It was meant to be the world’s cheapest, and therefore most accessible, most democratic car, but it hasn’t worked out like that. The Nano is already on the way to becoming one of the most sought-after, fought-over cars of the year and, when it hits the showrooms (after a fashion), you won’t even be able to walk in and buy one. You will have to get a lottery ticket first.

Only if your number comes up will you be able to hand over your £1,400 and take ownership of Tata’s soon-to-be-iconic very-mini-motor. And even then you may not get to drive it for up to 18 months.

For that kind of exclusivity, you might expect a Ferrari. What you will get, for the original 100,000 rupee asking price, is the basic two-stroke version of the car, now familiar from motor shows worldwide but still frustratingly out of reach for all but a lucky few.

The unusual selling scheme has been adopted by Tata Motors after it was forced last year to abandon a semi-built factory earmarked for Nano production. The glitch, involving a local dispute over the facility in West Bengal, cost Tata as much as $350 million (£240 million) and means that only a handful of the tiny cars will appear on Indian forecourts until next year, at least.

The 100,000 winners chosen in the Nano lottery, which analysts expect to attract as many as 500,000 entrants, will qualify for the right to buy the basic Nano - eventually. Lottery losers could face price rises and a waiting list that could stretch to three years.

Detailing the arrangement in Mumbai, Ratan Tata, the company’s chairman, said that Tata was developing a version of the Nano for the United States and hoped to take the car to Europe by 2011. Mr Tata believes that the Nano is capable of achieving annual sales of one million units a year in India and he added that the global downturn had led him to think that the Nano “could be of considerable interest as a low-cost product” in America and Britain.

That, however, is for the future. At present the car, which was designed to lure India’s middle classes away from their motorcycles, faces an uphill struggle in its mission to bring motoring within the reach of its domestic masses. Interest in the Nano is expected to be stoked by a scheme that allows buyers to finance purchases with a downpayment of 2,999 rupees (£40). But the hype surrounding the vehicle also promises to overwhelm production capacity, which is expected to remain as low as 50,000 units for the next 12 months.

The Nano will be offered in three models: basic; air conditioned; and air conditioned with powered front windows and other extras, which could take the price up to 185,375 rupees. A new factory capable of producing 250,000 Nanos a year will come online next spring and until then Tata is using part of a lorry plant to build the model in modest numbers.

The disruption means that Nano waiting times could stretch until 2012, by which time the model is likely to face competition from other low-cost models under development for sale on the sub-continent. Rival projects include a joint venture between Renault-Nissan and Bajaj, the Indian two-wheeler manufacturer, which said last week that it was on track to produce a super-compact car by 2011.

Tata Motors recently reported its first quarterly loss in seven years and its shares have lost three quarters of their value in the past year. Tata’s credit rating has been downgraded to junk status in the wake of its debt-fuelled acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover last year.

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