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financial crisis
Types of financial crises
[edit] Banking crises
When a bank suffers a sudden rush of withdrawals by depositors, this is called a bank run. Since banks lend out most of the cash they receive in deposits (see fractional-reserve banking), it is difficult for them to quickly pay back all deposits if these are suddenly demanded, so a run may leave the bank in bankruptcy, causing many depositors to lose their savings unless they are covered by deposit insurance. A situation in which bank runs are widespread is called a systemic banking crisis or just a banking panic. A situation without widespread bank runs, but in which banks are reluctant to lend, because they worry that they have insufficient funds available, is often called a credit crunch. In this way, the banks become an accelerator of a financial crisis.[3]
Examples of bank runs include the run on the Bank of the United States in 1931 and the run on Northern Rock in 2007. The collapse of Bear Stearns in 2008 has also sometimes been called a bank run, even though Bear Stearns was an investment bank rather than a commercial bank. The U.S. savings and loan crisis of the 1980s led to a credit crunch which is seen as a major factor in the U.S. recession of 1990-91.
[edit] Speculative bubbles and crashes
Economists say that a financial asset (stock, for example) exhibits a bubble when its price exceeds the present value of the future income (such as interest or dividends) that would be received by owning it to maturity.[4] If most market participants buy the asset primarily in hopes of selling it later at a higher price, instead of buying it for the income it will generate, this could be evidence that a bubble is present. If there is a bubble, there is also a risk of a crash in asset prices: market participants will go on buying only as long as they expect others to buy, and when many decide to sell the price will fall. However, it is difficult to tell in practice whether an asset's price actually equals its fundamental value, so it is hard to detect bubbles reliably. Some economists insist that bubbles never or almost never occur.[5]
Well-known examples of bubbles (or purported bubbles) and crashes in stock prices and other asset prices include the Dutch tulip mania, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Japanese property bubble of the 1980s, the crash of the dot-com bubble in 2000-2001, and the now-deflating United States housing bubble.[6][7]
[edit] International financial crises
When a country that maintains a fixed exchange rate is suddenly forced to devalue its currency because of a speculative attack, this is called a currency crisis or balance of payments crisis. When a country fails to pay back its sovereign debt, this is called a sovereign default. While devaluation and default could both be voluntary decisions of the government, they are often perceived to be the involuntary results of a change in investor sentiment that leads to a sudden stop in capital inflows or a sudden increase in capital flight.
Several currencies that formed part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism suffered crises in 1992-93 and were forced to devalue or withdraw from the mechanism. Another round of currency crises took place in Asia in 1997-98. Many Latin American countries defaulted on their debt in the early 1980s. The 1998 Russian financial crisis resulted in a devaluation of the ruble and default on Russian government bonds.
[edit] Wider economic crises
Negative GDP growth lasting two or more quarters is called a recession. An especially prolonged recession may be called a depression, while a long period of slow but not necessarily negative growth is sometimes called economic stagnation.
Since these phenomena affect much more than the financial system, they are not usually considered financial crises per se. But some economists have argued that many recessions have been caused in large part by financial crises. One important example is the Great Depression, which was preceded in many countries by bank runs and stock market crashes. The subprime mortgage crisis and the bursting of other real estate bubbles around the world is widely expected to lead to recession in the U.S. and a number of other countries in 2008.
Nonetheless, some economists argue that financial crises are caused by recessions instead of the other way around. Also, even if a financial crisis is the initial shock that sets off a recession, other factors may be more important in prolonging the recession. In particular, Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz argued that the initial economic decline associated with the crash of 1929 and the bank panics of the 1930s would not have turned into a prolonged depression if it had not been reinforced by monetary policy mistakes on the part of the Federal Reserve,[8] and Ben Bernanke has acknowledged that he agrees.[9]
[edit] Causes and consequences of financial crises
[edit] Strategic complementarities in financial markets
It is often observed that successful investment requires each investor in a financial market to guess what other investors will do. George Soros has called this need to guess the intentions of others 'reflexivity'.[10] Similarly, John Maynard Keynes compared financial markets to a beauty contest game in which each participant tries to predict which model other participants will consider most beautiful.[11]
Furthermore, in many cases investors have incentives to coordinate their choices. For example, someone who thinks other investors want to buy lots of Japanese yen may expect the yen to rise in value, and therefore has an incentive to buy yen too. Likewise, a depositor in IndyMac Bank who expects other depositors to withdraw their funds may expect the bank to fail, and therefore has an incentive to withdraw too. Economists call an incentive to mimic the strategies of others strategic complementarity.[12]
It has been argued that if people or firms have a sufficiently strong incentive to do the same thing they expect others to do, then self-fulfilling prophecies may occur.[13] For example, if investors expect the value of the yen to rise, this may cause its value to rise; if depositors expect a bank to fail this may cause it to fail.[14] Therefore, financial crises are sometimes viewed as a vicious circle in which investors shun some institution or asset because they expect others to do so.[15]
[edit] Leverage
Leverage, which means borrowing to finance investments, is frequently cited as a contributor to financial crises. When a financial institution (or an individual) only invests its own money, it can, in the very worst case, lose its own money. But when it borrows in order to invest more, it can potentially earn more from its investment, but it can also lose more than all it has. Therefore leverage magnifies the potential returns from investment, but also creates a risk of bankruptcy. Since bankruptcy means that a firm fails to honor all its promised payments to other firms, it may spread financial troubles from one firm to another (see 'Contagion' below).
The average degree of leverage in the economy often rises prior to a financial crisis. For example, borrowing to finance investment in the stock market ("margin buying") became increasingly common prior to the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
[edit] Asset-liability mismatch
Another factor believed to contribute to financial crises is asset-liability mismatch, a situation in which the risks associated with an institution's debts and assets are not appropriately aligned. For example, commercial banks offer deposit accounts which can be withdrawn at any time and they use the proceeds to make long-term loans to businesses and homeowners. The mismatch between the banks' short-term liabilities (its deposits) and its long-term assets (its loans) is seen as one of the reasons bank runs occur (when depositors panic and decide to withdraw their funds more quickly than the bank can get back the proceeds of its loans).[14] Likewise, Bear Stearns failed in 2007-08 because it was unable to renew the short-term debt it used to finance long-term investments in mortgage securities.
In an international context, many emerging market governments are unable to sell bonds denominated in their own currencies, and therefore sell bonds denominated in US dollars instead. This generates a mismatch between the currency denomination of their liabilities (their bonds) and their assets (their local tax revenues), so that they run a risk of sovereign default due to fluctuations in exchange rates.[16]
[edit] Uncertainty and herd behavior
Many analyses of financial crises emphasize the role of investment mistakes caused by lack of knowledge or the imperfections of human reasoning. Behavioral finance studies errors in economic and quantitative reasoning. Psychologist Torbjorn K A Eliazonhas also analyzed failures of economic reasoning in his concept of 'œcopathy'.[17]
Historians, notably Charles P. Kindleberger, have pointed out that crises often follow soon after major financial or technical innovations that present investors with new types of financial opportunities, which he called "displacements" of investors' expectations.[18][19] Early examples include the South Sea Bubble and Mississippi Bubble of 1720, which occurred when the notion of investment in shares of company stock was itself new and unfamiliar,[20] and the Crash of 1929, which followed the introduction of new electrical and transportation technologies.[21] More recently, many financial crises followed changes in the investment environment brought about by financial deregulation, and the crash of the dot com bubble in 2001 arguably began with "irrational exuberance" about Internet technology.[22]
Unfamiliarity with recent technical and financial innovations may help explain how investors sometimes grossly overestimate asset values. Also, if the first investors in a new class of assets (for example, stock in "dot com" companies) profit from rising asset values as other investors learn about the innovation (in our example, as others learn about the potential of the Internet), then still more others may follow their example, driving the price even higher as they rush to buy in hopes of similar profits. If such "herd behavior" causes prices to spiral up far above the true value of the assets, a crash may become inevitable. If for any reason the price briefly falls, so that investors realize that further gains are not assured, then the spiral may go into reverse, with price decreases causing a rush of sales, reinforcing the decrease in prices.
[edit] Regulatory failures
Governments have attempted to eliminate or mitigate financial crises by regulating the financial sector. One major goal of regulation is transparency: making institutions' financial situations publicly known by requiring regular reporting under standardized accounting procedures. Another goal of regulation is making sure institutions have sufficient assets to meet their contractual obligations, through reserve requirements, capital requirements, and other limits on leverage.
Some financial crises have been blamed on insufficient regulation, and have led to changes in regulation in order to avoid a repeat. For example, the Managing Director of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has blamed the financial crisis of 2008 on 'regulatory failure to guard against excessive risk-taking in the financial system, especially in the US'.[23] Likewise, the New York Times singled out the deregulation of credit default swaps as a cause of the crisis.[24]
However, excessive regulation has also been cited as a possible cause of financial crises. In particular, the Basel II Accord has been criticized for requiring banks to increase their capital when risks rise, which might cause them to decrease lending precisely when capital is scarce, potentially aggravating a financial crisis.[25]
[edit] Fraud
Fraud has played a role in the collapse of some financial institutions, when companies have attracted depositors with misleading claims about their investment strategies, or have embezzled the resulting income. Examples include Charles Ponzi's scam in early 20th century Boston, the collapse of the MMM investment fund in Russia in 1994, the scams that led to the Albanian Lottery Uprising of 1997, and the collapse of Madoff Investment Securities in 2008.
Many rogue traders that have caused large losses at financial institutions have been accused of acting fraudulently in order to hide their trades. Fraud in mortgage financing has also been cited as one possible cause of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis; government officials stated on Sept. 23, 2008 that the FBI was looking into possible fraud by mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and insurer American International Group.[26]
[edit] Contagion
Contagion refers to the idea that financial crises may spread from one institution to another, as when a bank run spreads from a few banks to many others, or from one country to another, as when currency crises, sovereign defaults, or stock market crashes spread across countries. When the failure of one particular financial institution threatens the stability of many other institutions, this is called systemic risk.[27]
One widely-cited example of contagion was the spread of the Thai crisis in 1997 to other countries like South Korea. However, economists often debate whether observing crises in many countries around the same time is truly caused by contagion from one market to another, or whether it is instead caused by similar underlying problems that would have affected each country individually even in the absence of international linkages.
[edit] Recessionary effects
Some financial crises have little effect outside of the financial sector, like the Wall Street crash of 1987, but other crises are believed to have played a role in decreasing growth in the rest of the economy. There are many theories why a financial crisis could have a recessionary effect on the rest of the economy. These theoretical ideas include the 'financial accelerator', 'flight to quality' and 'flight to liquidity', and the Kiyotaki-Moore model. Some 'third generation' models of currency crises explore how currency crises and banking crises together can cause recessions.[28]
[edit] Theories of financial crises
[edit] Marxist theories
Recurrent major depressions in the world economy at the pace of 20 and 50 years have been the subject of studies since Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi (1773-1842) provided the first theory of crisis in a critique of classical political economy’s assumption of equilibrium between supply and demand. Developing an economic crisis theory become the central recurring concept throughout Karl Marx’s mature work. Marx’s law of the tendency for the rate of profit to fall borrowed many features of the presentation of John Stuart Mill’s discussion Of the Tendency of Profits to a Minimum (Principles of Political Economy Book IV Chapter IV) Empirical and econometric research continue especially in the world systems theory and in the debate about Nikolai Kondratiev and the so-called 50-years Kondratiev waves. Major figures of world systems theory, like Andre Gunder Frank and Immanuel Wallerstein, consistently warned about the crash that the world economy is now facing. World systems scholars and Kondratiev cycle researchers always implied that Washington Consensus oriented economists never understood the dangers and perils, which leading industrial nations will be facing and are now facing at the end of the long economic cycle which began after the oil crisis of 1973.
[edit] Minsky's theory
Hyman Minsky has proposed a post-Keynesian explanation that is most applicable to a closed economy. He theorized that financial fragility is a typical feature of any capitalist economy. High fragility leads to a higher risk of a financial crisis. To facilitate his analysis, Minsky defines three approaches to financing firms may choose, according to their tolerance of risk. They are hedge finance, speculative finance, and Ponzi finance. Ponzi finance leads to the most fragility.
- for hedge finance, income flows are expected to meet financial obligations in every period, including both the principal and the interest on loans.
- for speculative finance, a firm must roll over debt because income flows are expected to only cover interest costs. None of the principal is paid off.
- for Ponzi finance, expected income flows will not even cover interest cost, so the firm must borrow more or sell off assets simply to service its debt. The hope is that either the market value of assets or income will rise enough to pay off interest and principle.
Financial fragility levels move together with the business cycle. After a recession, firms have lost much financing and choose only hedge, the safest. As the economy grows and expected profits rise, firms tend to believe that they can allow themselves to take on speculative financing. In this case, they know that profits will not cover all the interest all the time. Firms, however, believe that profits will rise and the loans will eventually be repaid without much trouble. More loans lead to more investment, and the economy grows further. Then lenders also start believing that they will get back all the money they lend. Therefore, they are ready to lend to firms without full guarantees of success. Lenders know that such firms will have problems repaying. Still, they believe these firms will refinance from elsewhere as their expected profits rise. This is Ponzi financing. In this way, the economy has taken on much risky credit. Now it is only a question of time before some big firm actually defaults. Lenders understand the actual risks in the economy and stop giving credit so easily. Refinancing becomes impossible for many, and more firms default. If no new money comes into the economy to allow the refinancing process, a real economic crisis begins. During the recession, firms start to hedge again, and the cycle is closed.
[edit] Coordination games
Mathematical approaches to modeling financial crises have emphasized that there is often positive feedback[29] between market participants' decisions (see strategic complementarity). Positive feedback implies that there may be dramatic changes in asset values in response to small changes in economic fundamentals. For example, some models of currency crises (including that of Paul Krugman) imply that a fixed exchange rate may be stable for a long period of time, but will collapse suddenly in an avalanche of currency sales in response to a sufficient deterioration of government finances or underlying economic conditions.[30][31]
According to some theories, positive feedback implies that the economy can have more than one equilibrium. There may be an equilibrium in which market participants invest heavily in asset markets because they expect assets to be valuable, but there may be another equilibrium where participants flee asset markets because they expect others to flee too.[32] This is the type of argument underlying Diamond and Dybvig's model of bank runs, in which savers withdraw their assets from the bank because they expect others to withdraw too.[14] Likewise, in Obstfeld's model of currency crises, when economic conditions are neither too bad nor too good, there are two possible outcomes: speculators may or may not decide to attack the currency depending on what they expect other speculators to do.[15]
[edit] Herding models and learning models
A variety of models have been developed in which asset values may spiral excessively up or down as investors learn from each other. In these models, asset purchases by a few agents encourage others to buy too, not because the true value of the asset increases when many buy (which is called "strategic complementarity"), but because investors come to believe the true asset value is high when they observe others buying.
In "herding" models, it is assumed that investors are fully rational, but only have partial information about the economy. In these models, when a few investors buy some type of asset, this reveals that they have some positive information about that asset, which increases the rational incentive of others to buy the asset too. Even though this is a fully rational decision, it may sometimes lead to mistakenly high asset values (implying, eventually, a crash) since the first investors may, by chance, have been mistaken.[33][34][35][36][37]
In "adaptive learning" or "adaptive expectations" models, investors are assumed to be imperfectly rational, basing their reasoning only on recent experience. In such models, if the price of a given asset rises for some period of time, investors may begin to believe that its price always rises, which increases their tendency to buy and thus drives the price up further. Likewise, observing a few price decreases may give rise to a downward price spiral, so in models of this type large fluctuations in asset prices may occur. Agent-based models of financial markets often assume investors act on the basis of adaptive learning or adaptive expectations.
[edit] History
A short list of some major financial crises since 20th century
- 1910 – Shanghai rubber stock market crisis
- 1930s – The Great Depression – the largest and most important economic depression in the 20th century
- 1973 – 1973 oil crisis – oil prices soared, causing the 1973–1974 stock market crash
- 1980s – Latin American debt crisis – beginning in Mexico
- 1987 – Black Monday (1987) – the largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history
- 1989-91 – United States Savings & Loan crisis
- 1990s – Japanese asset price bubble collapsed
- 1992-93 – Black Wednesday – speculative attacks on currencies in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism
- 1994-95 – 1994 economic crisis in Mexico – speculative attack and default on Mexican debt
- 1997-98 – 1997 Asian Financial Crisis – devaluations and banking crises across Asia
- 2007-09 – The American financial crisis of 2007–2009 helped create the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, thus creating the late 2000s recession
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Overview
The introduction of the Nano received media attention due to its targeted low price. The financial Time reported: "If ever there were a symbol of India’s ambitions to become a modern nation, it would surely be the Nano, the tiny car with the even tinier price-tag. A triumph of homegrown engineering, the $2,200 (€1,490, £1,186) Nano encapsulates the dream of millions of Indians groping for a shot at urban prosperity." The car is expected to boost the Indian economy, create entrepreneurial-opportunities across India, as well as expand the Indian car market by 65%[19]. The car was envisioned by Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, who has described it as an eco-friendly "people's car". Nano has been greatly appreciated by many sources and the media for its low-cost[20][21] and eco-friendly initiatives which include using compressed-air as fuel[22] and an electric-version (E-Nano)[23][24]. Tata Group is expected to mass-manufacture the Nano, particularly the electric-version, and, besides selling them in India, to also export them worldwide[25][26][27].
Critics of the car have questioned its safety in India (where reportedly 90,000 people are killed in road-accidents every year[28]), and have also criticised the pollution that it would cause[29] (including criticism by Rajendra Pachauri[30]). However, Tata Motors has promised that it would definitely release Nano's eco-friendly models alongside the gasoline-model[31][32].
The Nano was originally to have been manufactured at a new factory in Singur, West Bengal, but increasingly violent protests forced Tata to pull out October 2008. (See Singur factory pullout below.) Currently, Tata Motors is reportedly manufacturing Nano at its existing Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) plant and a mother plant has been proposed for Sanand Gujarat.[33]. The company will bank on existing dealer network for Nano initially.[34] The new Nano Plant could have a capacity of 5,00,000 units, compared to 3,00,000 for Singur. Gujarat has also agreed to match all the incentives offered by West Bengal government.[35]
Design
Ratan Tata, the Chairman of Tata Motors, began development of the world's cheapest production car in 2003,] inspired by the number of Indian families with two-wheeled rather than four-wheeled vehicles.[ The Nano's development has been tempered[clarification needed] by the company's success in producing the low cost 4 wheeled Ace truck in May 2005.
Contrary to speculation that the car might be a simple four-wheeled auto rickshaw, The Times of India reported the vehicle is "a properly designed and built car". The Chairman is reported to have said, "It is not a car with plastic curtains or no roof — it's a real
To achieve its design goals, Tata refined the manufacturing process, emphasized innovation and sought new design approaches from suppliers. The car was designed at Italy's Institute of Development in Automotive Engineering — with Ratan Tata requesting certain changes, such as the elimination of one of two windscreen wipers. Some components of the Nano are made in Germany by Bosch, such as Fuel Injection, brake system, Value Motronic ECU, ABS and other technologies.
The Nano has 21% more interior space and an 8% smaller exterior compared to its closest rival, the Maruti 800. Tata offered the car in three versions: the basic Tata Nano Std; the Cx; and the Lx. The Cx and Lx versions each have air conditioning, power windows, and central locking. The Cx has power steering, while the Lx has an anti-lock braking system.[ Tata set its The initial production target at 250,000 units per year.[citation needed]
Some of the methods Tata used to save costs were:
- The Nano's boot does not open, instead the rear seats can be folded down to access the boot space.
- It has a single windscreen wiper instead of the usual pair.
- Some exterior parts of it are glued together, rather than welded.
- It has no power steering, except in the Cx version.
- Its door opening lever was simplified.
Price
Tata initially targeted the vehicle as "the least expensive production car in the world" — aiming for a starting price of 1,00,000 rupees or approximately US$2000 (using exchange rate as of March 22, 2009) 6 years ago, despite rapidly rising material prices at the time.
As of August 2008, material costs had risen from 13% to 23% over the car’s development, and Tata faced[citation needed] the choice of:
- introducing the car with an artificially low price through government subsidies and tax-breaks[citation needed]
- forgoing profit on the car[citation needed]
- using vertical-integration to artificially boost profits on cars at the expense of their materials industries[citation needed]
- partially using inexpensive polymers or biodegradable plastics instead of a full metal-body[citation needed]
- raising the price of the car[
Model versions
At its launch the Nano was available in three trim levels:[
- the basic Tata Nano Std priced at 1,23,000 Rupees has no extras and lacks padding on the A-pillars;[
- the deluxe Tata Nano cx at 1,51,000 Rupees has air conditioning, power windows, central locking, and power steering;
- the luxury Tata Nano lx at 1,72,000 Rupees has air conditioning, power windows, central locking and an anti-lock braking system (ABS)
- the nano europa, European version of TATA NANO
The base model will have fixed seats, except for the driver's, which will be adjustable,[clarification needed] while the deluxe and luxury models will get air conditioning and body coloured bumpers.[
- Photographs of some Nano models at the Auto Expo 2008 in New Dehli.
 Nano in yellow |  The interior of the Nano |  Red Tata Nano : standard model |  Rear of Tata Nano in yellow |
Technical specifications
According to Tata Group's Chairman Ratan Tata, the Nano is a 33 PS (33 hp/24 kW) car with a 623 cc rear engine and rear wheel drive, and has a fuel economy of 4.55 L/100 km (21.97 km/L, 51.7 mpg (US), 62 mpg (UK)) under city road conditions, and 3.85 L/100 km on highways (25.97 km/L, 61.1 mpg (US), 73.3 mpg (UK)). It is the first time a two-cylinder non-opposed petrol engine will be used in a car with a single balance shaft.[46] Tata Motors has reportedly filed 34 patents related to the innovations in the design of Nano, with powertrain accounting for over half of them.[] The project head, Girish Wagh has been credited with being one of the brains behind Nano's design.[
Much has been made of Tata's patents pending for the Nano. Yet during a news conference at the New Delhi Auto Expo, Ratan Tata pointed out none of these is revolutionary or represents earth-shaking technology. He said most relate to rather mundane items such as the two-cylinder engine’s balance shaft, and how the gears were cut in the transmission.
Though the car has been appreciated by many sources, including Reuters due to "the way it has tweaked existing technologies to target an as-yet untapped segment of the market", yet it has been stated by the same sources that Nano is not quite "revolutionary in its technology", just low in price[]. Moreover, technologies which are expected of the new and yet-to-be-released car include a revolutionary compressed-air fuel system[] and an eco-friendly electric-version[], technologies on which Tata is reportedly already working, though no official incorporation-date for these technologies in the new car has been released.
According to Tata, the Nano complies with Bharat Stage-III and Euro-IV emission standards[]. Ratan Tata also said, 'The car has passed the full-frontal crash and the side impact crash'.[]. Tata Nano passed the required 'homologation’ tests with Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).This means that the car has met all the specified criteria for roadworthiness laid out by the government including emissions or noise & vibration and can now ply on Indian roads. Tata Nano managed to score around 24 km per litre during its ‘homologation’ tests with ARAI. This makes Tata Nano the most fuel efficient car in India. Nano will be the first car in India to display the actual fuel mileage figures it recorded at ARAI’s tests on its windshield. According to ARAI it conforms to Euro IV emission standards which will come into effect in India in 2010.[]
- Rear mounted engine
The use of a rear mounted engine to help maximize interior space makes the Nano similar to the original Fiat 500, another technically innovative "people's car". A concept vehicle similar in styling to the Nano, also with rear engined layout was proposed by the UK Rover Group in the 1990s to succeed the original Mini but was not put into production.[] The eventual new Mini was much larger and technically conservative. The independent, and now-defunct, MG Rover Group later based their Rover CityRover on the Tata Indica.
Tata is also reported to be contemplating offering a compressed air engine as an option []
| Engine: | 2 cylinder petrol with Bosch multi-point fuel injection (single injector) all aluminium 33 horsepower (25 kW) 624 cc (38 cu in) |
| Value Motronic engine management platform from Bosch | |
| 2 valves per cylinder overhead camshaft | |
| Compression ratio: 9.5:1 | |
| bore × stroke: 73.5 mm (2.9 in) × 73.5 mm (2.9 in) | |
| Power: 33 PS (33 hp/24 kW) @ 5500 rpm[] | |
| Torque: 48 N·m (35 ft·lbf) @ 2500 rpm | |
| Layout and Transmission | Rear wheel drive |
| 4-speed manual transmission | |
| Steering | mechanical rack and pinion |
| Turning radius: 4 metres[] | |
| Performance | Acceleration: 0-70 km/h (43 mph): 14 seconds |
| Maximum speed: 120 km/h (75 mph)[] | |
| Fuel efficiency (overall): 20 kilometres per litre (5 litres per 100 kilometres (56 mpg-imp; 47 mpg-US))[] | |
| Body and dimensions | Seat belt: 4[] |
| Trunk capacity: 15 L (0.53 cu ft)[] | |
| Suspension, Tires & Brakes | Front brake: disc[59] |
| Rear brake: drum | |
| Front track: 1,325 mm (52.2 in) | |
| Rear track: 1,315 mm (51.8 in) | |
| Ground clearance: 180 mm (7.1 in)[] | |
| Front suspension: McPherson strut with lower A arm | |
| Rear suspension: Independent coil spring | |
| 12-inch wheels[] |
| Supplier [] | Product [] |
|---|---|
| Bosch | Gasoline injection system (diesel will follow), starter, alternator, brake system |
| HSI AUTO | Static sealing systems (Weather Strips) |
| Caparo | Inner structural panels |
| Continental AG | Gasoline fuel supply system, fuel level sensor |
| Delphi | Instrument cluster |
| Denso | Windshield wiper system (single motor and arm) |
| FAG | Rear-wheel bearing |
| Ficosa | Rear-view mirrors, interior mirrors, manual and CVT shifters, washer system |
| Freudenberg | Engine sealing |
| GKN | Driveshafts |
| INA | Shifting elements |
| ITW Deltar | Outside and inside door handles |
| Johnson Controls | Seating |
| Mahle | Camshafts, spin-on oil filters, fuel filters and air cleaners |
| Saint-Gobain | Glazing |
| TRW | Brake system |
| Ceekay Daikin/Valeo | Clutch sets |
| Vibracoustic | Engine mounts |
| Visteon | Air induction system |
| ZF Friedrichshafen AG | Chassis components, including tie rods |
| Behr | HVAC for the luxury version |
Speculated variants
 | This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
Besides the regular and conventional gasoline-variant[], the following variants are also expected:
Diesel
Together with diesel engine specialist FEV[clarification needed] Tata Motors is developing a 684 cc diesel engine for the Nano. It was earlier reported by media that Tata was producing an 800 cc Common Rail diesel engine.[citation needed] Wheelsunplugged.com reported that an anonymous source claimed a diesel variant would be available in September 2009.[] Diesel variant Nano will sell for Rs. 2 lakh (2,00,000 rupees).[citation needed] Nano will have the smallest Common Rail Turbocharged Diesel engine in the world.[citation needed]
Eco-friendly models and initiatives
Tata Motors is reportedly working on some very revolutionary and eco-friendly initiatives, some of which are personally-supported and appreciated by Mr. Ratan Tata. Other than their Gasoline engine, Tata Motors will offer following options:
Compressed-air engine
Tata Motors is working with a French firm on using compressed air as an energy source[] which is eco-friendly and revolutionary in itself for a car of such large-scale. The company has tied up with Moteur Development International (MDI) for this purpose:[]
Electric drivetrain or electric-version
Tata is also believed to be making an electric version of the Nano, called the E-Nano (reportedly with attached or sideby solar panels as well) which might well turn out to be the "world's cheapest electric car"[] which is more eco-friendly and has many enthusiasts and media for its support[]. It's supposed to be as cheap as the conventional gasoline version. Tata is making the Nano compliant with export market regulations[] and plans to export such a car worldwide, particularly to the UK and the rest of continental Europe[], the US[], and Australia[].
Economic Times reported[] that the "electric Nano" "would still make good sense for economic, clean and green personal mobility in countries around the world." According to the Hamburg-based newspaper, Auto Bild, the E-Nano would be built in cooperation with the Norwegian electric car specialist, Miljøbil Grenland AS [].
- Enthusiastic support
Tata Motors received preliminary enthusiastic-support in the media as well as in government circles (including Europe and other states) for the electric-variant of Nano.[] The enthusiasm is reportedly even higher than that for the petrol-variant[].
The Hindu quoted European Commission’s Director General for Energy and Transport, Matthias Ruete, as saying[]:
| “ | I can say that alike other nations, entire Europe is also eagerly awaiting the commercial launch of Nano. But keeping in mind the adverse impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) on environment, it would be advisable to have Nano’s electric version. I hope Tata (Ratan) is working on it. | ” |
Hybrid
Some news-sources state that "a hybrid version [of Tata Nano] is also likely, although it is not yet known whether the electric motor will be paired with a gasoline or diesel version."[] Other sources also favoured it and argued that "India needs Tata Prius [similar to Toyota Prius] and not Tata Nano."[]
Nano Europa
Tata Motors unveiled a version of the Nano mini-car called the Nano Europa at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. The car will be coming to mainland Europe and the UK. [] and will have a number of improvements over the standard nano. The Nano Europa has an increased wheelbase, a new engine and improved interiors and exteriors. The Nano Europa will be more expensive than the standard Nano with prices said to be around the US$ 6000 mark. []
Expectations
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According to one report, India as well as other nations, such as European nations[], have great expectations from the Nano and are keenly awaiting it, especially the electric version of the Nano[], making it in all probability the "world's cheapest electric car" officially on record[]. The car itself is expected to boost the Indian Economy as well as expand the Indian car market by 65%, according to rating agency CRISIL.[]
Others
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- Effect on Indian Economy
Economic Times quotes[]:
| “ | Tata Nano’s launch could expand the Indian car market by 65%, according to rating agency CRISIL. The low price makes the car affordable for families with incomes of Rs 1 lakh [1,00,000] per annum, the agency said. The increase in the market is expected to push up car sales by 20% over the previous year. “The unveiling of Tata Nano, the cheapest car in the world, triggers an important event in the car market. Based on the statement by company officials, CRISIL Research estimates the consumer price of the car at around Rs 1.3 lakh. This brings down the cost of ownership of an entry level car in India by 30%,” the company said in a report. | ” |
Thus, the Indian Economy is expected to remain strong and grow in 2008 and beyond, despite the temporary financial turmoil in the US, because the car may lead to a boost in other sectors of the Indian Economy besides the auto-market.
However, due to the current Singur land dispute, the "Stalled Car Factory" is "Costing Jobs, Splitting Neighbors in West Bengal"[]
VOANews quotes[]:
| “ | Tata's problems in West Bengal are scaring off other industries hoping to locate here, including Infosys, a software maker that wants to build a business park that would provide 5,000 jobs. Kartik Chandra Malik, 57, runs a tea shop near the boundary wall of Tata's Nano factory. He says he is frustrated that the factory has been stopped. He says wants it to open, because when it is open he can do more business selling tea and biscuits. He is hoping his son, who just graduated from college, will get a good job at the factory. Many of Malik's neighbors in Barispada are tight-lipped when it comes to talking about Tata's troubles. There is growing tension in the villages near the Tata factory as the protests continue and the plant remains closed. The Tata crisis pits neighbors against each other. Malik says many of his neighbors are being pressured by opposition groups to protest against the carmaker. But many here already have jobs lined up at the factory or hope to. A young man at Malik's tea shop said he got a job loading trucks at the Tata plant. For that, many of neighbors have called him a traitor. | ” |
- Guinness Book of World Records
| “ | The ambitious Nano car has not rolled out of the assembly line of the makers Tata's plants yet. But it is already in the Guinness book as the world's cheapest car. | ” |
- Comparison with Model T
Some news-sources have compared Ratan Tata's Tata Nano with Henry Ford's Model T that coincidentally was built around a century ago. Livemint said[]:
| “ | Ford Motor Co. is rich because Henry Ford used the assembly-line to produce the Model T in 1908. Ratan Tata is a late entrepreneur, making the Nano in 2008. India is 100 years behind. But we are waking up to the possibility of catching up. I just hope our planners wake up soon. | ” |
Times of India mentioned[]:
| “ | This raises the question: How have the Tatas accomplished such a task? Pursuing this question a fascinating story unfolds that reminds one of Henry Ford's Model T that was built exactly one hundred years ago (September 1908). Ford wanted to make a car for the multitude, not for the elite, with the best material and the best design that the technology of his time could devise, and he wanted to make it, above all, at a price that was affordable. This is the example that Ratan Tata has followed with determination. When he announced the price of his car in an interview to the ‘Financial Times’ during the Geneva Motor Show, his colleagues were 'aghast', but he had set his goal. |
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