Finally the time has come to drive Tata Motors much awaited and the world's cheapest family car ‘Nano’.

Today, the company announced that it will roll out ‘Nano’ on March 23 in the Mumbai market.

The launch would happen at a function to be held in Mumbai.

The company also said that the bookings for the car will start from April 2009.

In a major declaration, the company said, “The cars will be on display at Tata Motors dealerships from the first week of April 2009. Bookings will commence from the second week of April 2009.”

Stockholm  - Troubled Swedish car maker Saab was hit by another blow Wednesday as the Swedish Customs agency halted the flow of imported parts for its assembly over unpaid customs duties, Swedish radio news reported.

Last week Saab filed for bankruptcy protection and launched a reorganization process after its US owner General Motors said it planned to shed the loss-making brand.

Saab cannot import parts for its cars or export assembled cars from Sweden until it can show it can pay the customs duties, the report said.

Berlin  - Berlin's help for the German auto industry by offering a trade-in fee for new car purchases could see higher car sales this year, the German Car Industry Association (VDA) said Wednesday.

Instead of sales declining to 2.9 million this year, VDA chief Matthias Wissmann said he now expects auto sales to reach 3 million, after the government launched its plan to encourage passenger car owners to abandon their old models and buy new ones.

Paris  - The French government has used its new Strategic Investment Fund (FSI) to purchase part of one of the world's largest auto equipment suppliers, Valeo SA, an official with the fund said on Wednesday.

The FSI paid 18.5 million euros (23.8 million dollars) for a 2.35 per cent share of Valeo. Added to the shares purchased previously by the state bank CDC, that raises the government' s share of Valeo to 8.33 per cent.

The purchase is the first transaction by the fund, which was created in December to enable the government to inject capital in struggling firms in order to prevent them from failing or being taken over by foreign companies.

Brussels - The European Union's executive will use the force of the law to fight c