Team-BHP - TATA's Rs 1 lakh Car: Thumbs Up or Down

The much talked about car will make its way into Indian roads in 2008
and there seems to be few people who feel that we dont have
the infrastructure for such a car and would lead to chaos.

I think the real challenge for Tata would be to make it as fuel efficient
as possible by puting a frugal diesel engine and making it available to
the masses from day one.

Also, Tata should ensure that the spare parts are reasonably priced and
a proper after sales/distribution service is available so that the
target lower middle class owner doesnt have nightmares maintaining
the low costing car.

The logistics involved in this venture is huge and I am sure Tata
would have done his groundwork and gets it right.

Those who already own cars..Would you buy the car as an alternate
car for city drive due to its small proportions??

I think it has a lot of potential and am proud of what Tata has dreamt.

I think it is a bit early in the day to say how the final outcome will shape up. No doubt it is a pathbreaking effort. It has the potential to change the automobile landscape. And yet there could come a lot of challenges in the way.

The cost of spares and ease of maintenance is a comparatively smaller thing. Tatas are deft at handling that problem. A bigger problem is that of image and perception. We love to call it the 1 lakh rupees car. However I do not see it costing anything less than 1.3 on the road for the basic model. Now, who are they targetting? Remember we already have a M800 in production that is already billed as one of the cheapest cars in the world. And yet it has not captured the bikers market. If anything its sales have dwindled over the years.

Now a 1.3 lakh car although really cheap by the car standards is still a stiff price for people bred on 30000 rupees bikes that promise to run 100kms to a liter. Moreover I do not see this car delivering anything more than 22-24 kms to a liter in city. Again thats a tough ask for the econobikers. That leaves us with people who buy the premium bikes costing above 60000 rupees. Many of them may be capable of shelling out double the cost of their bikes to get this car. But will they? I have my doubts. These are the people who are high on the aspiration scales. They would rather ride their Pulsars and Karizmas rather than drive a dinky car that is labelled as a poor man's car. They would rather wait a few more years and move up to something like Alto or better.

And that is where lies the catch IMO. Tatas will have to create a unique proposition for this car. One that makes people to think of buying this car for its practical values than anything else. Whether that effort will succeed remains to be seen.

Totally for the Tata city runabout. It is going to provide safer, more convenient mobility for the masses.

As for the argument that the TATA small car is going to crowd our roads...It is upto the government to provide better roads/public transport, not Tatas problem. In typical Indian fashion, we address a problem when the situation gets out of hand. Atleast that way we'll get wider, better roads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaserQ (Post 480759)

As for the argument that the TATA small car is going to crowd our roads...It is upto the government to provide better roads/public transport, not Tatas problem.

This is the case of treating the symptoms and not the disease. Congestion? Increase fuel price and taxes.
Eating too much food? increase the price and put a quota on how much one can eat.
Women are being raped? Make them wear more clothes, dont send them out
and the list goes on and on...

Need for efficient and ergonomic public transport in the cities and the fact that the Tata car will bring revolution to the vehicle ownership statistics are not mutually exclusive. The Tata car is very much a boon for people in remote areas whereas the cities need better public transportation to reduce congestion. So I would have voted for both the options.

1. I don't think we have too many cars in India. We do not even buy million cars a year for a billion population whereas the same number is over couple of million for US with a third of population.

2. IMO, congestion in India is not due to too many vehicles but
a) Lack of infrastructure. Number of vehicles are doubling every year while the roads are the same as 20 years back, built to accomdate far fewer vechicles.
b) All modes of transport sharing the same roads - cars, cycles, bullock carts, and buses. The speed at which the traffic moves is the same as the top speed of the slowest vehicle.
c) Lack of freeways within city that can move vehicles at high speeds without having to stop at signals.

If above issues are not resolved, congestion is here to stay... whether TATA makes 1 lakh car or not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mayavi (Post 480859)

Well US population may be a third of India..but their landmass is 3 times the size of India
With the unprecendented rural to urban migration happening in India...whatever you do with roads & infrastructure..population will catch up.
Think Bangkok, think Shanghai, think New York !!!

( & btw I have stayed in these cities for couple of months each - tourists on weekends dont experience the traffic - Weekdays is when the road system is strained with traffic jams)...

TATA or no Tata - it will be a colossal waste of money to spend on roads - rather invest in railways, Metros & other innovative public transportation systems

Quote:

Originally Posted by paharino1 (Post 480864)

Well US population may be a third of India..but their landmass is 3 times the size of India

Most of which is not inhabited...

Quote:

Originally Posted by paharino1 (Post 480864)

With the unprecendented rural to urban migration happening in India...whatever you do with roads & infrastructure..population will catch up.
Think Bangkok, think Shanghai, think New York !!!

NY's population is not due to rural to uraban migration. People move to NY because it provides better oppurtunities.
Blr and Mumbai see huge rural to urban migration because there are *NO* oppurtunities in rural areas.
So building infrastructure in cities in not the solution. Investing in infrastructure of the country as a whole is the solution. No half-assed attempts at building infra are going to work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paharino1 (Post 480864)

TATA or no Tata - it will be a colossal waste of money to spend on roads - rather invest in railways, Metros & other innovative public transportation systems

I do not understand this logic. No matter how good your public transportation is, you would still need good surface roads and freeways.

Tata need to spruce up there sales / dealer relationship quite a lot. I was shopping around for the Xeta, wanted a particular colour, which was not available with the dealers, and and both dealers in my city were adopting a "take it or leave it" attitude; one finally offered to try to get in contact with Tatas, and it took him 3 days to tell that the delivery will take another 15 days. Need less to say, I cancelled the demand draft in favour of the dealer.
Tatas need to ensure that such things do not happen.