Tata Nano CNG caught testing in Pune

Tata Motors made news last month when they launched eight face-lifted, refreshed and new variants of existing models on a single day. Among them was the CNG variant of the Nano, which was badged as 'emax'. Though the price of Nano CNG was not announced and the model has not gone on sale yet, we know that Tata Motors is planning to launch it as quickly as possible to try and stem Nano's falling sales.

This Tata Nano CNG, spotted testing in Pune a couple of days back, proves that the work is going on in full swing. What catches our eyes first is the 'Nano CNG' badge in this test car, quite different from the 'emax' sub-branding that was unveiled for all the CNG variants of Tata cars last month. Don't let the badge confuse you though. This test car might have been manufactured and put into testing many weeks or even months back, when the marketing strategy to brand it as emax wasn't finalized. Or, it could well be that Tata might just launch the car as Nano CNG, instead of bothering with the emax moniker. Whatever way it is, the CNG variant of Nano is coming soon.

Apart from the bigger air-vents in the rear bumper that is said to aid engine cooling and was officially introduced in the 2013 calendar year model launched last month, the test car was no different from the other Nanos that are plying on the roads. So, expect nothing more than a chrome strip each in the front and rear bumper to bring it in line with the current model year when the Nano CNG goes on sale.

The CNG variant of the Nano comes with a button on the dashboard that lets the driver toggle between gasoline and CNG fuel options. With a 624-cc rear-mounted engine powering the rear wheels, the Nano CNG produces 38 PS of power at 5250 rpm when run in gasoline and 33 PS of power at 5500 rpm in CNG mode. The torque ratings stand at 51 Nm at 4000 rpm in gasoline and 45 Nm at 3500 rpm in CNG. Depending on the fuel running the engine, the fuel gauge alters its reading accordingly, giving the driver a sense of the amount of fuel left on both tanks. The CNG tank is placed beneath the driver's seat and the filling nozzle is tucked under the hood. Just like you do for filling gasoline, pop the car's hood up for filling up CNG too.

With the promise of lesser running costs, the already-efficient Nano becomes even more frugal in the form of Nano CNG. Even if the sales don't pick up drastically, we expect the CNG variant to bring back some excitement into the Nano brand, which should keep it going until the diesel variant comes and shake things up completely.