India's Tata Motors will launch the World's cheapest car -- Nano -- later today in Mumbai, the country's financial hub.
The vehicle could transform how millions travel in the country and many fear it would cause more traffic jams on the already crowded Indian roads.
The four-door jelly-bean shaped car will cost around Rs 100,000 ($2,000), ex-showroom, for the no-frills version that has a two-cylinder 623 cc, rear-mounted engine delivering a top speed of 105 kilometres per hour
The demand for the car is huge, say dealers, who've been flooded with queries about the car. Nano's launch has been delayed by about five months because of limited production capacity -violent protests by farmers over the acquisition of land for the project in West Bengal state forced the Tatas to shift the Nano plant to Gujarat. The Gujarat plant won't be ready until late 2010 and so the Nano is being made at Tata Motors' existing factories, reducing output.
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