The world’s cheapest new car is dead; love live the Tata Nano. After grabbing the headlines with its USD 3,500 (~ PHP 187,000) price tag, the Nano simply failed to create a mobility movement in its home country of India. And close to a decade later, Tata is ready to call it quits on this radical and interesting experiment.

A report from Automotive News says that Tata produced just 1 Nano in June and acknowledged that the car in its present form “cannot continue beyond 2019.” This is in sharp contrast to the rest of the Indian car market wherein every segment is booming with passenger car sales jumping 38 percent and commercial vehicle sales climbing 42 percent.

An example of “frugal engineering”, the Nano was a car stripped to its barest essentials. Along the way, it failed crash tests and even had the dubious reputation of catching fire.

The Tata Nano’s demise also proves that consumers aren’t out there to get the cheapest option; rather, they want to opt for the one that gives them the best value. This is the reason why Suzuki has managed to do so well in India; capturing close to 50 percent of the market there.

Source: Automotive News