Six years after promising Indians a car that meetsboth their aspirations and budgets, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata Mondaydedicated the little Nano to the country with bookings slated for April 9-25and deliveries from July.

"We are keeping our promise," thesoft-spoken Tata told the army of media teams from India and overseas, whichconverged at the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers hotel that was at the centre ofworld attention when terrorists struck last November.

"We had never conceived the Nano as the cheapest car but as a vehicle toenable Indian families own an affordable, all weather mode oftransportation," he said, as the hotel once again became the centre ofmedia attraction with journalists jostling to hear the 71-year old chairman ofIndia's largest business house.

Tata, however, kept the announcement on actual retail price for later, but saidNano will be available in three variants - standard, deluxe and luxury. Thebase model will have no air-conditioning.

"You really don't want to wait too long for the car, because it is likewaiting for a pretty woman - you wait for too long and she becomes fat andold," he said. But on a serious note, he said the group will try to bringdown the waiting period as much as possible.

The down payment for the car, for which forms willalso be available from Titan stores and select branches of the State Bank ofIndia, will be Rs.2,999, and the company will pay an interest of 8.5 percent tothose who don't get firm allotment.

The four-door car has a small 33-bhp engine at the rear and is targeted at thestrong middle class population of Indians who aspire to trade theirtwo-wheelers for a safer automobile.

With a length of 3.1 metres, a width of 1.5 metres and a height of 1.6 metres,Nano also has adequate ground clearance and can effortlessly manoeuvre on busyroads in cities as well as in rural areas.