Nano, Tatas' small car with a price tag of just $2,500, is already being viewed as a threat to the North America auto market even before its launch in India. With BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations set to overtake them in production this year, North American auto giants may soon face challenge from cheap cars from India and China.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to put any roadblock before the world's cheapest car Nano's planned rollout by the year-end though it issued notices to its producer Tata Motors and the West Bengal government following a petition challenging land acquisition. A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice M.K. Sharma said it will not order any status quo on the issue of land acquisition for the car's plant in Singur in West Bengal.

The Supreme Court today declined to stay the Calcutta High Court judgment upholding the acquisition of land in Singur by Tata Motors to manufacture Nano, the Rs 1 lakh car. Therefore, there is no court bar against continuing with the project. However, the apex court issued notices to the West Bengal government, Tata Motors and the Centre on a set of appeals against the high court judgment. It might examine the validity of the land acquisition after the governments and the firm appear before it in July.

Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) has decided to joine hands with Renault-Nissan to launch a small car in India by 2011. Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj, and Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO, Renault, and President and CEO of Nissan, on Monday formally announced that they would form a joint venture company to develop, produce and market the car, code-named ULC, with wholesale price range starting from $2,500.

Targeting the Indi an four-wheeler market, Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) on Monday joined hands with Renault-Nissan to launch a small car in India by 2011 that will compete with Tata Nano. In a joint press statement on Monday, Mr Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, BAL, and Mr Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO, Renault and Nissan, said that they would form a JV company to develop, produce and market the car, code-named ULC, whose economy version would be priced at $2,500.

Tata Motors' small car Nano will roll out of the Singur factory during the latter part of calendar year 2008. A company official on Tuesday reiterated that the project was progressing according to schedule and the rollout of the Nano would commence from the company's Singur plant, that is located around 35 km from here.

The joint announcement by Bajaj, Renault and Nissan about plans to develop and produce a new ultra low-cost passenger car finally puts to rest speculation about whether Mr Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance, was being serious about taking up the challenge or whether he was just indulging in a bit of wishful thinking.

CLEAN CAR WARS HOW HONDA AND TOYOTA ARE WINNING THE BATTLE OF THE ECO-FRIENDLY AUTOS
BY YOZO HASEGAWA, TRANSLATED BY ANTHONY KIMM WILEY, PAGES: 200; PRICE: $24.95

TOKYO: Toyota Motor said Thursday that the slowdown in the U.S. economy would most likely cause its first annual decline in profit in nine years, and accelerate a shift by it and other Asian carmakers into emerging markets like China, Latin America and the Middle East.

After a year of slowdown, April came as a promising month for the Indian automobile industry. All segments