Pics: Bajaj's Small Car

[Mpower]

I think Rahul Bajaj was mighty pissed that the TATA Nano will cost lesser than his rickshaw which is a 20 year old design.

[amit_mechengg]

i think what bajaj displayed was out of mighty frustration and fear. why is RAHUL Bajaj sounding like shaadi ka loud band baja...in front og mighty TATAS.
what he wants to make it in 2010 why is he so eager to pop up right now?i think he will also be worried abt his high end bikes.
dont worry rahul. till 2010 comes u will again be in pool full of water.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by Mpower

I think Rahul Bajaj was mighty pissed that the TATA Nano will cost lesser than his rickshaw which is a 20 year old design.

Does this car also have the pull start ? do you have to tilt it to one side before we start ??

sorry couldn't resist.

[AMATMO]

since bajaj is planning to sell this car at a price eqivalent to the santro or spark,i dont think it has any intention to compete with the tata,however i feel he has done this for some publicity,as over a period of time bajaj is loosing its limelight

[Jayabusa]

the door latches are a rip-off of the santro's.

[benbsb29]

I dont understand why all of us have to criticize Bajaj for showcasing their car! Agreed, it was displayed a day before the launch of the 1 lakh car, but so what?! As consumers, we should appreciate the effort taken by Indian companies to bring out new launches.

As for whether this car would succeed, i think it would.

[raul]

Bajaj is playing a spoilt sport questioning the Nano's viability. He could be gracious like Anand Mahindra. You can compete without being small minded.

The rickshaw is dying for innovation, safety, performance, pollution, stability there so many things that can be tried, a more perfect platfrom to innovate cannot be found, but Bajaj has just sat on that without a single idea. It's another matter that other enterprising people have not explored this opportunity further.

[SuperSyn]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

As consumers, we should appreciate the effort taken by Indian companies to bring out new launches.

Certainly we should appreciate the effort and more competetion from all quarters, only this isn't a launch.

Showing up with an all new one-of-a-kind hand made prototype which you do not have the ability to manufacture or market is poor form, particularly when you are a new enterant. Even more so if you are actually serious about this; lay the foundations first, rather than selling paper dreams.

This isn't an established manufacturer showing up with a model replacement or a new car, and so do not deserve any slack.

This is more like some roadside romeo who goes around with a poster of Deepika Padukone and wants everyone to believe that she'll be his wife "soon".

The romeo is entitled to his delusion (and ambition). In turn we are also free to mock him and hold him in contempt.

PS: I have nothing but good wishes for romeo. If he behaved like a gentleman he might have better chance of achieving his goal, though.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

I dont understand why all of us have to criticize Bajaj for showcasing their car! Agreed, it was displayed a day before the launch of the 1 lakh car, but so what?! As consumers, we should appreciate the effort taken by Indian companies to bring out new launches.

The criticism in this forum is because Bajaj does not have a car in the first place. They are not even claiming that they have a car which is feasible in the technical, economic or design sense.

All they have is an idea, and they are actually looking around for partners to bring in the design and manufacturing expertise.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

As consumers, we should appreciate the effort taken by Indian companies to bring out new launches.

Originally Posted by SuperSyn

Showing up with an all new one-of-a-kind hand made prototype which you do not have the ability to manufacture or market is poor form, particularly when you are a new enterant.

Did TATA have any ability to manufacture anything except trucks ? why would you put this company down so bad ? They already have 3 wheelers in production for a long time & make some wonderful very popular motorcycles too. Please do not pass judgements like this without actually seeing what they can do. I am all for bajaj also to enter this segment and TVS too, if they can.

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

The criticism in this forum is because Bajaj does not have a car in the first place.

To repeat what i said before, TATA did not have a car before too, hope you understand that.

[raul]

I think Bajaj's ungracious statements and timing of showing the car just before the Nano launch in a misguided attempt to take some steam off Tata's offering was in extreme bad form. His negative statements corroborate his intentions. The Nano is imminent, the Bajaj car is at least 4 years away if at all. That's the difference.

[dhaval]

Good attempt by Bajaj. The car(prototype) looks good. Now that the design is there, what comes under the hood remains to be seen.
well the Tatas took good 5 years to develop a 1lac car, right from its design inception to the end product, compared to it, must say that Bajaj is really fast. It designed the car first and now will spend 2-3 years more before it actually starts producing the car..

[DonVilano]

this car looks weird from the exterior and the intrior is cool

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Didn't Maruti present concept A- star? Was that a complete car? its recieved as a concept.

Just because Bajaj didnt name it as a concept doesnt mean it should not have been there.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Did TATA have any ability to manufacture anything except trucks ? why would you put this company down so bad ? They already have 3 wheelers in production for a long time & make some wonderful very popular motorcycles too.

Tata did not have the ability to even manufacture trucks. They had a technical collobration with Benz of Germany, and some old timers in the trucking industry still refer to Tata trucks as "benz" vehicles.

I really think that the initiative by Bajaj is commendable. But the way they launched, the timing, the kind of plan they have (or more appropriately, do not have) to back up the concept reeks of one-up-manship.

I think no body here would have criticised Bajaj if they had said "this is what we have, we will launch this in 2009". Instead, they say, "this is what we are planning, if we get a collaborator to tell us how to set up an assembly line and also give us an engine, transmission and help us sell this, we may put up a plant to build this car, which may be launched sometime in far future".

This is not just a matter fo approach (the glass half-full / half empty kind). It is the kind of frog-in-the-well attitude, which reeks of "I cannot do it, I will not allow the guys who do this to take any credit also".

The language Bajaj is talking makes me suspect their bonafides.