Tata Motors

Tata Motors

Recently we brought you news of the Smart ForTwo Hybrid production in France and news that the Mitsubishi “i” Mini and sister car MiEV may be U.S. bound together. Maybe something is in the air, but now we are reporting on the latest news breaking from The Maeil Business Newspaper of Korea. What is the news? A Tata Nano hybrid.

Okay, okay, so our partners over at AllCarsElectric.com have been on the pulse of this story since January (more here). Yep, back in January CNBC-TV18 reported that Tata Motors would be making a micro-hybrid version of the Tata Nano. Seems logical right? The World’s Cheapest Car and The World’s Cheapest Hybrid together under one nameplate—namely Tata.

voiture-tata-nano-exterieur
However, the hybrid version of the Tata Nano isn’t really the news that is interesting from The Maeil Business Newspaper. The real morsel of information is that the Chairman of Tata Motors, Ratan Tata, said to the paper that his group was interested in “Vietnam and evaluating the U.S. market.” Now this opens the door to questions about whether a micro car can really be successful in the States.

By now you would think the Smart ForTwo would have put these questions to rest, but historically small cars just don’t do as well in the U.S. as they do in other parts of the world. Yet, we are seeing more and more companies start to position themselves for an entry into the U.S. market with microcar products that range from efficient gasoline power to hybrids to full-electric power. You have the Th!nk City, Smart ForTwo, Mistubishi MiEV,  Mini E and Nissan Leaf (okay on the larger side).

Bottom line—with the focus on environmentalism in Europe and the U.S., we are starting to see a shift in trends. The next trendy Hollywood accessory could just be customized Tata Nano Hybrids. At the current entry price, A-listers could have one to match every outfit or every charitable cause and fans could pony up to have matching ones.

 

Check out more details from our sister site over at AllCarsElectric.com.