Tata Nano Diesel
Tata Nano DieselFacebook

Tata Motor is reportedly gearing up to showcase the diesel version of cheapest car Nano at the upcoming 2014 Auto Expo in February.

Much has been said about the Tata's diesel Nano, which is speculated to hit Indian roads in 2014. Now a latest report by CarDekho claims that the car would see the light of the day at the Auto Expo, which is scheduled to be held in Greater Noida in February 2014.

Nano, the cheapest offering of Tata has been on Indian roads since 2008.The car which was touted as the poor man's four-wheeler failed to attain the same when it launched in the domestic market. It did not live up to the expectations of the manufacturer as well as the market gurus. Nano went down to defeat in the sub-continent market, despite the numerous attempts of Tata to regain its losing ground. The poor sales and the below-par performance turned the tables on it. Currently Nano is offered in petrol and CNG variants in India and the diesel version is envisaged to be the game-changer of the company.

The Nano diesel has been spied testing in the country for quite a while. The rumours suggest that the new diesel version would pack an 800 cc common rail diesel engine under the hood, which can churn out a power of 40.2 bhp and torque of 70 Nm. According to a Rushlane report, the diesel Nano is likely to offer a mileage of 30+ kmpl, which is currently the best in the Indian market. The vehicle is likely to be priced in the rage of INR 2.5-3 lakh, which would make it country's cheapest diesel car offering.

At present, Nano is available in five variants which include Tata Nano STD, Tata Nano CX, Tata Nano LX, Tata Nano CNG CX and Tata Nano CNG LX. The petrol variant of the car is powered by a 0.6-litre MPFI engine, which churns out a power of 37.4 bhp and a peak torque of 51 Nm. The engine is mated to a four-speed manual gearbox.

Tata will also launch the Nano with power steering on 15 January. The power steering developed by ZF will free the car from its heavy mechanical steering that has been criticized time and again since its launch. The new avatar of Tata Nano with power steering will be called Nano Twist and will be priced at INR15,000 more than the current model.