Taiwan firm mulls introducing India's Nano car

Jan 4, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan's TECO Group is mulling introducing the world's cheapest car - India's Nano - to Taiwan.

Huang Mao-hsiung, honorary chairman of the TECO Group, recently unveiled two Nano cars at a news conference in Taipei.

'We are making the evaluation to decide if we want to be Nano's agent, or to cooperate with India's TATA Motors to make Nano components, or to launch an electric car based on the Nano,' he said.

If TECO launches the Nano in Taiwan, it will be an upgraded version, with extras like air bags added, for example, and priced under 280,000 Taiwan dollars (6,000 US dollars), he said.

The Nano, launched in March 2009, sells for about 2,500 US dollars in India.

Although there was a somewhat mixed reaction to the TECO Group's announcement, some Taiwanese look forward to the arrival of the Nano because of its low price.

'One should not worry about Nano's safety because if TECO launches Nano, it will be an upgraded version of the Nano. It will be more comfortable and safer than India's Nano,' Chen Jun-ping, a Taipei teacher, said.

'Potential buyers will be people who now ride motorbikes but want to move on to cars and can't afford to buy one,' he added.

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