How green is my low-cost car? India revs up debate

By Rina Chandran

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shweta Kumari is waiting impatiently for Tata Motors' new Nano to hit Mumbai's car showrooms later this year.

With a price tag of about $2,500 (1,275 pounds), the Nano will cost about half the price of the cheapest car currently on the market, easily affordable for Kumari, who works as a software developer. "I can drop my kid at school, go to work and go shopping more comfortably," said Kumari, who now shares a car with her husband.

But some environmentalists are dreading the prospect of hundreds of thousands of low-cost cars hitting polluted and over-crowded roads around the world in the next few years.

"In the current policy and regulatory framework, the low-cost cars will be disastrous," said Anumita Roychowdhury, associate director of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi.

Car makers, warily eyeing sliding sales in developed markets such as the United States and Europe, disagree.

They argue the small, fuel-efficient vehicles are a greener option than gas-guzzling SUVs and larger cars as oil soars above $130 a barrel and as consumers in emerging economies such as China, India and Russia get behind the wheel in ever increasing numbers.

Tata Motors (TAMO.BO), which unveiled the snub-nosed Nano to a rousing reception in January, says the world's cheapest car meets the strictest environmental criteria, and its lean design delivers high fuel-efficiency of about 20 km/litre of petrol.

The car, with a dealer price of 100,000 rupees (1,192 pounds), will have tailpipe emissions well within Indian requirements. It is less polluting than motorbikes and scooters, Tata Motors says on the Nano's website, here