In city, Nano will be Rs 1.56 lakh

That's right. After adding all the charges like insurance, road tax, handling and registration, value-added tax and the logistics costs, the dream car will be 56% more expensive than its perceived price tag of Rs 1 lakh.

But take heart. Even at that price, the standard version of the Nano is 31% cheaper - and the top end version, the Nano LX - is 5% cheaper than the standard version of the Maruti 800, whose on-road price in Bangalore is Rs 2,23,115.

The Nano's standard version is also 11% cheaper than a two-stroke autorickshaw. According to autorickshaw drivers, an auto when bought comes as a basic chassis, with additional fittings like the meter and soft roof having to be fixed. Some say that the cost of obtaining permits for driving an auto also increases the cost of the vehicle substantially. Hence, the on-road price of a two-stroke autorickshaw is about Rs 1.7 lakh and that of a four-stroke auto is well over Rs 2 lakh.

Given the Nano's attractive price, over 2,500 registration forms have been collected from various Tata Motor dealerships across Bangalore since the beginning of this month. This is besides the forms that are being collected at showrooms of Tata Group companies like Titan and Croma.

When the Tata Group first showcased the Nano at the 2008 Auto Expo in New Delhi, the company had said that the Nano was "8% smaller than the M800 externally but 21% more spacious internally." However, unlike the M800, it does not have a boot. A boot space can be created if the back seats are folded down.