Autocar - First for car news and reviews

Autocar’s Steve Cropley was given a sneak preview of the Tata Nano Europa this week when it came into our London studio.

The European version of the world’s cheapest car was first seen at the Geneva motor show earlier this year and it has been eagerly anticipated ahead of its expected release date of 2011.

See our exclusive Tata Nano Europa studio pics

The Nano was launched in ...Read the full article

Next (Original) Mini perhaps?  I'd have one.

Yeah, I bet if this was a KIA you wouldnt even be bothered to write about it, much less have this as your main article.

 I forgot, you guys in England would rather have a car from a 9th rate automake like TATA if it has "That look" than a sensible car that will actually run everyday from a world class manfacturer.

HyundaiSmoke - It doesn't matter which manufacturer conceived it - what's important is the concept and that definitely merits reporting.  We all know you worship at the altar of Hyundai-Kia and you are welcome to do so, but there's no reason to begrudge another manufacturer developing a radical competitor such as this.

I think that is a bit harsh HyundaiSmoke, no order of importance:

1) the nano will have the reliability of Hyundai and i am sure also will achieve at least 5 stars in crash testing

2) it will be cost effective to buy and own, this cost efficiency will be at least the same as Hyundai and i fully expect it to be greater, not sure what the i10 sells for?

3) TATA own Jag and thus we are helping out are fellow countrymen and women; this is not a Jag (true) but in a way it helps Jag and that has to be good.

4) India is in the common wealth and so we are helping out are Indian brothers and sisters in the process - which is all good.

so if you are saying that we can have a car that matchs Hyundai on all the most relevant aspects and to add into the equation it looks better! we are onto a winner!!

if Hyundai cannot compete as TATA have matched them on all other aspects and beaten them on cost/cost of ownership and looks; well Hyundai have to start producing cheaper cars and or ones that look better.

I think if they sell this car with customisation options and it handles half way right, i think it could well be the true new "old" mini! i just hope they allow/plan customisation options.

Are you all mad? Like the i10/Picanto/Getz bunch, this thing is garbage. A lowest common denominator device for people who don't like cars, or can be bothered to think about them.

Utter rubbish.

I would prefer this to a Smart or an i-car. Looks better too.

 "I think if they sell this car with customisation options and it handles half way right, i think it could well be the true new "old" mini! i just hope they allow/plan customisation options."

 Surely that would be defeating the whole object of the exercise - cheap basic transport rather than a "lifestyle" statement.

Hopefully this will not become another Autocar  "lack of soft-touch plastics, and hard surfaces in out-of-reach places" diatribe  - which has been driving up the cost of European cars, unnecessarily. The price has already gone up 150% to Europeanise it.

I hope the launch of the Nano in Europe will bring sense into the brains of the European carmakers. An IQ starts at £10k and for all the so called design brilliance the end result is WHAT?? I hate the fact that every car maker and so called auto experts in Europe think that every one wants to drive a Mini. So all of us are supposed to buy cramped three door cars with a hard ride,dashes of chrome here and there, lots of 'soft' plastics, and accept a ludicrous price tag for the same.

If all the big names in the Auto industry can make a better car at £4k, Great, why dont they just go ahead and make one?!!

 

This car actually looks attractive. I certainly hope it drives well.

couple of observations:

will this pass the european 'Elk' test - the one that defeated the original Merc A-class? a car that is taller than it's wider, with a narrow track? four-up in this looks like a recipe for a turnover in a heartbeat, even if it is fitted with massively intervening ESP.

the VW Up!, due out in-market the same time as the European Nano, 2011, is at 11' 6", only half a foot longer. it's expected to sell at around €8k. which would you rather have, a VW for a grand or two more or a tarted-up micro car from India that retails at equivalent £1,300 there?

the 'Europa' name. doesn't Lotus/Lotus's current owner have the rights to that?

if this Nano thing does actually come to market would expect European-based competition to smother it, with at least the Dacia range being made available in RHD by Renault pretty smartish. again, which would you rather have, a pukka European engineered car, like the Logan or Sandero, at around £6k, or this Nano?

to put it simply, a Tata Nano for £5k, €5.7k, you're havin' a larf:

http://www.dacia.fr/gamme-dacia/sandero/sandero-gpl.jsp

by the way have people in Britain already forgotten that it is Tata that is shutting down the Teeside steel plant, losing 1,700 Brits their jobs, with up to further 7,000 dependent, whilst building up steel capacity in India?