Nano Wars begin
Hot on the tail of Tata Motors' announcement of their much-anticipated $2,500 "People's Car", officially known as the Nano, several manufacturers are rushing to get their own ultra-low cost cars to market.
Chery Automobile, one of China's top automakers, announced the imminent launch of their Faira ("five dolls") car. The presentation will be made at the 2008 Beijing International Auto Show.
The Faira has five variants: the BB, HH, JJ, NN and YY models, with the BB being the lowest cost model. All are powered by a 1.3-liter gasoline engine.
GM, meanwhile, is looking to leverage their existing ties with Chinese carmaker Wuling Automobile with whom they currently manufacture the Chevrolet Spark, a $5,680 small car.
On the one hand, GM wants to try to lower the cost of the Spark. But at the same time, knowing that halving the Spark's price is virtually impossible, they are said to be "undertaking research into the development of an extremely low cost ultra-compact vehicle for expanding world markets", according to Motor Trend.
Tags: Chery, Chery Automobile, Chery Faira, GM, Chevrolet Spark, Wuling, Wuling Automobile, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry
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Tata Nano has set a trend of new manufacturing era of low cost vehicles.
Posted by: peter | April 22, 2008 at 11:43 PM