You've undoubtedly heard of the iPod Nano, and may even have the tiny music player tucked in a pocket or hanging from a lanyard around your neck. You can't tote the Tata Nano that way, but New Delhi-based Tata Motors is hoping its new subcompact has as powerful an effect on the automotive market as Apple's iPod did in media gadgetry.
The most striking thing about the car, though, isn't its size. It's the price: about 100,000 rupees, or just $2,500. Tata's goal is to get the Nano in the driveways of Indian citizens who otherwise couldn't afford four-wheeled transportation. Hence the company's preferred description of the vehicle: the People's Car.
Credit: Kyodo
There's no shortage of alternative fuels contending to augment or displace gasoline in cars: ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, and so on. To that mix you can now add compressed air. European automaker Motor Development International is working on a line of cars that won't drive all that fast, but that are expected to be easy on the atmosphere.
The gent in this picture is Guy Negre, founder and president of MDI, and that car is the MiniCat. (The "Cat" part is short for, you got it, "compressed air technology.") The company's headquarters are in Luxembourg, and the factory where the cars are produced is in Carros, France. But there's a New Delhi angle as well.
Credit: SIPA
GM's Cadillac Provoq, which runs on a hydrogen fuel cell and a lithium-ion battery, is the first concept car to get its premiere at CES. Someone drove the car onstage as GM CEO Rick Wagoner unveiled it during his keynote speech Tuesday. There is no release date yet.
Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com
