When will we have a good news that our people can produce our own car?
Can we do it in next 10 years?



July 17 (Bloomberg) -- Tata Motors Ltd. delivered today the first Nano, the world’s cheapest car.

Mumbai resident Ashok Vichare, 55, received the keys to a silver-colored LX version of the 624-cc vehicle from Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata at an event today in Mumbai. It is Vichare’s first car.

“This is the smallest and the cheapest car in India today and that’s why I bought it,” Vichare said.

Tata Motors, the Indian truckmaker that owns Jaguar Land Rover, got 206,703 orders for the car, more than double its initial sales plan. The company chose the first 100,000 customers for the 123,360 rupee ($2,500) Nano by a lottery, leaving it with at least a year of production as backlog.

The first Nanos are being built at a plant in Pantnagar, northern India, which can produce 60,000 units a year. Annual output will increase by a further 350,000 when a facility in Sanand, western India is completed at the end of this year.

“Tata Motors has commenced delivery of the Nano this month across the country from the Pantnagar factory,” the company said today in a statement.

A land dispute in eastern India earlier forced the automaker to shutter a purpose-built factory delaying sales of the two-cylinder car.

Volkswagen, Honda

Economic growth and rising vehicle demand in India has attracted a combined $6 billion of investment by Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and other carmakers in the country. Car sales in India may triple to 3 million units annually by 2015, according to a government forecast.

The cheapest Nano retails for 123,360 rupees while the top- end variant goes for 172,360 rupees in New Delhi. The low-end model doesn’t have features such as air-conditioning, power steering and cup-holders.

Renault SA, France’s second-largest carmaker, has teamed up with India’s Bajaj Auto Ltd. to also sell a car for about $2,500.

Tata Motors may sell the Nano in the U.S. after 2 1/2 years, while European sales may begin in 2011. Chairman Tata in March said it was too early to comment on a breakeven for the vehicle.

Tata, 71, a Cornell University-trained architect, decided to develop the car when he saw an entire family riding on a scooter. Almost seven motorcycles are sold for every car in India, a nation of 1.1 billion people.