Just announced
Price £1,300 approx
On sale In India, later this year
What’s different? Capable of housing a family of four, the Nano
is a modern equivalent of the Austin 7. The engine is a tiny two-cylinder
623cc 33bhp unit and powers a car just over 10ft long, making it a little
bigger than a Smart but smaller than a Citroën C1
Why should I care? The Nano is the car Tata hopes will mobilise a
nation, getting families in its native India off their overloaded motorbikes
and into a safe, modern, weatherproof car. Tata claims its safety and
emissions standards “exceed current [domestic] regulatory requirements”. It
won’t be on general sale in Britain, but the fact that the estimated size of
the market for these cars is 50m-60m in India alone – almost twice the
number of all types of cars on Britain’s roads – should help
environmentalists get things in perspective
Consider also A bus pass, a rail season ticket, a motorbike and
sidecar
Just announced
Citroën C8 2.2HDi
Price £25,000-£27,500 approx
On sale February
What’s different? Citroën’s big MPV sees in the new year
equipped with a large new diesel motor. It’s a 2.2 litre with 173bhp,
dropping the 0-62mph time from the tardy 12.9sec of the 2 litre diesel to a
reasonable 11.7sec and raising top speed from 112mph to 122mph. An automatic
gearbox is standard while fuel consumption remains above 40mpg
Why should I care? This engine is what Citroën’s plain but honest and
effective people carrier has cried out for from the start. At last it is now
able to offer the blend of acceptable performance and still excellent
economy that buyers want. Even so, the engine will be available on top-spec
models only and will be priced accordingly
Consider also Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCi Ghia auto £24,995, Renault Espace
Dynamique S dCi 175 auto £28,350, Chrysler Grand Voyager 2.8 CRD Executive
auto £28,320
