The interest in rear-engined cars seems to be on a high. Starting with Smart, followed by the Mistubishi i and recently unveiled concept by VW, the up.

Up is a small car that offers more space than any other car of same length and width. Its engine will run in the rear. And that changes the available space and the design.

With engine at the back, engine noise insulation becomes more manageable. Engine heat is less of an issue. And with less weight on the front wheels power steering is not necessary as steering becomes lighter.

The Up proves how to engineer a small safe car, as it is equally safe as a front-engined car in case of a frontal crash. The Up is expected to hit the Indian market by 2011 and is expected to bear a price tag of around 3 lakhs.

Most of us aspire to own Mercedes and the E-Class is the highest selling model in India. It is a very good car, but now has a serious competitor in the A6.The four rings of Audi is clearly not as well known in India as three-pointed star.

The E-Class is undoubtedly a classy and luxurious car with impressive performance and excellent safety features but it is let down by its traditional styling. The real wheel drive of the E-Class results in better grip levels and strong brakes. The steering and handling lack the sharpness of the Audi but it is still a hugely capable car.

The A6 is longer, wider and far better looking. The interior of A6 is not just good looking but also most ergonomical. It sports one of world’s most lightest and most compact 3l V6 diesel engine. Audi A6 is certainly the superior car.

Well, before few weeks, the leading authomotive company of India – TATA launched the world’s cheapest car in the Asia’s biggest Auto exhibition. The CEO of the TATA company – Ratan Tata himself presented this car to the world. In front of this launch, the launch of other cars remained dull and all the media reporters or press persons were surrounding this small TATA Nano car.

Its a trendy, cool looking design and the car is small too. So the name Tata Nano comes for it. Similar to iPod nano .. lol.

Some of the salient features of this historical car are :

• - 4 Gears
• - 5 seating capacity
• - 634 cc Petrol engine
• - The engine is located on rear side while luggage space on front
• - 3 color varients and 2 versions – classic and deluxe
• - upto 70 kmph of max speed
• - Average of around 20km/lt
• - Diesel model is also planned
• - small design for comfortless travelling and parking

And the cost is around $2500 only.

I am thinking of buying 3-4 of them for each of my family members. lol. Though the car is still not available for sale, but the booking of tata nano is going on currently at few places and will be available in the market in the late months of this year. The world is waiting for its release.

Ratan Tata did it with Nano- to provide inexpensive motoring to masses. But is he the first one to have such a dream? Decades ago, Herbert Austin and Andre Citroen did the same- resulting in Austin 7 and Citroen 2CV. After a few years, Adolf Hitler gave birth to Volkswagen, the people’s car.

Ledwinka, an engineer, discussed his with Porsche, another engineer, and came up with what is known as Volkswagen beetle. So the idea of OLC(one lakh car) is not new. And finally there were two people’s car: the Citroen which was front-engined and beetle which was rear-engined.

And this was followed by Fiat 500, Suzuki Coupe, Mitsubishi Minica, Renault 4CV, Mazada 360 Coupe and many more. And this year Tata is coming up with the Nano which is expected to rock the Indian car market with its OLC status!

Suzuki plans to launch the production model of A-Star by October 2008. A little bigger than Alto, but lower than the Wagon-R or Estilo, the A-Star will be direct rival of Hyundai i10. Of course, expect it to be priced much more keenly, a strategy that Maruti is always known for.

A-Star will be launched initially with a petrol engine which will be followed by a diesel engine. If October is a too long a wait, Maruti Suzuki has a Splash in store for you! Splash is expected to hit the Indian markets by spring this year.

With length and width somewhat similar to Swift, the Splash is definitely higher which means more leg and headroom as you sit higher. The car is expected to sport 1.3 petrol and 1.3 Fiat diesel engine. Price is expected to be a little higher than the Swift.