Indian Automaker Launches World’s Lowest-Priced Car

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week the world's lowest-priced passenger car was launched in Mumbai, India. The Nano, made by Tata Motors, is expected to cause a transportation revolution for millions of Indian families.

The small four-door car is about three meters long. It will cost one hundred thousand Indian
rupees, or two thousand dollars. That is about half the price of similar cars offered by the
nearest competitor. The Nano is expected to make car ownership possible for more of India's
population. So it is being called "The People's Car."

Tata Motors chairman, Ratan Tata, says that was his main goal in building the Nano.

RATAN TATA:"It was never conceived of as being the cheapest car. It was conceived of as being a car that would give the people of India an opportunity to own a car that had not been within their reach before. I hope that is what we will achieve."

The Nano is a very simple car. The lowest-priced version does not include a radio or air
conditioning. It has a six hundred twenty-four cubic centimeter, thirty-five horsepower, gas-
powered engine. Still, it is a welcomed vehicle in a country where many families of three or four
people ride two-wheeled vehicles.

Industry observers predict that soon roads throughout the country could be filled with Nanos.
Tata, India's top automaker, has done almost no traditional advertising of the Nano. However,
early interest in the vehicle has been huge. The company says the Nano's Web site has been visited thirty million times.

Tata Motors says it will begin taking orders for the car on April ninth both at car dealerships
and on the Internet. However, the cars will not be ready for purchase until July. Demand is
expected to be far greater than supply.

Ratan Tata says the first one hundred thousand buyers of the car will be chosen by chance.
Production of the Nano has been delayed for several months. Land protests last year forced the
company to close its factory in the Indian state of West Bengal. A new factory is being built in
the state of Gujarat.

The car is expected to be popular in industrial as well as developing nations. The company says it plans to sell a version of the Nano in Europe in two thousand eleven. After that, the car will
also be available in the United States. Experts say demand for low-priced automobiles is likely
to increase as the international economic crisis continues.

However, the Nano also has its critics. Some say the new cars will increase India's traffic and
pollution problems. However, Tata company officials say the Nano will produce less pollution than any other car in the country.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

World's Cheapest Car Unveiled, Costs $2,500

It's official folks, here comes the world's cheapest car - The Tata Nano. The car was
unveiled today at India's largest automotive show and has received much attention. The car
is powered by a 2-cylinder, 33 horsepower motor, and has a top speed right around 60 MPH.
It has four doors, seats five, has seatbelts but no radio, air conditioning, or airbags,
and is basically a deathtrap. However, in a country where "two-wheeled scooters...are
often crammed with entire families", it's definitely a step up in the safety department.
And for $2,500 it's hard to beat. However I would recommend they change the name if they
plan on selling it over here, because where I'm from Tata Nano is slang for a really,
really small breast. Like my wife's right one. Oh no I didn't. Did I? Did I really go
there? I think I did. Good burn Geekologie writer! Oh, good backing over the Geekologie
writer's nuts with your car, Geekologie writer's wife. Touché.

A couple more pictures and a video of the car after the jump.

Electric cars

Electric cars: the future of personal transportation?

These are just a few of the available options and manufacturers working on electric vehicles today, but a singular trade-off remains fairly constant between them all: you can either have a small, slow, commuter-only car right now or you can roll the dice that one or more of the real cars delivers on its promises, but you'll have to keep guzzling gas until they arrive in showrooms. Will electric cars be the next revolution in transportation? Only time will tell.

FAKE!: Alleged Smart Car Body Kits

Well folks, it looks like today is Smart Car day on Geekologie. This here is an alleged
Smart Car with a Porsche body kit. Hit the jump to see Corvette, Ferrari, and Lamborghini
models. Needless to say, they're all fake and been Photoshopped. FAKE! FRIST! FIRSTIES!
SECOND? THIRD YOU STINKING ASSHOLES!

Hit it for the rest.

Cool: Augmented Reality Advertisements

MINI recently ran an augmented reality advertisement in several German automotive
magazines (Auto, Motor und Sport, Werben & Verkaufen and Autobild). You head over to the
MINI website, flash the print ad in front of your webcam (while doing a striptease --
ladies only, please) and TA-DOW -- a 3-D MINI appears on your newfangled typewriter
screen. Go here to print out the ad as a PDF and then head here to try it for yourself. I
tried to do it but I can't read German and get easily discouraged so I bailed. Besides,
I'm waiting for some augmented augmented reality ads. You catch my drift? I'm talking
boobs. Big-ass fake ones.

Hit it for another picture and a video of the making of the ad.

2009 Honda Accord Coupe Concept

Eighth generation of Honda Accord is very near to its release. So how would 2009 Honda Accord Coupe that is going to be launched around the spring or summer of 2008 look like. We have very little information on that but what we could claim is that it would very much resemble 2009 Honda Accord Coupe Concept, revealed in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

We could very much expect a choice between 4-cylinder engine and a V6. The next generation V6 (with Honda’s i-VTEC variable valve timing) is going to be more fuel efficient as claimed by company. V6 with its Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) technology will surely make it possible as the technology de-activates every other cylinder when the car is cruising under light load to reduce fuel consumption. Once higher power is required engine runs with its all the cylinder activated.

There is no doubt for the safety features of the future Honda Accord Coupe due to Honda’s Safety for everyone initiative. Honda has set up a baseline of safety features for all its future models. 2009 Honda Accord Coupe will be for sure have front and side-impact airbags for people sitting at front seats, the curtain style head protection airbags for both front and rear would fall in the basic safety features. The electronic stability control and advanced anti-lock brakes presence could not be denied. ACE i.e. Honda’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering body structure would be present which incorporates a front-end frame structure primarily designed to wholly soak up and dissolve crash energy over a big area in case of a frontal collision.

We wish that 2009 Accord concept Honda will make it to production without too many changes.