The proof of the pudding is in the eating; the proof of a car is in the driving. Steve Cropley of Autocar UK takes the Tata Nano for a spin and comes away mighty impressed. Hormazd Sorabjee of Autocar India calls it a “Triumph of Indian ingenuity”.
Also read: Can India survive the Tata Nano?
Tags: Autocar India, Autocar UK, Churumuri, Henry Ford, Hormazd Sorabjee, Sans Serif, Steve Cropley, Tata Motors, Tata Nano
25 March 2009 at 3:42 am
Where will the children play?
One estimate is that it will immediately allow an additional 14 million to own cars. How much land is needed to allow all those cars? Do the math.
Let me not spoil the occassion of launch of Nano. The way out is to increase parking and tolls and direct those funds to public transport. Not by stopping families from owning cars or allowing only the rich to own them.
25 March 2009 at 10:05 am
Slightly off topic but I find it really funny that Conservatives are accused of being no-changers and status quoists.
Henry Ford himself was a Conservative much like his friend Thomas Alva Edison. Both were inventive geniuses.
25 March 2009 at 11:24 am
Sometimes not being able to afford something is also good!!
During the 80s owning a two wheeler was a dream. 90s changed that. There was a phenomenol rise in the number of two wheelers that were being sold. Not because the cost came down, but the means of purchasing changed. Instead of putting up full amount of the vehicle as advance, the same could be purchased through an auto loan. The result being far too many two wheelers in the streets than we could accomodate them.
Same thing is happening to the cars now. With a cheap car coming into the streets, we are going to see a lot more cars on the roads than our roads can take. With parking already becoming a nightmare in most of our cities, specially in Bangalore, we can only shudder at what is likely to happen when all the cars clutter our roads and parking space!!!
25 March 2009 at 6:02 pm
I agree with Maald. The future scenario with Nano is described here http://nadunudi.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/car-baar/
25 March 2009 at 8:23 pm
Ok. I think with Nano coming along (and I love this car!), de-congestion rules will have to come into play. I guess authorities will be forced to implement various measures that will limit the number of vehicles on our roads.
25 March 2009 at 9:20 pm
Saw this video 4 times now, and cannot get enough of it!
This car will not cause traffic issues as anticipated by many because families who own this car, will tend to take the car out on road only when there are 2 or more people to travel. Every family owns a 2-wheeler anyway for the drive alone. It may affect the our Bajaj Auto owners but, hey it comes as great relief to the elders/women in the family to get out.
Kudos to our Ratan Tata! He has registered a great revered personality in the Indian history.
25 March 2009 at 9:20 pm
For a change I agree 100% with Palahalli on this one. The Govt. will be forced to take measures that they wouldn’t have dared take in the past. And maybe, just maybe, they will go that extra mile and create self-sufficient small satellite towns around cities like Bangalore and connect them to Bangalore CBD via high speed trains.
I can dream on anyway…