Tata Unveils $2,500 Nano

Company chairman Ratan Tata, who had promised the low budget car to considerable skepticism from critics who questioned the company’s ability to deliver without sacrificing safety and quality.

“A promise is a promise,” Tata told the crowd after driving onstage stage in a white, luxury edition of the five-seater mango-shaped Nano, in which his head nearly touching the roof.

The company has not allowed reporters to sit or drive the austere car, which has no radio, passenger-side mirror, central locking or power steering, and only one windshield wiper. The Nano has a two-cylinder 0.6-liter gasoline engine with 33 horsepower, giving it a top speed of about 60 mph. It gets 50 miles per gallon.

Tata initially plans to manufacture some 250,000 Nanos per year, almost a quarter of all cars sold in India last year. The company expects to ramp up production to 1 million in a few years.

The Model T cost $850 when it debuted in 1908, equivalent to about $19,000 in 2006. The Model T’s 20-horsepower, four-cylinder engine, topped out at 45 mph and got between 13 and 21 miles per gallon.

French auto maker Renault SA and its Japanese partner, Nissan Motor Co., are working on a compact car for under $3,000.

Presently the Nano will be sold only in India, but Tata said the company hopes to export it to developing nations across Asia, Latin America and Africa in two or three years.