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World's cheapest car passes Euro test



The Tata Nano has passed a round of European crash tests - putting it a huge step closer to going on sale in the UK.
The Nano went on sale in India in March for the equivalent of around £1,400, making it the world's cheapest car and prompting a frenzy among buyers, resulting in a reported three-year waiting list. But because safety regulations are tougher in Europe than in India there were fears that the stripped-out Nano would be deemed unsafe for UK roads.
But those fears were allayed when a 'European spec' Nano passed side and front impact tests witnessed by an inspector from the UK's Vehicle Certification Authority. One of the tests was a frontal collision at 35mph, and although the car is yet to go through full Euro NCAP testing, the results bode well. Tata chiefs predict a four-star rating for the car when it eventually goes in sale outside India, though it still won't come to the UK until at least 2012.

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The Nana is a simple four-door, five-seat supermini that uses a two-cylinder 624cc engine mounted at the rear. The engine has been designed to be durable and run on the low-grade fuel that is most common in India. The rest of the car has also been designed to be easily maintained.

Tata's chairman Ratan N. Tata said, “I observed families riding on two-wheelers - the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. Tata Motors' engineers and designers gave their all for about four years to realise this goal. Today, we indeed have a People's Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, to be fuel efficient and low on emissions."

There's a huge developing market for new cars in India and Tata reckons the Nano is ideally placed to get the country on to four wheels. Environmentalists say that so many Indians swapping bicycles and scooters for a car will have a disastrous effect on emissions and pollution. However, Tata says the Nano has passed emissions standards and returns more than 50mpg.

There are no plans to sell the Nano outside of India at present, but Tata has stated that it intends to be one of the world's largest car makers, building on its position as one of the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturer