The buzztopics that I have been thinking about lately have been on US recession, the US Presidential Elections(Obama vs Clinton is a truly dramatic fight saga so it seems!),the ‘Chindia’ economy rise to the top and what I thought was supposedly insignificant, the launch of the Tata Nano, the People’s Car in India.
I am an auto enthusiast and I love reading about supercars and what makes them tick and a small car rarely holds my interest.But what caught my attention about the Tata Nano is the amount of attention its receiving from the world around.In less than 2 weeks, I have had two curious questions about this car,both from Americans…’How can anyone have come up with a car for as low as $2500′ and ‘Have you bought one as yet?It sounds so exciting!(this was from a B-School interviewer)’
I did some research and came out with how Tata has managed to pull off this rather remarkable feat.Minimalism has been their key word in manufacturing this innovation it seems,by keeping minimalistic features on the dashboard,safety aspects, no radio,reclining seats or power steering,BoM costs have been kept to a bare minimum.It will have a 650cc engine that puts out at most 70 horsepower and by the kind of experience I have had in my friend’s little Maruti 800(the closest competitor I can think of for the Nano),you might as well have cushions attached to your backsides to survive this ride!Tata’s real advantage may be in development costs as apparently India’s top-notch engineers are paid about a third of what their counterparts are being paid in other Auto companies in America.
I have very mixed feelings about this development, while this opens up avenues for low income households to do away with their two-wheelers and invest in an actual car, thereby (hopefully)increasing safety for both 4 wheelers as well as 2 wheelers(there are way too many accidents that happen on an everyday basis in keeping with the rising traffic), can India’s infrastructure actually hold up to take on the thousands that are going to be zooming around increasing traffic congestions that are already in nightmarish conditions in metros?Ratan Tata promises that emissions from the Nano will be much lesser than from scooters and mopeds but its too soon to tell.
Somehow much as I rejoice for this amazing piece of technology wherein a lot of thought must have gone in to produce such a low-cost vehicle(I am a Sales manager for a tech company and I have faced most difficulty when one is strategising a product for a mass market, creating top class technology at stringent costs is more challenging than putting together a fantastic piece of invention with no financial restraints!),when the foundation of India is not strongly built to uphold the rapid advancements that seem to inch in everyday in this country, I fear the worst for the infrastructure arena with the advent of this car in the market.
I came across this article on BW as well: Renault-Nissan has teamed up with Indian motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto to launch a $3,000 car next year. “If Tata can do it, we can do it,” says Renault-Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn.I wonder if the Govt. is deciding to invest in some money on physical infrastructure to keep up with these developments!
Here’s an interview article with Ratan Tata:
http://www.tata.com/0_media/features/interviews/20080110_one_lakh_car.htm
At the end of it all , I must say kudos to Ratan Tata for his leap of faith and also to have given the chance to low income earners to experience the joy of owning their own car.I believe strongly that the Nano is here to stay just as the Maruti 800 was the People’s Car for decades in India but in tandem I really do hope the Govt. realises the importance on prioritizing funding into the right channels to support and advance technological progress.
