The first 16-day phase for Tata Nano booking begins Thursday, April 9, and will close on April 24. With over 1,00,000 booking forms sold for the small wonder car - the 624-cc jelly-bean shaped Nano - in the past week, there will expectedly be a heavy rush for its booking too!

In spite of the heaviest booking amount ever charged in India for an automobile – Rs. 95,000 as upfront payment, or Rs.2,999, in case of getting it financed - dealers opine that at least 50 percent of people who bought the booking forms, costing Rs. 300 each, will likely book the Nano.

However, the booking of the car is no assurance for actually getting the economical Rs.1-lakh car, since only 1,00,000 units of Nano will be made available by the company in the first year. As a result, the lucky ones who can drive out the Nano will be decided by the way of a draw of lots!

Nanao, the cheapest car in the world, is the result of Rs.20-billion investment, along with half-a-decade of research and development by a team of 500 members – whose arduous efforts fetched 34 patents! Among the initial hiccups last October, Tata Motors had to move its imminent Nano factory out of Singur in West Bengal, due to protests against the farmland acquired by the state government for the project.