The Tata Nano, which caused a sensation when it went on sale in India last year with a base price of about $2,200, has been seen by relatively few people in the United States.

 

New Yorkers will get their chance to view a brilliant yellow example of the podlike people’s car beginning next Thursday, when the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum puts the car on display in its Great Hall at 2 East 91st Street in Manhattan.

 

The decision to exhibit the Nano at the Cooper-Hewitt suggests that the Nano has caught the public’s fancy, far beyond the world of auto enthusiasts.

 

“The Cooper-Hewitt is showing the Tata Nano because, as the world’s most affordable car, it is a design achievement,” Cara Mc-Carty, the museum’s curatorial director, said.

 

The car will remain on display at the Cooper-Hewitt through April 25.