Tata Nano - A Revolution or Just a 4-wheeled Autorikshaw?

It’s finally here! After almost 3 years of speculation and waiting, the much talked-about 1 lakh car made its first public appearance. On January 10, 2008, with the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey” playing in the background, Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors drove the small white car onto Tata Motors’ show stage where it joined two others. The applause was such that one might have imagined that a movie star had come on stage! “They are not concept cars, they are not prototypes,” Mr. Tata announced when he got out of the car. “They are the production cars that will roll out of the Singur plant later this year.” The base price for the Nano will be 1,20,000 rupees, including road tax and delivery. Higher level models will cost more and come with air-conditioning. 

With the launch of the “People’s Car”, Ratan Tata has silenced his critics yet again, just like he did with the Tata Indica, which, in 1998, was India's first indigenously designed, developed and manufactured car. People said it could not be done, but he proved them wrong. Now he has done it again. And what’s more, he has also kept his word that the car would cost just 1 lakh rupees. He has even proved other manufacturers wrong, who said that developing such a low-cost car was practically impossible. Now, why did Mr. Tata decide to build this car? To put it in his words, this is how he was inspired to develop the 1 lakh car-“Three or four family members on a scooter, the kid standing in the front, the guy driving the scooter and the wife sitting side saddle holding a little kid.”- and he did what he had promised. The one sentence that had the greatest impact on the audience was -“A promise is a promise”- which he said while revealing the actual base price of the car. This ensured that they would keep their silence for some time. “Today, we indeed have a People’s Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, and to be fuel efficient and spacious enough for a small family,” Mr. Tata added. “We are happy to present the People’s Car to India and we hope it brings the joy, pride and utility of owning a car to many families who need personal mobility.”

Many critics laughed at the idea of such a small, cheap car. They said it would be like an autorickshaw with four wheels. But that is not what Mr. Tata had in mind. So, the four-door, four-seater Nano is a little over 10 feet long and nearly 5 feet wide. It is powered by a 623cc two-cylinder, four-stroke engine that is located at the back of the car and drives the rear wheels. With 35bhp of power and 48Nm of torque, the Nano is capable of a (electronically limited)top speed of about 105kmph and is claimed to give an efficiency of around 23.5kmpl. Its four small wheels are at the absolute corners to improve handling and increase interior space. There is a small boot at the front, big enough for a couple of small bags. Surprisingly, though the Nano is 8% smaller than the Maruti Suzuki 800 (its intended competitor) on the exterior, its interiors are 21% more spacious than the latter, with four people able to sit comfortably and five making it a bit of a squeeze.

Once the initial excitement faded away, the critics opened their mouths again. Some said that the Nano will put a lot of stress on the already-crumbling infrastructure of India. Well, there will be a lot of stress initially, but this is exactly the thing that will wake up the government and make them do what they have been putting off all these years, that is to improve the conditions of roads and also improve public transport in cities. The government will then have to improve regulations such as emission norms and make safety features such as ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) compulsory in new cars. Others said the car was unsafe and would not meet emission norms. Mr. Tata silenced these people by saying that the Nano would come equipped with the required safety features including crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat-belts, strong seats and anchorages, ABS and tubeless tyres and that the car would also conform to Euro III/IV and Bharat Stage III/IV emission norms. However, what most critics complained about the Nano was that it would lead to unimaginable levels of congestion.

But hey, the Nano is not a car made just for cities, people from rural areas and small towns will buy it too, and there is no question of congestion in such places. In cities, the notorious autorickshaw, which costs more, could be replaced by the Nano, and passengers would be safe too, unlike the utterly unsafe autorickshaw, in which there is virtually nothing to protect the passengers during an accident. The Nano will also create more jobs. New factories will have to be set up for its assembly, for which lots of manpower is needed. It will be exported to, and sold in other countries, whose economies will improve as a result. As some people are saying, the Nano will do to India what the Volkswagen Beetle, the original “people’s car” did to Germany after the Second World War. The Tata Nano is not just another car; it’s a revolution in the world of automobiles. It’s the most awaited car. And it’s here.〄