Tata Nano 2012 CX - Design Review

The Tata Nano pioneered the city-car segment in India when it went on sale a few years back. Yes, we have a had tons of small cars since the birth of the Indian automotive industry, but very few of them have managed to be as potent as the Nano when it comes to tackling the urban environs with utter ease – especially when it is built to be the cheapest car in the country. 

All said and done, in the last three years, the Nano hasn’t met with the sort of success it had expected when it was conceived. But Tata is working hard to change that and as a part of this hard work, there is a new Nano that has rolled out which packs in more power and torque and address some of the corners and demands that the market put forth. But to see how well it’s worked, we took the 2012 Tata Nano LX for a rigorous 400 km city-drive through Mumbai and Pune…

Design 

The 2012 Nano retains the design of the earlier model. You still have the same front end with Japanese manga-style headlights, the tiny bonnet with a vertical crease, the triangular fog-lights, the adequately large windshield and the solitary wiper that is big enough to tackle even the worst of Mumbai rains. A new addition is a rear-view mirror on the left hand side even on the CX model.

The side profile still has the wedge shaped silhouette of the original and retains the Lamborghini Gallardo-style air-intakes next to the rear wheel arches. What’s changed though is the new design for the wheel-caps (none on the Standard,half-diameter wheel-caps on the CX and full-diameter wheel-caps on the LX). The new design of the wheel-caps will soon find its way onto the Indica line-up as well, with the new Vista being the first to receive it.

Nothing has changed on the tailgate either. You get the trademark-Tata taillights with their tall, stacked-up design. While there were rumors of a Nano with an opening hatch, the 2012 Nano still continues to use a ‘fixed’ hatch that houses the upgraded petrol engine underneath. Tata will continue to use the Std, CX and LX badges on the Nano unlike the VX and GX badges seen on the Indica line-up. 

However, now the yellow shade of the Nano isn’t the only bright colour you can buy – there is a sporty green and an even more eye-catching ‘Papaya Orange’ as well, that you see in the photos here. The Nano’s design has always been adorable and far from something that looks built-to-a-cost. With the new colours though, it also manages to turn quite a few heads.