Tata Nano

A spokesman says the Nano may need fresh investment to survive.

Ratan Tata seems to think he knows the problem with the original Tata Nano, and how he'll address that when the next-generation model rolls around.

The Tata Nano hasn't been the booming sales success that it was originally anticipated to be. But we bet some drivers worldwide wouldn't mind getting behind the wheel of this one just for the absolute absurdity of it.

ZipCar is a great tool if you're the city dwelling, car-ownership-averse sort. It's even somewhat affordable, with prices from $6 a month and driving rates from $8 to $10 an hour. A ZipCar-like Indian company called Zoomcar India Pvt. is taking that affordability to the extreme, offering rentals of the Mahindra e2o, a small city-minded EV for just 73 cents an hour.

Confirming our report from several months back, Tata will begin offering a diesel-powered Nano in the not-so-distant future, with one report even claiming it'd debut as early as February, at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo.

Police cars are meant to command respect from motorists. This is apparently not the case in India, though, where a Delhi-based electronics firm has modified the world's cheapest car into what may be the world's cheapest police car. Complete with a stylish, red-white-and-blue light bar, Grand IJS Electronics debuted a police-spec Tata Nano at the International Security Expo in New Delhi.

The Tata Nano was heralded as the World's Cheapest Car when it chugged onto the automotive scene in 2009. Meant to be India's Volkswagen Beetle, BMC Mini or Ford Model T, the Nano, while accounting for 25-percent of Tata Motors

Back when it went on sale in 2008, the Tata Nano was heralded as something of a new Model T for developing economies. As the world's cheapest new car – and not by a little – the four-door Indian runabout was poised to usher in a new age of personal transportation to the world. But things didn't quite work out that way, and the discount rear-drive minicar has seen its sales fortunes undone by all manner of issues, from reports of f

Bloomberg reports Tata may introduce more expensive vehicles based on the automaker's low-buck Nano in an attempt to lure more buyers. As the company discovered, even the world's least wealthy drivers aren't interested in a vehicle marketed as the world's cheapest car.

It's near the end of 2012, and the Mahindra Reva NXR electric car has yet to be launched. Still, Mahindra has confirmed that the launch will be happening before the end of the year. In the meantime, take a look at the spy shot above.

Tata's much ballyhooed Nano isn't exactly selling as expected in its home market of India, especially after the well-publicized fires engulfing the several examples of the world's cheapest car. Despite that, the head of Tata Group, Ratan Tata, says his company remains intent

When India's Tata introduced the Nano in 2009 at about $2,500, it was a hot-seller. It was expected to set the world on fire with demand for cheap wheels. In fact, a year after its rollout, the Nano almost did set the world on fire after at least three units burned to a crisp. Sales plummeted to a record low of 509 in November, 2010.

Jay Leno has finally turned out the Tata Nano episode of Jay Leno's Garage. As it turns out, the television personality actually found a way to purchase the tiny machine for himself, and the show follows the car all the way down the production line and to the Big Dog Garage in Lo

It looks as if Jay Leno has welcomed a Tata Nano to his Big Dog Garage recently. The comedian even went so far as to don traditional Indian garb and hire a troop of Bollywood dancers to mark the occasion.

Tata Motors has issued a recall for all Nano models manufactured between July 2009 and October 2011. The company will replace the vehicles' starter motors free of charge. And while the Indian automaker has declined to say just how many vehicles will be affected by the recall, local news reports have said as many as 145,000 Nano vehicles will receive a new starter. Tata says the recall has been underwa

Tata is discovering, painfully, that perhaps it went a little too cheap when it designed the world's cheapest car. The Nano has been selling at about one-twentieth of company projections, which led to upgrades such as more power, more room, an anti-roll bar, power brakes and better steering.

Tata is out to battle lukewarm demand for the company's Nano with a range of improvements to the world's least-expensive new vehicle. Engineers have upped the Nano's power and fuel efficiency while decreasing emissions at the same time. The vehicle's 624-cc engine now produces a whopping 37.5 horsepower, enough to help the machine tackle up to 30 percent road grades and reach a max speed of 65 mp

Tata is looking to play with both sides of the automotive pricing coin. On one side, it has the Nano, which is arguably the least expensive new automobile on the planet. In its native India, the Nano can be had from around $2,500, and it's been reported that an updated version would run around $7,000 if sold in North America. Now, however, there is now Jeff Glucker