[amit_mechengg]

its a very nice car. i saw it myself today running very fast. a bit noisy but damn good pick up. even the driver sprung it over a speedbreaker , i felt its very stable.
please dont ask where did u see the test run!

[rajshenoy]

I hope along with this, there is improvement in our road conditions as well as public transportation systems so that the other choice, chaotic traffic will not arrise.

To be frank, i feel the two and three wheelers are causing more problems on our roads than the cars

[Ajay_J]

Originally Posted by GTO

Just one line : If the road infrastructure is insufficient to cope with automotive growth, who is to blame? The car manufacturer or the transportation department?

Especially when buyer is paying ROAD TAX upfront when buying car. On top of that there is VAT TAX on every sale, and every service bill has service tax. Then the buyer also pay income tax and probably the property tax too. And the best past is that he buys fuel the here in india that is probably the costliest in the world because the great govt india tax it so high.
Before blaming TATA lets first ask where the hell all this money going.

[Lalvaz]

hey Amit - You are so lucky. All of us are dying to see the car in person and you've actually had a TD. So, tell us more, how is the car in terms of power, FE, space, fit n finish? Also, is the boot at the rear, just above the engine or in the front? Does it have power steering or manual? What are the innovative ideas that make this stand out from the others? Pls. give some more details. Thank you.

[suman]

I voted for the first option.

Originally Posted by Brosreview

As far as I see it, I feel he meant this was a poor peoples’ car; world’s cheapest car with cheap in terms of class. The ones who leave for work in the morning with a Tiffin carrier, with their kids catching a rented rickshaw, or who cycle or catch a school bus, or walk to school.

- I thought Newbies post were subject to moderation? Excellent language & framing no doubt but content slightly offensive methinks. By the way Brosreview, Ratan Tata did mention that this car was primarily targeted at the small families that presently commute precariously perched on two wheelers.

Also, I wonder if you know what percentage of kids in the NCR travel by school bus - it may shatter your concept of what constitutes "class"

[khaadu75]

Originally Posted by suman

I voted for the first option.


- I thought Newbies post were subject to moderation? Excellent language & framing no doubt but content slightly offensive methinks. By the way Brosreview, Ratan Tata did mention that this car was primarily targeted at the small families that presently commute precariously perched on two wheelers.

Also, I wonder if you know what percentage of kids in the NCR travel by school bus - it may shatter your concept of what constitutes "class"

U back to being a school teacher ....

And pls ... NANO is gonna change a lot of mindsets in the coming months !! I for one wudn't mind one .. for the daily running around jobs but obviously the model with the AC function . Also it being a RWD , might manage inducing a lil drift which then will def make me buy it -- though the high body stance might go against the theory of drifting it .

TATA Motors has done an excellent job by sticking to their promise and coming up a car which one wudn't mind being seen in . Maybe the autowallahs will shift over to this as an auto costs almost 2 lakhs + and has lesser features than this .

Way to go TATA ...

[suman]

Originally Posted by khaadu75

Also it being a RWD , might manage inducing a lil drift which then will def make me buy it -- though the high body stance might go against the theory of drifting it .

Heh-heh, that was the first thought that came to my mind at the mention of RWD - Mr Saazid may want to buy it as his 4th or 5th car - you know, some friendly neighbourhood drifting as it were, around the VK car park

[katalysm76]

Originally Posted by rkg

you have said it yourself mate.

"Today all can buy cars....... but with every1 buyin a car, it just will cos alot of traffic problems"

so you want only few can and should be buying cars and be able to go home with in an hour. you did not like it because all can buy and it will take 2 hours to reach home

" n if ppl start gettin the nano out n just one person in it, u tell me will it help the traffic"

you tell me if it helps traffic if one guy sits in an innova/ Honda city/Camry/Mercedes compared to nano?

it is indeed about the rights of rich vs poor only. as long as the rich can go freely in their cars however big there, whatever be the fuel efficiency it is ok.there will be no traffic problems/pollution etc etc. but if average indian family takes nano it is causes pollution, traffic jams etc etc.

governments over the time abdicated their responsibility to general public and catered to the needs of mighty by building broader roads, widening the existing roads, instead of building an efficient public transport, which would have mitigated the current traffic problems.

as of now all the major cities have traffic bottlenecks. you tell me what caused these traffic problems? Is it NANO or the private cars which occupy the precious and scarce resource "ROADS" which are meant for all the indian population not for a few.

because of these cars traffic slowed down affecting the ordinary indian who travels by bus. he/she also have right to faster transport not only the affluent. whom shall he/she has to blame ?

So the need is for efficient and cheaper public transport.

imposing higher taxes on those who use private transport and cause traffic bottlenecks

in almost all the major western countries there is congestion tax if one uses private transport over public transport. why don't we have it here. why not huge parking fees in public places where the cars occupy the roads making it difficult to pedestrians and public alike?

with u my friend, ppl must understand not to get their cars out if it is just 1 person traveling its goin to cause a traffic, may it be any car..... just lets keep it to this..... i like the Nano, n i think its cute n will wrk .... waiting to take a test drive....

[Srini76]

I presume its a little too early to decide on how the infrastructure will be affected or for that matter how many people will go in for the car !! the reason being that hype or response to the hype is different and actual purchase is different !! more so considering the market response during launch which has been good for almost all models ranging from the 1 lakh car to the Maybach, the actuals will perhaps speak for them selves and its gonna be a wait and watch game !!

Just a fleeting thought , whilst I admire Mr. Tata for achieving this, I am not sure if tata is also going the road of Maruti and the costs will increase over time.

[burnt.]

The following are excerpts from Ratan Tata's interview published in the India Today magazine dated January 21, 2008


Q. What do you make of the protests?

A. A small section of the people seems to grudge against others' aspiration to improve the quality of life, based on perceptions of adequate infrastructure, congestion, emission etc. I wonder if that element of society has the right to decide for the rest of the community.



Q. Are you saying there is a latent elitism? It is ok to pollute and congest if you are rich but not okay if you are not so rich.

A. No. There is a section which thinks throwing something open to the masses is a disaster. But India is a country of people who have a great deal of unsatisfied demand. It is wrong to believe people don't have the capacity to invest, own and improve the quality of their lives. As we speak capacities are being increased for cars and bikes, bit I don't see anyone protesting about it.



Q. What are the challenges that you see ahead?

A. We have to fond innovative ways to finance the car in rural India and design a new distribution system without the layers, to cut costs.



Q. Is the car a social objective or a business objective?

A. It is a bit of both actually. You don't produce a car with low margins as a business case. You do it because you want to make a contribution to the uplift of lives. You also don't go into a venture to lose money, but you make some sacrifices by accepting leaner profit margins.

[muni]

Originally Posted by burnt.

Q. What do you make of the protests?
A. A small section of the people seems to grudge against others' aspiration to improve the quality of life, based on perceptions of adequate infrastructure, congestion, emission etc. I wonder if that element of society has the right to decide for the rest of the community.

Q. Are you saying there is a latent elitism? It is ok to pollute and congest if you are rich but not okay if you are not so rich.
A. No. There is a section which thinks throwing something open to the masses is a disaster. But India is a country of people who have a great deal of unsatisfied demand. It is wrong to believe people don't have the capacity to invest, own and improve the quality of their lives. As we speak capacities are being increased for cars and bikes, bit I don't see anyone protesting about it.

Q. What are the challenges that you see ahead?
A. We have to fond innovative ways to finance the car in rural India and design a new distribution system without the layers, to cut costs.

Q. Is the car a social objective or a business objective?

A. It is a bit of both actually. You don't produce a car with low margins as a business case. You do it because you want to make a contribution to the uplift of lives. You also don't go into a venture to lose money, but you make some sacrifices by accepting leaner profit margins.

Ratan Tata atleast on a few ocassions has mentioned about the detractors trying to bring down the project and has stated that he would reveal the names when the time is ripe.

Wonder who is trying to wreck havoc in this venture of his. We for once, are looking at somebody who has for the sake of our people sacrificed his time , energy and big profit margins for what he believes is required for this country.

Am waiting to know who those rats are. My guess is from the auto industry itself??

[srh]

Originally Posted by ponniah_ashok

Dude!

I only wish TATA had perfected the existing models of Indica and Indigo(more than 6 years and no significant product change yet!!!) rather than eyeing quick bucks through the so called sensation.

Well my Indica Xeta is almost as perfect or imperfect as any other car on Indian roads in its segment. In fact I can keep on arguing about how it is better value for money than any of the Maruti cars (on technical, financial as well as emotional terms)

I see people cribbing about one brand being better than another brand (in the same segment). What one forgets is that a good part of the car is actually made by vendors and the same vendor supplies the parts to multiple OEMs. In fact, in some cases, even the design of components/ sub-systems is done by the vendors. So what it implies is that a vendor supplies good components to one OEM and bad component to another OEM. I don't think that it is the truth.

[katalysm76]

If everyone in the metros ends up buying a Nano the already chaotic traffic would become worse. It sends shivers down my spine thinking of Rickshaws and Nanos bustling for the same tight space in the busy roads of Mumbai. I believe, and i think others will agree with me, that cities like banglore and delhi won't be better off than Mumbai.
What this car will end up doing in the small towns and villages will be nothing short of spetacular. In the city we think that a car for every home would be a nightmare, but in small towns it would be a big boon.

[pgsagar]

Nano and traffic jams? Traffic jams and narrow roads are infrastructure problems which need to be tackled by government and elected representatives rather than a car manufacturer. Why are these critics singling out Tata only? they didn't raise this against two wheeler and auto-rick manufacturers who unleashed countless mobikes and auto-ricks on Indian roads.

[ac 427]

to begin with, Ratan Tata is a ROCKSTAR. He has put us on the map wrt to the Automobile market. We were always a very Good market, but were never looked at like a threat for the international players. With the 'nano' every major automobile manufacturer is wondering how did tata manage this. How did they break the $3000 mark.

Secondly the 'nano' has been listed in the time magazines '12 cars that changed the world' this respect has been bestowed on to us . . . we need to thank Mr. Tata for that.


Thirdly if we blame that our infrastructure is not ready for this car, i am telling this to all of you, 15 years down the line our infrastructure will not be ready at that time also. I mean look at the condition today, anyone who drives in Mumbai will agree with me, ROAD ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. Its the hawkers, encrochers, bad parking, bad driving that is the problem. I mean the SV road, 50 % of that road has been blocked by hawkers. Now is that caused by Tata ?

So i personally belive that the 'nano' will push the govt, to think of radical and new ways to make travel better in the metros. Kudos to tata !!!!!