Volkswagen in Hindi

11 January 2007



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Tata Motors Introduces $2,500 Sedan

It’ is about 10 feet long and 5 feet tall. It has a 2-cylinder 33-horsepower engine which can move the vehicle along at a top speed of around 60 miles per hour. It’s only available in India. It’s Tata Motors new Nano, and it may change the auto industry the way Henry Ford’s Model T did by bringing cars to those who couldn’t afford one until now.

Company Chairman Ratan Tata promised long ago, and has reiterated the promise, that one day his company would produce a car that sells for 100,000 rupees ($2,500). This week at India’s main auto show, he drove the snub-nosed, sloped roof subcompact onto the stage – keeping his promise.

The car has seat belts but no airbags. Forget about a radio; that’s a needless luxury. There’s no passenger-side window (the driver ought to turn his head anyway), and the single windshield wiper is probably not up to dealing with a monsoon rain. Air conditioning is available only in the deluxe version (which doesn’t go for 100,000 rupees).

In a country of one billion or so with a rapidly growing middle class, this is a car for the masses, just like the Volkswagen was in the 1930s. Currently, the choice is to spend double the amount on a Maruti 800 (a model that hasn’t changed much in 25 years) or buy a two-wheeled scooter for about $900 and try to fit the family on that. Clearly, there is a demand, and Mr. Tata has decided to provide the supply.

On the downside, though, does Calcutta, Delhi or Mumbai really need more cars on the road? Does India need to increase its carbon emissions by six fold between now at 2035? And does India’s balance of payments need a surge in petroleum imports, especially at $100 a barrel for crude?

Easy for the rich countries of the world to say “no;” they’ve got their middle-class lifestyle. Tata Motors is merely emulating what the North Americans and Europeans did in the previous century. Telling them they just can’t have it won’t work. If the nightmare of Indian pollution and oil demand worries them, perhaps a global effort to solve the problem is in order.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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