A new “People’s Car”
January 11, 2008
TATA released details of its proposed "Tata NANO" the other day. Aimed at the Indian market and some are saying it is the new "people's car", with a low low price tag they could be onto something. It is not a real "people's car" in the true old fashioned sense though as it is privately funded, unlike the VW Beetle and the Trabant which were both state run programmes. But we get the idea that Tata has and the idea of introducing a very cheap car aimed at the poorer families in India who currently rely on (and all get on at the same time!) one small moped for a family of six is all very good.
It has a low price which of course means it has a low spec too, no power steering, manual windows, no aircon - these all seem like things that are luxary items anyway. It has a small 2-cylinder engine which is said to run cleaner than the current mopeds currently on Indian roads. But look at those small small wheels, what's a journey on the rough roads of India going to be like on those, and long will it take to wear them out?
Numerous discussions on the "green" side of this car have been put forward. Tata suggest it is very clean to run, very small, and really gets India out of a era of millions of polluting and suggestably dangerous 2-stroke mopeds and into car ownership for "the people". But various green people have pointed out the larger amount of materials needed to both make and support the car, the extra space needed to drive the car. The large population of India will make sure that if this was taken up then it would have a huge impact. Of course, anything that helps India further into the 21st century would do the same too, so what can one do?
I wonder how long it will be until someone looks into the feasibility of importing these cars to the UK? A society that is already in a car culture where such a cheap car would be ideal for low income families who have to currently use the degraded public transport to reach the out of town supermarkets that were once welcomed by councils and government. Not only low income families would benefit, but if the green credentials are as good as Tata suggest (against not only Indian standards but UK ones too) then something like this could well be a much cheaper alternative to the very much hyped up (and expensive) two seater car from Smart. How about a van version, add your company logo and off you go! Something would have to be done with the styling though, how about having some nice retro looking round headlights…..
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