“World’s cheapest car” it’s been called, and unquestionably the Tata Nano has brought about a revolution in India. In carving out a niche as an affordable, simple, and incredibly fuel efficient car for the average folk in poorer nations like India, it has also sparked a change within the global auto industry to the point where Toyota, Nissan, Ford and many other major players are now trying to compete with the Nano in this new ultra-cheap minicar segment.
But along with that, the Nano is also, quite literally, sparking something else: Over the last year, a list of Nanos that have an apparent bad habit of spontaneously combusting has been growing in India — the latest one involving a minutes-old Nano being driven home by its proud new owner. And as you can see in the above pic, that car is toast.