March launch for 'cheapest car'

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India's Tata Motors has said its Nano, billed to be the cheapest car in the world, will be launched next month.

The company said the launch would take place on 23 March in Mumbai. It will start taking orders in mid-April.

The basic model is expected to cost about 100,000 rupees ($1,984, £1,393). The car was due to have been launched last year.

But this was delayed after Tata pulled out of its factory in West Bengal in a row over land acquired from farmers.

<a class="" href="/1/hi/world/south_asia/7431881.stm">Exclusive look at the Tata Nano</a>

The "mother plant" for the four-door Nano was relocated to Sanand in Gujarat state, after the authorities there offered about 1,100 acres for the site.

Tata Motors said in a statement that the company was making arrangements for the "widest possible network" to order the car.

The Gujarat plant will initially make 250,000 Nanos a year, rising to 500,000, Tata said last year.

A number of other car firms also plan vehicles to compete with the Nano, which was unveiled in January 2008, but have not yet begun production.