The People's car
Just in time for the new year, Tata (a venerable business group in India) has launched the Tata Nano - a veritable people's car. The magic selling price that Tata Motors was shooting for was 1 lakh (Rs. 100,000 or approx US$ 2,500) but with delivery charges and taxes, the price rises by about 20% for the base model. To my untrained eye, it looks much like the Smart car that I saw in Europe a few years ago.
In any case, I have no doubt that this will address at least one disconcerting issue from when I grew up in India. I would often see a family (man, woman and 1-3 little children) riding on a 2 wheeler - scooter and motorcycle! I always wondered how they would survive even the slightest bump on the road or the rains - both of which we had in plentiful supply in Calcutta (aka Kolkata). Now they have a true alternative.
Some commentators have questioned the car's safety features and lack of amenities. I bet that family on the scooter isn't as concerned. Increasing traffic...now that's a different problem!
Pardon my rant ..
Considering that our roads are already a hazard, this is going
to create a nightmare. We will need Walmart size parking lots
in Chandni Chowk? I guess they will bulldoze the red fort to make
room to park all the nanos.
Time for more people to use bus/subway, not vice versa. The
'dream' of owning a 4 wheel vehicle will become a nightmare
for the planet and everybody else.
These cars may meet EU emission standards, but they still emit pollution, and need petrol.
Multiply by the millions and it becomes substantial...
What about drivers education? What does a buffalo/camel impact against the plastic fender look @ 70kph like?
Sigh.
The solution for a country like India is to improve infrastructure
and public transport, not get everybody to own a car, with nowhere to go or park it.
And we can't even invade an oil producing country....
Posted by ajay on January 10, 2008 at 06:23 PM PST #
Ajay:
Your point is a good one and well-understood by anybody who has gone to India and spent hours sitting in traffic on overcongested roads. One solution would be to improve roads and infrastructure in the villages/outlying area (a la USA in the 60s) to relieve the overcrowding in the cities and begin to develop the heartland.
It would have been ideal if India had achieved great success in improving the infrastructure and educating the population before all these cars hit the streets but it didn't work out quite that way. So maybe this is the way we'll have to get there - a uniquely Indian solution where technological advancements of a minority will uplift the majority to a higher standard of living.
Posted by Ashesh Badani on January 11, 2008 at 09:49 AM PST #