 million overall Indica platform vehicles sold, which means that 78% of all Tata cars sold are Indicas ! Indica has been a bestseller in the making finding a place in the top three selling list of cars for most of the years.

Tata is now planning to launch all new Indigo, which is basically Indica with a boot, but there is quite a lot of difference this time though. The new Indigo wont merely be an Indica Vista with a boot stuck to its back but a thorough redesign to make it look more cohesive. The wheelbase will be extended and further more, it will get better engines (read Fiat engines). It is confirmed that the car will receive Fiat’s 1.4-liter petrol engine.

Chief Editor of autoindustrie.blogspot.com, is a car industry expert in Malaysia. His blog, which deals with international autos, gives you the best possible opinion of the Auto Industry as a whole. Impressed with his work, we requested him to write to us about the Tata Nano, his opinion and views of the car, and he fortunately for all of us, agreed to do it.

His theory on the Tata Nano comes across to me as a very sensible and thought provoking one. I read international blogs where people talk so much rubbish about this car, terming it to be a traffic-jammer and the planet’s oil-drainer and some term it as a ‘family killer,’ without knowing the conditions which the lower middle class face in India on a jolly weekend trip. Those who thought the Nano was an unnecessary invention should read this reply before saying another word.

So without any more delays, Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together to a man who seems to know it all. I present you, the chief editor of autoindustrie.blogspot.com

Ferrari will soon sport an Indian touch. While motor sports has been on a crash course for the past few days - with Honda pulling out of Formula One and Suzuki and Subaru exiting the World Rally Championship, in a trend reversal of sorts, Indian corporate giant Tata has widened the scope of its agreement with Ferrari for F1.