Tata Motors, the company whose claim to fame is selling one of the world’s cheapest and most fuel efficient cars, is considering letting other local India-based manufacturers produce and sell their Nano under their brands.

The company began selling the 56 mpg car last July, and, due to high demand, is in the process of building a manufacturing facility that would produce an additional 350,000 units per year. The plant, located in Sanand in Gujarat, should be up and running by March of 2010.

But in the meantime, Tata Motors is considering allowing smaller manufacturers produce, rebrand and sell the car under license from Tata. The maximum amount of production per year in this fashion would be 10,000 cars. Now that’s an interesting way of selling more cars. I would venture to say that I doubt an American car company would take a similar tack since they use the brand to drive sales.

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India’s leading two-wheeler maker, Bajaj Auto Ltd., is planning to launch a small car in 2011 which it promises would be very affordable and world’s most fuel efficient car running on gasoline. Bajaj Auto has partnered with Nissan and Renault as it seeks to compete with the recently launched Tata Nano.

During an interview given to CNBC-TV18, Bajaj Auto’s Managing Director, Rajiv Bajaj, said that the project was on schedule and was not suffering from any financial constraints. He also said that the company is utilizing its experience in manufacturing two-wheelers in this project which has made the project highly cost-efficient.

Rajiv Bajaj refused to give out a specific date for the launch of the car but shared some specifics regarding the car’s mileage and carbon output. 

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Struggling Indian car company Tata Motors has announced the commercial launch of the Tata Nano, the most fuel-efficient petrol-driven car in India, and quite possibly the world.

The Tata Nano, keenly anticipated across India since its unveiling early last year, is capable of an incredible 23.6km/litre (55.5 mpg) and ultra-low carbon emissions of 101 g/km, one of the lowest in India. Oh, and with prices starting at about 100,000 rupees ($2,050), it’s also the cheapest car in the world (more pics after the jump).

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Last week, I took a trip down to San Jose for West Coast Green, an environmentally-focused conference with an emphasis on sustainable building. One booth stood out from the crowd—Magnetic Air Cars, Inc.. The San Jose-based company claims that it is working on the world’s first fuel-less car (as opposed to the World’s Most Fuel Efficient Car).

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According to Tata Motors’ managing director Ravi Kant, the company plans to launch an electric version of its Indica hatchback in Norway within a year, and will bring it to the local market at a later stage.

“Right now we want to test it out in Norway with the Norwegian party. Because, you know, lot of infrastructure is required for electric vehicles and … in Norway, they are making arrangements for electric cars,” Kant said.

“We will bring that to India at an appropriate time.”

S. Ravishankar, senior general manager at Tata Motors’ engineering research centre, said the car can run for 175 km to 200 km (110-125 miles) when fully charged with a “two-pack” battery, but mileage could vary according to the battery used.

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Compressed-Air Powered cars could take you over 800 miles on a single fill-up, at speeds of up to 96 mph. They should refuel in less than 3 minutes, and at speeds over 35 mph emit about half the CO2 of a Toyota Prius. Best part? You could see them in the US at the end of next year.

Car-tech aficionados may already be familiar with Zero Pollution Motor’s (ZPM) compressed-air powered car. For those that haven’t heard of it yet, read on:

“The compressed air vehicle is a new generation of vehicle that finally solves the motorist’s dilemma: how to drive and not pollute at a cost that is affordable!”

What happens when you replace the explosions in your car’s combustion chamber with clean compressed air? Well, as long as you lighten things up by replacing heavier parts with aluminum, you end up with a clean, efficient way to power a vehicle.

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