Well, the day finally arrived, when the TATA's juggernaut unveiled the common man's dream car (some say its Ratan Tata's Dream which he spoke about in 2003 though!) at the 'Auto Expo 2008' being held in the capital today.
The "People's car" as it was and is being labeled would definitely be a welcome to all those of us, who wanted more than a bike but could not afford a car, at the today's prevalent prices. But if you really consider the practicalities, a lot of 1Lakh car options have been available and are available, albeit in the used-car space. What now is possible is to have a new and by the looks of the car "desirable" version for the common man.
CONGRATULATIONS TATA!
Guess, a lot of the sceptics are now lost for words, who earlier scoffed at the 4-5-year back promise / dream of Tata for a car in 1 Lakh!.
'A promise is a promise', said Ratan Tata unveiling the 'People's Car' which would have a dealer price of Rs 1 lakh only.
Said chairman Ratan N. Tata, ‘I observed families riding on two-wheelers—the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. Tata Motors’ engineers and designers gave their all for about four years to realize this goal. Today, we indeed have a People’s Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, to be fuel-efficient and low on emissions. 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.’
On naming the car, Mr. Tata said the name 'Nano' was chosen, as it ''connotes hi tech and small size.''
Well for the specs:
* 624 cc engine
* 33 BHP petrol engine
* Mileage of 20 kilometers per liter
* Passed full frontal crash test, the offset and side-crash test
* Bumper to bumper length 8% shorter than Maruti 800
* Legroom is expected to be 21 pc more than Maruti 800.
* The car meets the Bharat 3 (Euro 4) emission standards.
* The car that will come in two variants - AC and non-AC
* Will come a dealer price of Rs one lakh plus VAT and transport charges.
* Commercial launch in mid 2008-09
Pictures can be seen here
Dr. Pachauri, who won the Nobel Peace Prize has been quite concerned about the impact on the environment.
Alluding to fears expressed by environmentalist R K Pachauri and green activist Sunita Narain that the car at that price would add more vehicles on the road leading to higher vehicular pollution, Tata said the 624 cc, 33 HP petrol engine meets Bharat Stage-III emission norms and can also meet the Euro 4 norms. "Pachauri will not have a nightmare and Sunita Narain can also sleep," he quipped
I was reading a nice take on the petrol impact at the Hindustan Times (reproduced here for convenience)
Small car spells big trouble for petro firms & the environment
The Tata car will start off with a production facility for 2.5 lakh cars a year to start with, scaling up to a million per year by 2010. If we assume that the Tata car sells 2.5 lakh a year then in two years there will be five lakh new Tata cars on the roads. If on an average the cars use one litre of petrol a day (the car's engine gives 25 kilometres to a litre) then the total petrol need in a year would be 18.25 crore litres. (India consumes over 1100 crore litres of petrol a year).
And if Tatas can add a million cars a year, that will add fresh demand for 37 crore litres of petrol every year. Its not just Tata, every carmaker is bringing in new small and big cars for India. In fact the automobile sector is growing at 22 per cent every year.
This is bad news for India, which imports 70 per cent of its crude oil. It's even worse news for Indian petroleum product marketing companies. They lose over Rs 9 on every litre of petrol sold. With a surge in demand their losses will go up. The Tata car alone, may increase their losses by Rs 164 crore.
Well, am sure, as with every development, there would be two sides - one a benefit for the masses, and the other one an environmental challenge. Success would come when both of them are balanced.
As someone said, i wish this car used something other than "fossil fuels" - Well we got to wait and see how it pans out for both (people & environment)!
The "People's car" as it was and is being labeled would definitely be a welcome to all those of us, who wanted more than a bike but could not afford a car, at the today's prevalent prices. But if you really consider the practicalities, a lot of 1Lakh car options have been available and are available, albeit in the used-car space. What now is possible is to have a new and by the looks of the car "desirable" version for the common man.
CONGRATULATIONS TATA!
Guess, a lot of the sceptics are now lost for words, who earlier scoffed at the 4-5-year back promise / dream of Tata for a car in 1 Lakh!.
'A promise is a promise', said Ratan Tata unveiling the 'People's Car' which would have a dealer price of Rs 1 lakh only.
Said chairman Ratan N. Tata, ‘I observed families riding on two-wheelers—the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby. It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family. Tata Motors’ engineers and designers gave their all for about four years to realize this goal. Today, we indeed have a People’s Car, which is affordable and yet built to meet safety requirements and emission norms, to be fuel-efficient and low on emissions. 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.’
On naming the car, Mr. Tata said the name 'Nano' was chosen, as it ''connotes hi tech and small size.''
Well for the specs:
* 624 cc engine
* 33 BHP petrol engine
* Mileage of 20 kilometers per liter
* Passed full frontal crash test, the offset and side-crash test
* Bumper to bumper length 8% shorter than Maruti 800
* Legroom is expected to be 21 pc more than Maruti 800.
* The car meets the Bharat 3 (Euro 4) emission standards.
* The car that will come in two variants - AC and non-AC
* Will come a dealer price of Rs one lakh plus VAT and transport charges.
* Commercial launch in mid 2008-09
Pictures can be seen here
Dr. Pachauri, who won the Nobel Peace Prize has been quite concerned about the impact on the environment.
Alluding to fears expressed by environmentalist R K Pachauri and green activist Sunita Narain that the car at that price would add more vehicles on the road leading to higher vehicular pollution, Tata said the 624 cc, 33 HP petrol engine meets Bharat Stage-III emission norms and can also meet the Euro 4 norms. "Pachauri will not have a nightmare and Sunita Narain can also sleep," he quipped
I was reading a nice take on the petrol impact at the Hindustan Times (reproduced here for convenience)
Small car spells big trouble for petro firms & the environment
The Tata car will start off with a production facility for 2.5 lakh cars a year to start with, scaling up to a million per year by 2010. If we assume that the Tata car sells 2.5 lakh a year then in two years there will be five lakh new Tata cars on the roads. If on an average the cars use one litre of petrol a day (the car's engine gives 25 kilometres to a litre) then the total petrol need in a year would be 18.25 crore litres. (India consumes over 1100 crore litres of petrol a year).
And if Tatas can add a million cars a year, that will add fresh demand for 37 crore litres of petrol every year. Its not just Tata, every carmaker is bringing in new small and big cars for India. In fact the automobile sector is growing at 22 per cent every year.
This is bad news for India, which imports 70 per cent of its crude oil. It's even worse news for Indian petroleum product marketing companies. They lose over Rs 9 on every litre of petrol sold. With a surge in demand their losses will go up. The Tata car alone, may increase their losses by Rs 164 crore.
Well, am sure, as with every development, there would be two sides - one a benefit for the masses, and the other one an environmental challenge. Success would come when both of them are balanced.
As someone said, i wish this car used something other than "fossil fuels" - Well we got to wait and see how it pans out for both (people & environment)!
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