Purported Tata Nano electric spied testing for the first time

It looks like Tata Motors is leaving no stone unturned in its attempt to give a new lease of life to its cheapest offering -- the Nano. In what appears to be a quite surprising yet intriguing move, a purported test mule of the electric variant of the Nano has been spied testing on public roads, fuelling a fresh round of whispers on the auto corridor about the new avatar of the Nano.

Tata Nano, a dream project of Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata group, is being fitted for a comeback with its new electric variant in the pipeline. RushLane has managed to capture what is believed to be the electric version of the Nano. Judging by the images, the test mule spotted is the GenX Nano, the AMT avatar of the model, but with partial camouflage.

The interesting bit is that the prototype is seen with external fuel filler cap, which is a first in the Nano line-up. Nothing much can be pulled out from the test mule since it's believed to be in its early stages of development. However, according to the original publisher of the spy shots, the gap between the wheel arch and the tyre seems to have been narrowed in the spotted test mule. This could be due to the heavy lithium batteries. From the word around the internet, it may take long for Tata to roll out the Nano electric and the company could be waiting for the right time to launch the new variant.

The Nano, which was touted as the cheapest car, did not take off well in the Indian auto market due to various reasons the cost of the car notwithstanding. Although carmaker Tata tried to boost the sales of Nano with upgraded versions of the model, the car failed to pull the buyers as expected.