The $2500 - Check out the Tata

Ok, the name of the car cracks me up, however the cost and gas mileage on this little bugger will make everyone take a serious look.

Tata Motors unveiled it's $2,500 Nano with much ado - and with the theme to "2001: A Space Odyssey" blaring in the background - in New Dehli.

Tata's been ginning up hype for the Nano for more than a year, promising that it would motorize India's masses - hence its nickname, "The People's Car" - and there's been no end of rumors, leaks and speculation about it in recent months.

We told you a little about the car a couple of weeks ago, and today Ratan N. Tata, chairman of the company that bears his name, filled in some more details. The Nano is 10 feet long, 5 feet wide, a little more than 5 feet tall and, in our opinion, pretty cute. C'mon - it's practically smiling.

Tata says the car's got a 623 cc 2-cylinder engine, and the New York Times, in an excellent story looking at just how Tata built a $2,500 car (answer - eliminate everything that isn't absolutely necessary to make it accelerate, turn or stop), says it produces 30 to 35 horsepower. That's less than all but the smallest motorcycles.