The Tata Nano drives into the Guinness Book of World Records

The world's least priced car, the Tata Nano, has just been driven into the Guinness Book of World Records, for undertaking the longest journey in a single country. The Nano's 10,218 kilometer journey began at Kanyakumari, the Southern tip of India. The car traversed various parts of the country in 10 days (From March 21st to the 30th) with the road trip ending at Bangalore. The man behind the Nano's wheel was Bangalore-based Srikarunya Subrahmanyam. 

The previous best number for this record was a 8046,74 kilometer trip. The Nano has been in the spotlight for more than one cross country run. Last year, a 63 year old man from Kochi, Thomas Chacko, drove the Nano across the country in a 78 day road trip, which included high Himalayan passes. 

Prior to Mr Chacko road tripping in the Nano, an English writer named Vanessa Able was a part of another heavily publicized road trip across India. Ms Able's road trip was documented in the NanoDiaries. Other Indian drivers have also driven the Nano across some of the world's highest motorable passes in the Himalayas, in snowy, treacherous driving conditions. 

The Nano sold in India comes with a 624cc petrol engine that outputs 38 PS-51 Nm. This liquid cooled-fuel injected engine is mated to a 4 speed manual gearbox. Less than a week ago, Tata Motors updated the Nano with new features. The 2013 Nano is the third edition of the car (after the 1st version and the 2012 Nano) in terms of new features released and improvements made. 

The car will get a CNG-Petrol dual fuel version in the coming months. Dubbed the Nano E-MAX, the CNG powered version of the small car is aimed at value conscious buyers looking at low running costs. The CNG powered Nano will be sold in the states of India where CNG dispensing infrastructure exists. 

The real game changer for the Nano could be the diesel engined variant. Anticipated to be launched in 2014, the Nano Diesel could become one of the most fuel efficient diesel cars in the world, this side of the hybrids, if it manages to actually achieve the 35 Kmpl fuel efficiency figure that it is projected to deliver. Currently, Tata Motors is faced with a dud selling Nano, as the tag of the "world's cheapest car" hasn't gone down too well with image conscious car buyers in India, a country where a car remains a symbol of aspiration and a sign of having arrived in life rather than just being a form of basic transport.