The Tata Nano, the India-manufactured automobile marketed as the world's cheapest car, will be finally debut in India dealerships in limited supply in April.

Delayed for several months, the four-door Nano, nicknamed the "people's car," has drawn worldwide attention because of its price — 100,000 rupees (slightly less than $2,000 dollars) for the basic model.

The Nano, according to Tata Motors, Ltd., India's largest vehicle manufacturer, will be formally launched March 21 during a lavish function in Mumbai, India, on March 2, according to a manufacturer spokesperson. Tata Motors is part of the larger Tata Group.

Last year, Tata Motors, Ltd., purchased two storied luxury brands, Jaguar and Land Rover.

The acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover involved Ford Motor Co. selling the two brands for $1.7 billion, about one-third of Ford's purchase price. Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in 1989 and Land Rover for $2.7 billion in 2000. With the global downturn, the purchase has become a financial millstone as sales of prestige cars have tumbled.

According to the Associated Press, the transaction “expanded the Indian carmaker's reach around the globe and gave Jaguar and Land Rover capital to update and expand their product lines.”

The Nano will be available in dealerships during the first week of April. Reservations for purchase will begin one week later. Exact price and distribution details are pending for the much-touted vehicle originally scheduled for debut last October.

Named after the word nanometer (an extremely small unit of measure), the Nano will be priced at less than half the price of the world’s current cheapest car, the mini Maruti 800.

The Nano is slightly longer than 10 feet, slightly narrower than five feet and features a 623cc, two-cylinder, 33-horsepower engine. It has a maximum speed of 65 mph.

The rear-engine, four-seat car is expected to be within the budgets of millions of young Indian families

Other Tata Nano models, which will include features like sun visors and radios, will be available at higher sticker prices.

The company has already taken the Nano to religious shrines across the country to seek "divine blessings" for the project, according to media reports.

Ratan Tata, who conceived the ultra-cheap vehicle to get Indians off unsafe motorcycles, said the company's focus would remain on India. A European version of the Nano meeting all European emission and safety standards was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in early March. Distribution in Europe and in the United Sates is feasible but not in the near future.