World’s cheapest car (ever)

by | Thursday, January 10, 2008

Tata NanoStory in Reason Online about the Tata Nano, the cheapest car the world, or actually as the article seeks to prove, the cheapest car of all time (once you adjust for inflation).

The Nano, produced by Indian company Tata, “is about 10 feet long, 5 feet wide. The 2-cylinder petrol engine delivers 33 horsepower and a top speed of just over 60 mph. The $2500 basic model has no radio, air-conditioning or air bags, but it does have seat belts, a catalytic converter to reduce air pollution and gets 50 miles to the gallon.”

For the interested, adjusted for inflation a Model T would cost about $18,000 today. Conversely, a Tata Nano would cost only $115 in 1909 dollars!!!

Topics related to this post: Design | Technology

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3 Comments

  1. Steven Sharp

    I have always been a fan of folding paper particularly making paper airplanes. I started with a software called The Greatest Paper Airplanes published by Kitty Hawk. Unfortunately the software is no longer distributed today. It teaches how to fold 50 different paper airplanes. It’s a good place to start learning origami.

    Reply
  2. Drunk driving

    That is incredible. Why can’t more cars be produced like that? Tata needs to come to America – maybe their opportunity now would be to buy Ford and start selling tata cars through them?

    Reply

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