Tata Nano to maybe go Turbo
Known to be the world’s most affordable the car, the Tata Nano, appears to be sharpening up both its image as well as its feature package to their budget four-door hatchback, including what might be the addition of a new turbocharged engine.
A report coming out of India claims that the Tata brand will reposition the Nano from its current identity as ‘a cheap car’ to something more like ‘a smart city car’. The new turbocharged engine is seen as part of this projected change, especially when you consider the recent introduction of the Nano Twist – this being the first Nano to feature power steering.
The turbo powerplant is expected to be based upon the current 0.6-litre, two-cylinder engine with a power boos over its current outputs of 28kW and 51Nm. The new engine is expected to help with the Nano’s leisurely acceleration time, which is currently does zero to 100km/h in 12.6 seconds.
According to this report, Tata is also working on a hybrid version of the Nano known as the ‘e-rev’. According to a company spokesman, the hybrid Nano project has a ‘high degree of technology-readiness and the program offers several competitive strengths’. He also said that it is difficult to predict that the exact timeframe needed to create the right ecosystem for this to be a market-viable project.
Even more technological advances are slated for the nano such as an automatic gearbox and the company is apparently developing a new transmission dubbed the F-Tronic.
The Nano won’t be selling in many other markets except India and maybe a few other Asian markets.
