Nano: The car that’s been…

Tata’s Nano has been the bestseller for Delhi Auto Expo 2008. “The Cup spilleth forth”, as they say, in Pragati Maidan this year to see this wee-wonder. The hatchback attracted people from not only national borders but internationally too. The car measures 2928 mm in length, 1417 mm in width and 1512 mm in height. In this the car is smaller than Maruti 800 by 8 percent. This, however, does not undermine the space inside the car because Nano has 21 percent more passenger space than 800.

The makers promise that Nano will provide a mileage of 26 kmpl on the highways and 22 kmpl in the city. The basic model would lighten your pockets by Rs 1.2-1.3 lakhs. That will be sans AC or power windows or seats that can adjust or airbags (but even other entry-level cars amounting to Rs 3-5 lakhs don’t sport this feature. So we are good!) The point in consideration is that even without these features, it’s a “whole” car, complete with steering wheel, braking system, engine, suspension, everything. Tata has produced a four-wheeled vehicle for an amount of money which is little more than people set out for higher-end bikes or little more than an auto-rickshaw costs. Mr. Ratan Tata made a very remarkable comment about this in an interview, “…we initially conceived this as a low-end ‘rural car,’ probably without doors or windows and with plastic curtains that rolled down, a four-wheel version of the auto-rickshaw, in a manner of speaking. But as the development cycle progressed we realised that we could — and needed to — do a whole lot better. And so we slowly gravitated towards a car like everyone expects a car to be.”

Some people internationally are scoffing at the idea of a 1-lakh car and questioning the active and the passive security provided by it. The argument spreads out to encompass questions like it will worsen the condition on the pot-holed roads and the traffic jams (that is something Indian administrators should be ashamed of!). Reading comments like these, I am always left wondering if these people really know what they are talking about. I wonder if they have ever been to India or any such countries, where families of four are precariously balanced on a two-wheeler riding towards their destination. Because it was this example that induced Mr. Tata to come out with the car that he did. To give the rising middle-class a momentum of security and mobility. And its not only in India that a family of four (or five at times) is seen on a two-wheeler carrying out a sheer act of bravado and moving between speeding traffic, its been a trend in a lot of countries — what they like to call the developing economies.

The car has been called “Peoples’ car” and not “People’s car”. This phrase, in German, directly translates to Volkswagen. When Adolf Hitler unveiled Volkswagen, it resulted in Beetle. And Beetle made history. Tata seems to be well on its way to do that too. Tata Motors seems to want not just the Indians but the world to embrace the idea. And the car. If anything, the nano-technology Nano has sure created a new market altogether which was previously untapped and unexplored. The acknowledgement of its discovery and its success has come from surprising quarters. Companies like Volkswagen, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Bajaj (together with Renault and Nissan) have come out with plans to introduce low-budget cars too. One wonders if the criticism voiced from certain parts of the world has something to do with the nationality of this genius of a piece of engineering and technological revolution. I think so.

Tata Nano became the image of Auto Expo 2008 and colored it Indian, even in the presence of stalwarts like BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Volvo and General Motors and we are proud of that. Way to go Mr. Tata! (Administrators Sirs, can we have you follow suit and expand the road networks and better the existing ones. Come September, the traffic is just going to get bigger!)