Tata Motors looks at air-powered vehicle

Tata Motors, which unveiled the world’s cheapest car last month, is studying a vehicle that would use air as fuel and emit no pollutants in city driving.

The Indian carmaker last year signed an agreement with MDI, a private French company developing cars driven by compressed air.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Tata’s top car-making executive confirmed it had taken the technology’s rights for India and was “studying whether it can be used”.

Ravi Kant, Tata Motors’ managing director, said: “It’s a very exciting concept, this way of running a car. We hope something will come out of it.”

Tata was looking at applying the technology for both mobile and stationary uses, he said.

MDI, located near Nice, also owns a patent on a compressed air device that can be applied to emergency generators.

The group had “not yet announced when we will have a car”, Mr Kant said.

A representative of the French company said Tata had bought rights to its engine, but not its car concept.

MDI plans to launch the OneCAT, which it says is designed to operate “in overpopulated towns that are particularly polluted”,by the end of this year or early 2009.

The car is powered by compressed air tanks built into its chassis, which can be replenished by an external or on-board compressor.

Above speeds of 50kmh, it is fuelled by petrol, diesel or another fuel.

Low-emission vehicles are gaining ground in India as it grapples with a car boom. Most of Delhi’s public transport has been converted to run on compressed natural gas.

Tata, the preferred bidder for Ford Motor’s Jaguar and Land Rover brands, riveted the attention of the world car industry last month when it launched its “one lakh” or $2,500 Nano in Delhi.

Analysts said any air car developed by Tata or MDI would probably remain a niche vehicle for the foreseeable future, much like the electric cars being developed or tested by other makers.

Separately, Mr Kant said Tata might consider exporting the Nano in about four years’ time, but for now was “focused on India”.

Were it to export the car it would sell to countries with “norms equal to or lower than India” in Asia, Africa or Latin America.

To sell in developed countries, the car would need to be modified to meet higher safety, emissions and vibration standards, and would thus sell for a higher price.