The technological, financial, artistic achievemnts of this prject aside, I wonder whether the indian govt hasn’t shot itself in the foot by allowing such a product to come to a market that quite frankly, is bursting at its infrastructural seams. If even 30% of all scooter/bike purchasers now get a Nano, I shudder to think of how badly it’ll impact an already woefully pathetic traffic scenario. Sure, that isn’t Tata’s probllem…they’re a private sector corporate who’s primary aim is to increase shareholder value and develop its brand and product offergin….but this is INDIA”S problem…and definitely has long term repercussions for corporate india.

Further deterioration of traffic and roading infrastructure will impact on the operations of enterprises within urban centres. Pollution will of course increase, as will consumption of fuel. Perhaps a positive impact might be that many manufacturing and processing centres be set up away from urban centres, to avoid the traffic, and this will have a trickle down effect on the surrounding sub-economy.

Moreover, with every paanwala and his dog now looking to buy a Nano, or 2……that doesn’t exatly help as an incentive to use public transportation….and if there’s one thing that the urban centres in india need , its effecient public transportation.

So, all in all….kudos to Tatas for their technical and strategic achievemnt, but an indictment on the govt for perhaps not keeping long term social, commercial, and infrastructural and environmental issues in mind.

Yes,I agree.It always pains me to see something condemned to the gallows without being given a fair trial.People,even in our own country,are tearing apart the newly born ‘nano’car without even having a close look at it.How can one condemn the car and its maker after just looking at the pictures?And looking at the pictures,one will only see a cute little ‘nano’car.

Yes,I agree that Krenim’s comment can be seen in a positive light.And I hope that some of my comments too are viewed in a positive manner,as they have the potential to be seen in a negative light.I have nothing against other countries or their citizens or any of the commentators in this post.I apologise if anyone feels offended by some of my words.

Ravishankar,

You have hit the nail on the head.I think Nita has explained about the header image in the post about the Lead India logo.

Anuragsaurabh, thanks for the link. I agree with your assessment of Ratan Tata as being a no-nonsense man. Yes, he is writing history alright!

As far as Shri. RATAN TATA is concerned, he showed his business acumen right from the time he thwarted RUSSI MODY’s attempt to control TISCO.. He’s a no-nonsense man, he is writing history for himself and INDIA…

I am sorry if you have been taken aback by the ferocity of my comments.Believe me,that was not my intention at all :-I

Yes,I do agree with you that the ancestors of the Tatas ceased to be Persians when they settled in India.The Tatas therefore can only be Indians,no doubt about that.I wrote that comment to show that India has always attracted immigrants and continues to do so even now.

And I do agree that foreign competition has been of benefit to the Indian auto sector as it has helped(only to a certain extent though) companies like Tata Motors(and a few others) to emerge much stronger.

Yes,there is no need to carry on this debate as it is increasingly veering off the central issue about the Nano.

My point about the persian ref. was that they can’t be called persians anymore. And that does not further heighten any of their achievements, the argument that they are not “original” citizens of India (saying this I realise the inaccuracy and inherent faults in the statement, so don’t take it at face value).

As for your comments on visionaries inside the Tata camp, I must inform you I have no idea. The point I was conveying however, which you must know is how the Big Indian companies drove the west out of maharashtra, something which may have proven to be a boon for the western half of maharashtra and in that breath, Mumbai as well. Whether Tata makes great cars or not was hardly the point, and that takes us into a completely different aspect of this debate altogether, and I hope you have no interest in pursuing that any further.

As for my information coming from “biased international competition”, that is hardly the case. It was apparent for anyone that was interested in the growth spurt of the Indian auto business. And if you further go to debate over the quality of cars the International car makers brought in (such as Ford, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Honda etc) then I think we will be going far off tangent. The fact remains, that the International competition is the only reason the Indian auto industry is where it is today. Had it not been for the Fords and Hondas, you and I would be driving our dear old Premier taxis.

Anyway, I think we should end this debate, since it is off topic and the Nano has ceased to remain the focus of our discussion.

Yes,you are right.Most of the mainstream media guys have a hidden agenda these days.They are always ready to do the bidding of their biggest advertisers.

The fact is that the Nano has passed all Indian safety and emission norms.I am sure the Indian spec Nano will meet almost all European norms as well and the Tatas can always build in improvements to meet any crash norm that it does not meet in the Indian version.
This is because,only the Tatas have a full fledged crash test facility in India(apart from the regulatory authorities) and the R&D team of Tata Motors will do any auto company proud when it comes to value engineering.

By the way,the Tatas themselves build a few SUVs apart from other normal small cars.But thankfully they are concentrating more on small cars and eco-friendly technology these days.They have a licence from MDI of France to equip their cars(in all likelihood only the Nano) with the revolutionary compressed air engines though this may take some time.

http://www.theaircar.com

And by the way,Depressed Doormat,I completely agree with your views about Krenim’s comment.