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The Tata Nano was spotted undergoing testing on the roads of India the other day. As a result, the public was given another peek at the exterior as well as the interior since the Geneva auto show. Rumors have it that the Nano's release from Tata's Pune and Pantnager could very well be on December 28th—Ratan Tata's 71st birthday.

The progress on the $2500 micro car, though continuing, has had a few bumps along the way. One being at the nearly completed West Bengal factory, where Nano production had to be put on an indefinite hold due to increasingly violent protests from farmers of the surrounding area. The farmers claimed that they were unfairly compensated for the loss of their land when the Nano factory moved into place.

With the tester out on the road however, it seems that the Nano really is on its way to arrive at dealerships. The hope is then that no other major problems arise to either push back the release date, or to drive up the cost.

+ Jalopnik: Tata Nano Tester Spotted Amid Rumors Of December Launch

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Tata Motors announced today that the mother plant for the Nano will be relocated to Sanand in Gujarat, India. The plant will take up nearly 1100 acres of space and Tata hopes to crank out roughly 250,000 Nanos each year from this location, though the plant's capacity allows for around 500,000 cars to be produced each year. This new plant is said to generate over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.

While this new plant is being built, Tata Motors will look into the possibility of manufacturing the Nano at its existing facilities at Pune and Pantnagar. The car is expected to launch in the last quarter of 2008.

Click through the post to read Tata Motors' official press release.

There are more than a few long-time fans of Jaguar automobiles who have been somewhat concerned about the future of the British automaker now that control of it rests with relative upstart, Tata. Those anglophile Chicken Littles will likely be interested in a new report found in the July 30 issue of Autocar’s print magazine.

Word is that Tata sees Jag as being more of a sporting brand than a luxury one, and firmly believes that the company needs to offer a beautiful two-seater for considerably less money than the current XK. That car will be the long-awaited F-type, and Tata would like for it to be a fierce competitor for Porsche’s Boxster. Expect then that the F-type will start somewhere around $40,000 when it comes to call in less than two-years time.

+ Autocar

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The Tata conglomeration has been dealing some major business over in Italy recently. At a recent forum promoting cooperation between Italian and Indian companies, the group not only had talks with the Italian defense and aerospace company Finmeccanica about supplying helicopter parts, but they also spoke with Fiat about a possible partnership.

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The Nano, Tata's stupendously cheap micro-car, could have its price raised due to the increase in materials cost. The manufacturer has apparently even asked suppliers to help shoulder the weight, asking them to reduce prices paid per item when quantities rise. Although Tata declined to comment, it seems that volume purchasing has helped mitigate the increasing costs some.

Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata has said that he may not be opposed to licensing other companies to manufacture the Nano microcar. Though there are no such plans as yet, Tata said that he would consider that option if his company was unable to meet Nano demand on its own.

Executives from Indian automaker Tata have said that they will bring the Nano microcar to Europe, only if the car can achieve the highest possible safety rating.

Tata’s director of the Nano program, Girish Wagh, said, “We will only bring the Nano to Europe if it achieves a four-star rating in the Euro NCAP crash test.

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Tata's $2500 Nano has been making headlines all over the world since it debuted, but this is the first time we've been able to examine the car in person. It's slightly larger than a Toyota iQ and looks as cheap as you would imagine. When people closed the doors, the entire car shook. We aren't saying that makes the Nano a bad car and we doubt anyone expected it to be bank vault-solid for such a low price.

Tata’s quickly becoming the automotive industry’s biggest newsmaker this year – if it doesn’t already have the title sealed. Tata’s deal with Ford for Jaguar and Land Rover is nearly done.

Indian sources have told Edmund’s Inside Line that when Tata acquires Land Rover and Jaguar, it will look to unload Jaguar quickly.