The world's cheapest car - The Tata Nano, was launched amidst much fanfare in Mumbai, India, earlier this week. First unveiled at a car show in New Delhi , in 2008, this highly anticipated compact car, which costs only 100,000 rupees or about $2,000 USD, is expected to be very popular in India.

The car, which took five hundred engineers over five years to develop, is the vision of Ratan Tata, the Chairman of the Tata Group of Companies, who wished to provide Indian families an alternate mode of transportation, that is both safe and affordable.

The Nano, which means small in Gujarati, (a regional Indian language), lives up to its name, measuring just 9ft long, 5ft wide and 5ft tall. Meant to fit four people comfortably, it is not a luxurious or fast car by any stretch of the imagination. Equipped with a small, two cylinder, 623cc engine, it can attain a maximum speed of only 65 miles per hour. The car has no power steering, air-conditioning, radio or passenger side mirror. And, there is only one windshield wiper.

Despite this, the car is expected to be very popular among Indians, who currently pile up entire families on two-wheel scooters.

Car dealers in New Delhi are being inundated with orders for the Nano, which will hit the roads in July. If successful, Tata Motors hopes to introduce the car to other developing countries.

Sources: Independent.co.uk,oneindia.com, cnn.com