CarSeekBlog

As if Fiat picking up Chrysler and a Chinese company buying Hummer weren’t enough to convince Americans that their automotive landscape has been forever changed in this recession, let’s talk Tata. Yeah, you know, the Indian outfit that now owns Land Rover and Jaguar? Well, they also make the Nano, the world’s least expensive car, which starts at $2,500 — and in three years, it’s coming to the United States.

Customer deliveries begin in India next month and company chairman Ratan Tata is already talking American — optimistically parring the timetable down to maybe two years and six months. (A version of the Nano will appear in Europe in 2011.) In addition, the automaker is working on alternative fuels vehicles, including diesel, biofuel, and electric powerplants.

The Nano is a four-seater that returns 65 mpg and in appearance is reminiscent of the Smart ForTwo. India’s cheap labor pool has helped to keep the price low, although protests over the proposed site of a manufacturing plant delayed the car’s debut. A lottery system will be used to select the first 100,000 owners.

Yesterday, while caught in traffic, I was looking at the cars around me and in addition to spotting one of the Smart cars now on Fort Worth’s streets (there’s a dealership in Dallas), I noticed three Honda Fits. Although dwarfed by the still prevalent SUVs and my own Odyssey minivan, I couldn’t help but look at these trim, efficient small cars as pioneers. A year from now, I have a feeling they will be in the majority in the traffic jam and the SUVs will look more and more like the dinosaurs they are rapidly becoming.

Filed under: Buying Trends, Chrysler, ForTwo, GM by Shorty