Jan 23 2008
World’s Cheapest Car
India has the right to claim that they now have the world’s cheapest car. Tata Motors has recently introduced the Tata Nano which has a price tag of $2,500 USD (1 lakh Rupees). The basic car can accommodate 5 people (supposedly), has no radio or air conditioning, and has only one wiper. If you want air conditioning (which is probably a must in India), you will have to upgrade to the deluxe model. We must give credit where credit is due and applaud Tata for being able to produce a car for such a low price.
Even though this seems to be a great achievement, it has caused a lot of controversy. There are two sides to this argument.
One side thinks that:
- This accomplishment gives less fortunate people the opportunity to be able to purchase a car.
- The Tata Nano allows for another means of transportation, which is a necessity in everyday life.
The other side thinks that:
- India’s roads are already very crowded and introducing this car will cause more congestion.
- The pollution in India is high and having more cars on the road means that there will be increased pollution.
- Having a car for this kind of price must mean that safety standards were compromised.
At this time, the Tata Nano will only be sold in India, but Tata says that eventually they may decide to export it. Competitors are already thinking about how to contend with the Nano. Will America soon have something similar?
The video clip below is the unveiling of the Tata Nano from last week. We would like to hear your perspective on this topic, so please feel free to leave comments.
With Gas prices the way they are now, they need to bring that to America asap! Its a bit ugly, but my gas bill is uglier….. it’d be nice for a day to day driver and with a $2500 price tag, it’s doable….. wonder what the insurance would be on that.
On another note, do any of ya’ll think the concept of an auto-rickshaw would work in major American cities? A car to get from one end of downtown to another seems like a waste (sometimes). An auto-rickshaw would be much more fuel efficient and would crowd our streets as much either…. Maybe wouldnt be too useful in Houston, but maybe somewhere like NY or other cities that heavily use taxis…. just a thought
Mr. Sajan here are some key details that you have missed out on…
“The Nano has just enough space for a briefcase or small bag under the hood. The engine — all two cylinders, 624cc and 33 horsepower of it —
is in the back, just like the Volkswagen Beetle of old. The speedometer and other instruments cluster in a central pod in the middle of the dashboard rather than directly in front of the driver, the easier (and cheaper) to offer both left- and right-hand versions when Tata Motors starts exporting the car to Southeast Asia and Africa in a couple of years. The top third of the over-sized headlights act as the turn signals (indicators) and look like cheeky yellow eyebrows above the main lights. It has a top speed of about 60 miles per hour. ”
So in essence bringing this car to the states would in fact be a travesty, with our advanced highways and bi-ways, constructions and destructions, this car would not last a day in the U.S. The safety measures have been compromised, there is no mention of air bags or any standards of measure to ensure that the driver is safe when behind one of these tatas (aka gas powered lawnmower). So in this case I would definitely go with the “Quality and not the Quantity”. As far as gas prices are concerned, there are definitley ways around that, i.e. carpooling, riding a bike, walking, or just plain mass transit, in this day and age people are starting to realize that its not so bad to ride the ‘metro’ and in fact, riders of mass transportation have started to notice that they are saving a lot more at the pump by taking the alternative methods.
But we can talk about the other idea of using an auto-rickshaw, which I believe has started in the larger metropolitan cities such as N.Y. or L.A., but thats another topic all together. Great blog!!
I think this car is horrible for India. First off, although it may seem as though it will help some to get around, it will create a huge addition to the traffic problem already existing on the major streets of India. The addition of thousands of these little tata cars will undoubtedly cause increasingly annoying traffic jams.
Also, i’m not sure that this car is a good thing for our environment. If we start to produce “mini-cars” such as these in over populated countries such as India, what do you think will happen to the ozone? Millions of additional cars in the world is not helping those lungs of ours.
I think this is just another scheme for automakers to consume large amounts of money from overpopulated countries without dealing with the consequences. This car poses no solution or benefit other than being a “cheap” alternative. Its a way to exploit the poor and offer them a product that will help them in the short run, but hurt all of them in the long run due to the hazardous pollution it will produce.