Photos: Tata's budget Nano car

You've undoubtedly heard of the iPod nano, and may even have the tiny music player tucked in a pocket or hanging from a lanyard around your neck. You can't tote the Tata Nano that way, but Mumbai-based Tata Motors is hoping its new subcompact has as powerful an effect on the automotive market as Apple's iPod did in media gadgetry.

The most striking thing about the car, though, isn't its size. It's the price: about 100,000 rupees, or just £1,250. Tata's goal is to get the Nano in the driveways of Indian citizens who otherwise couldn't afford four-wheeled transportation. Hence the company's preferred description of the vehicle: the People's Car.

Credit: Kyodo

Ratan Tata, chairman of parent company Tata Group, stands with the Nano after driving it on stage at the New Delhi Auto Expo on Thursday. He explained the motivation behind the car this way:

"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," he said at the unveiling ceremony, according to Tata's press release. "It lead me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family."

Credit: Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images

The cabin of the car seats four people -- "comfortably", the company says, "with generous leg space and head room." The four-door (plus tail gate) car is taller than it is wide: 1.6 metres tall by 1.5 metres across. From front to back, it measures 3.1 metres.

The car has a two-cylinder, 623-cc fuel-injection engine. Tata says that this marks the first time that a two-cylinder gas engine is being used in a car with a single balancer shaft. The model pictured here is the standard version.

Credit: Tata Motors

This is the deluxe model, though Tata didn't specify how it qualifies as such. The company emphasised that despite its size, the People's Car meets safety requirements. The car has an all-sheet-metal body, crumple zones, seat belts and tubeless tires. Tailpipe emissions are within regulatory bounds, and the fuel-efficient Nano "has a lower pollution level than two-wheelers being manufactured in India today", the company says.

The cars will go on sale in India later this year. According to The Wall Street Journal, Tata will hold off on exports for several years.

Tata has aspirations at the high end of the auto industry as well as the bargain basement. Ford Motor confirmed last week that it is in talks to potentially sell its Jaguar and Land Rover lines to Tata.

Credit: Tata Motors