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Jan102008
Tata Nano - India marching ahead
“Fighting ahead, rising up, giving India the honour it deserves” - My patriotic jingoism for our economic achievements only got a boost with Tata Nano.
1907 - Detroit, USA ——— Ford Model T
A century ahead, on the other side of the globe
2008 - Delhi, India ——– Tata Nano
The world’s cheapest non-stripped down petrol run, Tata Nano was unveiled a couple of hours back by Ratan Tata silencing all critics. The launch has forced me back to blogging after a break of several months. It has been given the attributes like cute, bold and radical, revolutionary, breaking boundaries. A truly People’s Car, this time is from India. Though the dealer price is Rs. 1 lakh, the price on road, when it will be launched, will reach around Rs. 1,25,00 but it will be still more affordable and will be more eco-friendly than most other cars giving a mileage of around 23km/liters. The price of the car is such that a lot of rich and HNIs, if interested, can buy the car just by a single swipe of their credit cards.
Specs:
Engine: 624 cc / 33 bhp
4 door, 5 seater (and yes 4 Wheeled too)
Rear Engine
Weight: 600 kgs
Mileage - 22-23 km/litre
Safety Standards:
Meets frontal crash norms
Designed to meet side crash norms too
Emission Norms Met:
Euro 4 & Bharat 3 Compliant
Variants:
Standard
Deluxe (with AC)
Future:
Diesel Variant
Exports outside India or assembly plants outside
Comparison
8% less in length (bumper to bumper) with respect to Maruti 800
21% more in inner space with respect to Maruti 800
(Info for westerners: Maruti 800 is the benchmark small car currently available and has been in India for about 25 years. It is much more popular and reliable then those Chinese Cherry cars)
Looks:
Front side looks more like Matiz (or Spark as we now call it)
Back side looks more like Indica with those long tail lights.
Insight:
People often criticize something that is making waves everywhere. This has also been the case with Tata Nano. Competitors, safety regulators, environmentalists and most others conceived the problems that India will face, when such a car is available, much before the actual launch of the car.
The Tata’s have always been clear that the car is not going to compete with M800 or others, but it is made for those who would rather buy a motorbike or a scooter. It is made to have a safer 4-5 people family outing for the middle classes. However, a lot of those buyers who can buy a scooter on a loan will not be able to afford the 1 lakh car so easily. First of all, it is still twice or thrice the price of the hero hondas or bajajs. Either the loan duration gets elongated or they will have to shell out much more EMI each month if they want to buy the Nano instead of a Scooter. And of course, the high oil prices dont help either. It is still no match for the 40-60 km/litre Motorbikes or Scooters. The biggest benefit is for those people, who can now realize their dream of owning a brand new car at an affordable price, but can use the car wisely and economically.
In the rural areas, it is likely to do what cell phones did, where a few people buy the technology and then sell the services to others who cannot afford it and make a living out of it. There will be small time entrepreneurs in those villages, who will run taxi services in villages using this car. Don’t be surprised, if one of those guys invents a way to run the same car on an alternative fuel.
Infact, the most excited lot of people for this car are those like me, young professionals, who can afford a 60k bike, but not a car by our own money. We will be excited to tell our dad’s, I dont need his car keys as I have my own. I also think that Nano type of cars should be used more and more by those people, who would otherwise use a long car for going on single or double rides, which will give 8-10 km /litre, for their daily activies. Now, if that happens, then Nano is actually going to help the cause of environment. In metros, those carpoolers, who are not enjoying their pools of 4 can now get onto a tag team of 2, without worrying about the environment. Instead, if it is used more and more by people who migrate from scooters, as expected, it will still have a small percentage of total vehicle population in India (Tata claims that will barely reach 2.5%). Remember that, if there is no Nano, people will still buy cars, and may be old second-hand cars, which will be guzzling more gas than Nano. So the roads are still going to be crowded and the air polluted.
The distribution system is also supposed to be ground breaking. It is rumoured that the final layer of assembly will happen at the dealer’s end or atleast it will be fragmented. So the cost of transporting it from Singur plant to elsewhere in India will be reduced substantially. Well, are we going to see some “Open Platform” in Car making too? Guess, Not yet!!!! But I will wait for that day, when we can customise our cars more easily just like we can do it with our software.
I have one more angle to look at Nano. I think it is world’s most hyped about gadget after the iPhone. Did I just say “gadget”. Well, yes Tata Nano is not just a car, one can also look at it like an expensive gadget which also gives us mobility. One of the very few cute looking gadgets that all us geeks will love, who would generally be interested in stuff that is sleek and powerful. I am also hopeful that Tata will launch FCV and alternative fuel cars soon. If Nano is also ported to that platform, it is going to kick the a*s out of all car makers.
My fingers are tightly crossed for the day, when it will be on road.
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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anup sharma
001
9:16 am
It is good type of story/ current affeir but it could be more good If writer pay littel more attention on it
thank you
JITENDRA
002
10:23 am
IT IS THE GREAT INVENTION BY MR . TATA . AN ECONOMIC RANGE OF CAR , FOR A MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY. MY BEST WISHES ARE WITH HIM.
ajay
003
4:22 pm
But who will make a laptop as Tata has made Nano.
P.N.Masanta
004
12:34 pm
I am fully impressed on TATA, who has fulfilled the need of middleclass.
Sujay Joshi
005
12:14 pm
“A Promise is a Promise”. This is what Mr. Ratan Tata said when he launched TATA Nano. He gave a perfect answer to people who said it’s not feasible to manufacture a car in Indian Rs. 1, 00,000.
The product TATA Nano is simply amazing. TATA Nano is believed to a mileage of 24kms for every liter of fuel, 8% smaller bumper to bumper distance than Maruti 800 (competitor in India) and still 21% spacious than Maruti.
This is possible only with TATA Group. The values and culture followed at TATA Group is one of the major factors for there products being so successful. I happened to use a product called “LEARN ENGLISH THROUGH LOVE AND ROMANCE” an Edutainment product developed by Espoir Technologies who’s Creative Director & Chief Mentor happens to be Ex VP TATA Group.
In my third year of Engineering I was planning to appear for the GRE exam. I had to manage time for my regular engineering studies and prepare for my campus interviews along with GRE exam in which English language accounts for a major part. I really was confused when I saw syllabus as to, What I knew? Where to start from? How do I go about it? That is when I bumped into a pamphlet which said ‘Learn English Through Success Secrets’. I gambled purchasing a copy and it really paid off. There were about 22,000 example sentences and over 2000 illustrations which I studied, much more than what my friends even thought of. The content was programmatically compressed into just one CD- ROM and the intellia software designed a tailor-made learning path for me. I cracked my GRE exam and currently pursuing my Masters in Science from one of the top universities in the United States
Srinivas
006
8:52 pm
May I request yourself to let me know the procedure for booking of TATA NANO in hyderabad
Abhinav Bhatt
007
2:41 pm
I wrote a song about this car..
check it out on http://Y2Aslog.blogspot.com
P.N.Masanta
008
2:55 pm
It is an excellent production looking to the budget of middle class, if the quality is assured.
G S RAINA
009
1:33 am
What a way to keep a promise. Hats off to Mr RNT. But 2 major concerns: Traffic condition post Nano on road & Safety of the car!!!
suva basu
010
12:58 pm
i just love that car.It is an excellent production looking to the budget of middle class, if the quality is assured
namritha
011
8:31 pm
tata nano is awesome just give me some tips how i can book nano in mangalore or bangalore
JAMIL SHAFFAQ
012
12:47 am
D/Sir,
I Would like to gift the nano car to my father who lives in delhi. I live in FRANCE
& would like to make the payment in Euros. May I know what will be the cost on
road of your little trésor.
Thanks
J.SHAFFAQ
dharmendra kumar
013
11:38 pm
apka tata nano market me kab se aa raha hai aur booking kab se start ho raha hai
mohd ajaz n panjekash
014
7:53 pm
hi i am intrested to purchase on tata nano
Sankar Das
015
8:32 am
Could you provide me some information regarding booking of TATA ’s NANO car. I stay at Sheoraphuli,Hooghly -712 223, WB ,18 km. from Singur.More over I am a blood cancer patient and need to go to consult doctors in a convinient condition.
Honda
016
1:30 am
Thanks for the post. I found it worthwhile.
V. Lydia
017
3:42 pm
The Indian roads and highways are already overpacked, under managed, hazardous and chaotic. Driving rules are unheeded by the majority. To successfully drive a car in India, requires special skills and is not for the feint hearted.
The quality of air as a result of the lack of exhaust controls implementation and the enormous amount of existing vehicles trying to out manoever each other for a bit of space in which to advance toward their destination, is an art in itself.
More and more cars on these packed roads will just spell more danger and pollution. A small car like that may be fine for city use, but on the highway, where it needs to pass huge oil tankers, and black smoke belching busses and trucks, it means dire danger for the tiny vehicle occupants.
Also, there will be more people who will mortgage their future to own this ’status’ symbol, as this aspect of the poor Indian sector is very prevelant. They will succumb to the ’shark’ lenders and agree to pay enormous percentages up to 100 % per annum, to fulfill their dream, only to find that the price of petrol is beyond their means.
I hope and pray that the Tata company, will produce a pollution-free, alternate energy car to replace the smog producing ones on the roads today.
That is the way of the future and how they can best benefit the people of all levels in India. Improve the quality of air, and reduce the horrendous existing noise level.
V. Lydia
Yogananda T S
018
10:36 am
Hi
In my view this 1 Lc / 1.4 Lc car market will crash like anything. Instead if TATA release similar kind of vehicle to replace auto rickshaws then it will sweep the market.
Lets take one small comparison. 2.32 Lc Maruti Omni. Its like a match box. No life safety when its reaches 60Kmph speed. Construction, interior materials, components, seat cussion all these things quality/durability with respect to 2.34 Lcs. If you are going for a compact vehicle 50% lesser than this cost then imagine the quality-Quantity-Life of those materials. Tata can afford to supply steel comparitively @ lesser price to this project.
No doubt, TATA having the best of the best engineering team to maintain the best Quality and Cost, do you think all other global automobile companies are not capable enough to make this kind of vehicle.
Hope TATA is not going to compit with China soft toys market with NANO.
Its my openion…
Boost Mileage
019
1:01 pm
Good Post. Thanks for the info
Asif Ali
020
7:43 pm
Bad comment on the Chinese Cherry cars.. we can always look up at our products but never look down onto others.
Shamim
021
4:05 pm
The Rs one-lakh people’s car from the Tata stable, will begin on 9th April and remain open till 23rd April.
So go ahead n book as early as u can.
For address of tata nano dealers you can find here.