Tata 1-lakh car ready, but does India really need it ???

[bigman]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

If people with similar feelings had their way in the early 80s when Maruti was planning to launch, we'd still be driving to work in Ambassadors, Fiats and Heralds. Thank god for Sanjay Gandhi - the REAL father of motoring in India.

If driving has become progressively more difficult over the last ten years it is not Maruti's fault but the fault of a shortsighted government which still expects the country to churn out double digit growth figures on an infrastructure that was put in place in the early 5-year plans of Jawaharlal Nehru. It is a pity that it took the first full-term non-congress government to relook at the infrastructure that he put in place.

How come nobody blames Bill Gates for the slow bandwidth we have to live with thanks to the proliferation of personal computers? If we didnt have Windows we'd probably have computers relegated to the IT departments, no torrent streams and no congestion on the internet.

Sure the government has a lot to answer for but the manufacture also has a moral responsibility especially if they are fully aware of the problems that the launch of their product will create.

Its like McDonalds (and the other fast food chains) and the storm over obesity. At the end of the day no one forces the food down peoples mouths but the companies have made a move into providing healthy options due to the obesity issue (& commercial reasons).

Sometimes a manufacture has to look at related issues and in this case I am of the opinion that the issue of driving standards in India should be looked at.

I doubt anyone will bother and at the end of the day it is joe public who will suffer.

[carCrazy25]

Originally Posted by man23ish

Now, Imagine 25% of a billion people splurging fuel in a 1 Lakh car, not only will this result in the fuel-prices reaching sky-high.. But will also result in fuel-shortages.. What we need is rapid investment in alternate sources of energy..

I am sorry for taking this thing so much off-topic.. But i feel that this is the right forum of educated, knowledgable people who can understand, foresee and envisage the things to come in the future.. I am just putting the facts as i see it.. And i really feel strongly about it..

Your way off your mark, 250 million 1 lakh cars, that's not even gonna happen in next 30 years.By next 30 years i am pretty sure, Infrastructure back home would have improved a lot.

Why dont you look at it this way, 1 lakh car is a viable option for anyone is willing to buy a 2 wheeler. Assuming there is something around 200000 2 wheelers sold every month.I guess TATA would be able to sell around 40K to 50 K a month, even that is a very very huge number. TATA's wouldnt be able to manufacture that many.
Rapid investment in alternate sources of energy is already being done, TATA's are in collaboration with an Italian company for to bring air fuel technology.
There are various other alternate sources, but these are not practical choices for cars.Reva for example can be taken for an example, it's really not a viable option as a middle class man's car.
Hybrid cars are an option, but it's going to take some time to make it mainstream.
If there is no 1 lakh car, ppl would obviously buy bikes, that's in no way going to reduce Traffic or stop gas prices from rising high. I appreciate your thought towards environment protection, but car manufacturers are aware of this and there are environmental laws in place to reduce the increase in pollution.
There are a lot of things that could be argued in here, but from an economic growth point of view, India needs this type of Innovation from our own companies. US inspite of being the worlds richest country and the largest polluter has shyed away from the Kyoto protocol, just to ensure that it's economy doesnt get affected, but they are also trying to ensure they bring down pollution levels.
This argument could go on and on.
Give it some time, in the long run, environment laws will become even more stringent, progress in technology will bring alternate fuels.
I whole heartedly welcome this car from TATA.

And about Hybrid cars causing less pollution, i will give u an example.
Mercedes S-Class won for the award for being the most enviromentally friendly car, and beat Toyota prius to win the award.

[pugram]

The 800 was supposed to be a people's car when it was launched. It was priced lower to take on Sipani's Dolphin which was successful then.

It did kill the Dolphin. But are we crawling with 800's now ?

Nope, I think the buying public will definitely decide what is good or bad for them. And when an individual buys, he does have certain parameters before he makes a buying decision, of which driving through daily traffic is one.

People go in for 2 wheelers in crowded cities, as it is more convenient to find the gaps and move on. Same with me too. Though i had the peugeot, i commute to office on my bike.

But think of the benefits of the small car. Definitely a better option for a Second car in the family. You can accomodate (?) more cars in the crowded parking lots. And lastly you should be getting a better mileage. Hopefully all the auto drivers migrate to this small car, so that they cannot poke their nose around.

Our government, even after 50 yrs, is not a pro-active one. (We had one visionary in Vajpayee and ask the Lorry drivers who drive long distances on these roads) We have a reactive government, which will enter only when things are set to a boil. The government and industry must go hand in hand, needless to say.

sorry if I had been long, my opinions.

[maxbhp]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Population density:
Japan: 339
India: 336
France: 313

Car density (Y2000):
Japan 413.3
India 5.9
France 476.5
Even if we assume car density has doubled in last 6 years, its still 12 cars per 1000 people.
Again if we assume other vehicles (like Truck, Bus, Bike/Scooter, etc) are relative to population, then India car density is very low.

If Japan can handle a car density of 413.3, why not India?

What you have put forward is on an average scale .

Could you please tell me the car density in congested city like Bombay,Bangalore , MAdras , Delhi , am sure its over what you have stated .

Even cochin for that matter has started getting traffic congestion . It may be partly coz of inefficient traffic control . What ever the reason may be . Its simply getting out of control at times .

If they add another 30% of cars into these cities ,the best way for travelling will be jumping over cars coz am sure they are not going to move faster than 5kmph .

Density of 333/sqkm is on an average scale which include sq.miles of unused land in different places . I dont think thats a good way of calculating the actual scene in Metros.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by tushky

is this the real photo of 1 lakh car???

sourse- [COLOR=#0000ff]http://www.autobild.de/heftarc...3D%3D[/COLOR]

this looks like a very good design, may be a concept design for a hybrid vehicle.
but this one is too nice to be a 1 lakh car. we can expect a basic design for 1 lakh and i think tata might use a fibre body. i heard, dolphin car had a fibre body. any guesses whether the tata's car would be on the lines of dolphin or may be the same with better mechanicals and a decent engine.

[spadival]

Originally Posted by man23ish

Now, Imagine 25% of a billion people splurging fuel in a 1 Lakh car, not only will this result in the fuel-prices reaching sky-high.. But will also result in fuel-shortages.. What we need is rapid investment in alternate sources of energy..

I am sorry for taking this thing so much off-topic.. But i feel that this is the right forum of educated, knowledgable people who can understand, foresee and envisage the things to come in the future.. I am just putting the facts as i see it.. And i really feel strongly about it..

How do you commute to office? by public transport or by your own car/bike?

[nbr]

Originally Posted by spadival

How do you commute to office? by public transport or by your own car/bike?

He has mentioned that ,he commutes to office by HONDA ETERNO,after selling his 4 wheler

[Ram_NP]

As there is lot of opposition to their factory in West Bengal, hopefully TATA's will meet the deadline set by them for the roll out.

Anyone has any info about the fact that Mr. Rantan TATA accuses of the competition is fueling the movement to oppose the factory at West Bengal?

[man23ish]

Originally Posted by spadival

How do you commute to office? by public transport or by your own car/bike?

Well, my work-place is just 3 kms from my home. And i use my scooter to go to office. But often, i also decide to take a walk to office.. I've enjoyed walking to my office listening to music on a walkman, than riding a two-wheeler or driving a car and concentrating/ focussing on the traffic around me..

The music keeps me fresh after getting to office. If i am driving/riding to office in the Bangalore traffic, i usually need about 30-45 minutes to restore my sanity before getting on to any meaningful work. ;-)

Well, i wish that the Rs 1 Lakh car is as fuel-efficient as it is cost-efficient.. Also just to clarify, (at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite) Tata is my favourite manufacturer and he has indeed done India proud and the Tata-Mobile/ 207/ Telcoline is my favorite country vehicle, although i don't own one at the moment..

[nbr]

Originally Posted by man23ish

Well, my work-place is just 3 kms from my home. And i use my scooter to go to office. But often, i also decide to take a walk to office.. I've enjoyed walking to my office listening to music on a walkman, than riding a two-wheeler or driving a car and concentrating/ focussing on the traffic around me..

..

well, all people may not be lucky enough to get their offices at a distance of only 3 kms from homes.

[grvanand]

Guys, I do strongly feel that India needs this Tata car (since the name of topic is changed now) and also many more from the competitors. Come on, it costs Rs. 1,00,000 and is not free for anyone to use it as an alternative to walking on the footpath. From a long term perspective, this could make India the global factory for small car manufacturing like what China has done with Computers. As for consumption of resourses, it should be on par or slightly more than the two wheelers on our roads which is not a bad thing after all. It could replace many unsafe two wheelers as well as three wheelers (read somewhere that Bajaj Autorickshaw costs around 1.5 lacks). Its got far too many positives as compared to the negatives as mentioned here, atleast to me.

[Suryam]

In India majority people live outside major cities. Public transport for those villages/small-cities/towns almost none or very-infrequent (leave alone nights and holidays/sunday/etc) OR irregular.

There are lots of ocassions one need such cheap/affordable cars for following reasons:

* What about somebody falling sick and nearest hospitial is 30 kms away.

* What about an accident case where one cannot sit on bike/etc due to:
# May be spine injuries,etc
# May be old people

* What about safe travel to nearest raly.station for dropping young-children/parents -- that too in night
* What about rainy days -- will they have to go unsafely on bikes/scooters on bad roads
* What about a student(s) misses a public transport bus and his exams are nearest city which 30 kms away. (Student is just example. you can imagine)

* What about a public transport stopping due to:
# Strike like karntaka bund
# Strike by RTC unions
# Bus breakdown

One can understand what I am saying only if stayed in villages and remote places + small towns/cities(or heard the stories,etc).

We can simply say this-guy/that-guy is wrong and XYZ should have moral responsibility,etc. All of these suggestions are OK (and their intent is also good), but IMHO I feel still most of us don't know the reality of ground-scenarios of such big country(like us) with such complex/divurse possiblities.

We are judging/seeing problem in one-way only

After hearing all of these nice/good/noble ideas(raised on this thread, one quote from some great-person(I don't remember) comes to my mind:

' Think about not-what country/countrymen gives to you, BUT
Rather Think about what you can give to country/countrymen within your limits'

[car_crazy1400]

Just saw this on CNBC, Ratan Tata said that they will launch the car at one lac price and it will come with a 600 c.c. monobloc engine (?)

[hell_rider]

way to go !!!!

Power to the people !!!

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by car_crazy1400

it will come with a 600 c.c. monobloc engine (?)

Kinetic-Honda-like Engine plus CVT in one box?