Tata Motors to launch Nano on March 23

Tata Motors on Thursday said it will launch Nano, touted as the world's cheapest family car, on March 23 in Mumbai and bookings will start from April this year.

The car was unveiled at the auto expo in Delhi in January 2008 and a function on March 23 would mark the car's commercial launch.

"The cars will be on display at Tata Motors dealerships from the first week of April 2009. Bookings will commence from the second week of April 2009," the company said in a statement.

The company said that the booking process and other details of the Rs one lakh car would be announced on the day of launch.

"Tata Motors is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that prospective customers can conveniently avail of booking facilities at their locations, across the length and breadth of India," the statement said.

The company had also displayed the Nano at the Geneva Motor Show last year and had triggered competition, including Nissan-Renault, to announce plans for building low-cost family cars.

The economic crisis has, however, forced them to put the plans on hold.

Nano was originally to be launched in the second half of 2008, but was delayed after the company was forced to shift the manufacturing base from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat.

The company's website featuring Nano has registered 30 million hits or visits since the car, with a base-price tag of Rs 1,00,000, was first unveiled.

The hatchback car features a 624-cc petrol engine and boasts of a mileage of 20 km per litre. Its engine is located on the rear and the boot space in the front.

Tata Motors chief Ratan Tata had last year said that he would retain the price tag at Rs 1,00,000 (for the base model) despite input costs shooting up.

But since then, steel prices have plunged by up to 40 per cent from early 2008-levels and overall demand in the economy too has witnessed a slump. The company had announced the low-cost car project in 2006.