If you’ve been reading about the new ultra-low-cost vehicle in India, the Tata Nano, and getting ready to buy one when it comes to the US, you might be a little disappointed to find it will cost slightly more than a bag peanuts and Coffee Crisp.

When the Tata Nano received it’s official North American debut at the recent Detroit Auto Show, rumors swirled that the final price tag might be as low as $5,000. Unfortunately, an inside source has confided to the Detroit News that the price tag will actually look more like $8,000 when the car hits dealer lots in the US in 2013.

The base model cost of the Nano in India, where it’s manufactured, runs for around $2,000.

Under the hood the Nano boasts a whopping 2-cylinder engine that can run at 56 mpg and has a decent carbon dioxide output at 101 gm/km. Whether the Tata Nano can be considered environmentally friendly is another matter altogether though. Aside from still relying on gas, it’s low price tag will probably mean that thousands of people who relied on even lower emitting vehicles, like scooters and even bicycles, will be upgrading to the Nano.

Well don’t expect to find car lots in India overflowing with the upcoming Tata Nano. The Tata, best known for being what will be the world’s cheapest car, has already sold 203,000 fully paid booking forms. The most impressive part is that all of those were sold between April 9 and 25.

Since Tata will only be able to only initially produce 100,000 Nanos they are holding a computerized lottery to see who the first 100,000 people to get a Nano will be.

With the base cost of a Tata Nano running at around $2,000 Tata has already brought in $512.6 million dollars USD. The most basic model though has only accounted for about 20 percent of bookings with the higher-end and more “costly” Nanos accounting for the lions share of sales.

And savings with the Nano don’t stop at the price tag. The Nano’s little 2-cylinder engine boasts 56 mpg and from a carbon dioxide perspective it does very well with a rating of 101 gm/km.

Unfortunately, the environmental status of the Nano isn’t all good news. With it’s ultra-low price tag people will be trading in their scooters, motorbikes and even bicycles for this little car. While it doesn’t burn much compared to a typical gas-powered vehicle, it’s definitely a lot more than a ten-speed bike.

The Tata Nano will start being delivered in July. Once their get their newest plant up and running they will be able to produce up to 300,000 Nanos per year.

The fact that the new Tata Nano is hitting the market today in its home country of India is pretty impressive given that it managed to maintain it’s One Lakh ($1985 USD) price point.

The Nano faced a rise in the cost of a lot of its raw materials, especially steel, but stood it’s ground and has found it’s commercial launch at the price it promised.

The official mileage for the Nano’s two-cylinder engine tops out at an outstanding 56 miles per gallon. This makes it not only an amazingly cheap vehicle to purchase and operate but also an extremely green vehicle as gas-powered cars go with a carbon dioxide rating of 101 gm/km.

The Tata Nano has a dedicated production plant that will come online in 2010 and can produce almost 350,000 Nanos annually. We fully expect the demand to be there for this car. Hell, you can practically buy it with pocket change so unless it’s the lemon of all lemons it’s practically guaranteed to be a success.