The Nano is not meant to be compared in driving characteristics and its fuel consumption footprint with the Suburban ( whatever that might be – perhaps some gas guzzling SUV unknown to more than 75% of the world’s population!)anymore than the Prius can be compared to the Concorde.

I believe that the Tatas have been pushed back a bit due to the dramatic change in their factory location at short notice with the attendant losses in investments made. They have to quickly recoup and increase production to hundreds of thousands ( if not millions)to make the Nano a success, not only in India, but also in other low income countries which want to climb out of the poverty trap asap. If the recession struck Europeans and Americans find a need for a low cost, reliable city runabout conforming to safety standards, it would be nice. If not it doesn’t matter. It also doesn’t matter to 75% of the world.

America needs to move away from a growth economy or at least prepare for growth to dwindle.

Once again Europe is ahead of us and their experiences can show the way. Not saying the have the answers – just saying that they are already facing alot of the problems we will soon enough. I am beginning to believe that GDP is not the best measure of a successful economy.

I think that in 10 years, there will be an Indian entry into the U.S. car market…. and they’ll get here the same way the Japanese did -

Offering high-quality, high-gas milage basic transportation vehicles.

I think that Indian cars will be much more reliable and acceptable to American consumers than the Chinese offerings will be. I think that the Chinese need another 20 years or so of direct custoner contact industrial experience before they’re ready to take on the sales and marketing of their domestic vehicles in the international market.

Right now, all their quality control is forced on them by outside companies who buy their parts…. it’s different when you have to force it on yourself to the detriment of profits.

Hopefully Indian, Chinese and to some degree Korean manufacturers will finally burst the bloated auto industry’s bubble.

Those of you who won’t trust reviews from India based sites here is one from the UK:
“One of the most extraordinary experiences of my motoring life” Steve Cropley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZitve3SUw

savvy shoppers will of course hold out for the eventual and inevitable Red Dot Sale.
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A rise in fuel price can only lead to increased efficiency. Inefficient factories or products will simply die out. Think GM. Think pickup.

True in a sense (about the pickup), but ‘developed’ economies haven’t held up well to rises in oil price, where-as ‘less’ developed countries don’t notice so much.

People need to bone up on the concept of Comparative Advantage.

American’s particularly aren’t going to like it.

Indians/Chinese didn’t like G.W.Bush either. Did Americans give them a damn?

The Indians and Chinese might be well pleased that they help make the US economy less efficient again as all the citizens are spending a hefty amount of their bankrupt country’s income on fuel.

A rise in fuel price can only lead to increased efficiency. Inefficient factories or products will simply die out. Think GM. Think pickup.

Where does this nonsense come from?

The car, it’s infrastructure and it’s mutant creation of suburbia are the most inefficient waste of resources ever dreamed up by man.

Developing nations do not need cars everywhere to be productive.

I’m not saying “they’re about to take my oil”, but I am saying it will have an effect across the world as India and China develop into more fossil fuel dependent countries. American’s particularly aren’t going to like it.

The Indians and Chinese might be well pleased that they help make the US economy less efficient again as all the citizens are spending a hefty amount of their bankrupt country’s income on fuel.

They’ll be pleas for ‘gas holidays’ again before you know it….and the %% of disposable income spent on inefficient commute transport will leap again.

I’d also thank people to not call me American.

Here are a couple of interesting points worth reposting:

[T]he Nano is probably the cleanest automobile ever to go on sale in India. It is BS III compliant and is BS IV ready while work is already underway to meeting the strict Euro V emission norms. The Tata R&D boffins told us with a degree of pride in their voice that the car had lower emissions than the best selling 100cc bike in the country and if that isn’t all, the overall Nano ranks as one of the world’s best cars with the lowest CO2 emission levels, pegged at 110 grams per kilometre. And all this without a start-stop aid or with stuffed-to-the-gills (but crazily priced) computer controls.

The car meets all the ARAI crash safety requirements while ingenious solutions have been adopted for side impacts. Surely for Europe there will be ABS and air bags and side-impact beams and stability control plus also wider tyres and other gizmos but for the Indian environ the package is finely tuned and perfectly able to deliver.

This car really is a nice piece of engineering.

To: psarhjinian re
If you want to see something subtly amusing, have a look at how farming communities are laid out in Europe or Asia versus North America. In North America, you’ve got huge tracts of land with a single house, miles from other houses, stores or resources. In Europe, you’ll see a cluster of homes, a small business or two, and tracts of land surrounding the village.

That’s easy to explain – Europe and Asia had large populations before they had zoning laws (if they have any now), and America had wide open spaces and zoning laws before large population.
Further, for what it’s worth, we Americans were clustered to cities surrounded by farms long before the car came on the scene. The luxury of space.

I don’t think people appreciate exactly how much of a problem North American urban development really is. Whether the car is the cause or the symptom doesn’t matter, a huge portion of the sustainability problem has to do with sprawl.** Encouraging sprawl is a bad, bad thing, especially now that mobility, in a knowledge economy, takes on a whole new meaning.

The telephone and the intelligent network can enable people in a fashion similar to the automobile, without nearly the cost to society.

Cars are cool and all, but I think we need to keep perspective.

** If you want to see something subtly amusing, have a look at how farming communities are laid out in Europe or Asia versus North America. In North America, you’ve got huge tracts of land with a single house, miles from other houses, stores or resources. In Europe, you’ll see a cluster of homes, a small business or two, and tracts of land surrounding the village.

I live in New York City, yet the traffic jams in New Delhi were more intense than any I’ve ever seen. That’s a huge drain on productivity any way you look at it. The Indians I was working with all had homes quite a distance from the office, many were commuting several hours per day. I certainly can’t fault Indians for wanting Nanos instead of Honda Heros (motorbikes). And while it may seem arrogant for an American to comment on Indian wants and desires, It would be wrong not to point out the risks of becoming too dependent on the car and suburban house, something we Americans should know an awful lot about by now.

That’s just moronic. I’ll tell you right now, that they don’t get a flying NSFW as to what the oil price is going to look for you. And in case you haven’t noticed, China surpassed the U.S. as world’s largest auto market; and are growing still.

http://overdrive.in/story-test_drives-test_drives/tata_nano_first_drive-11512-0.html

and

http://www.zigwheels.com/Reviews/Tata-Nano-First-Drive/Nano_20090323-1-8

And the result would be more rewarding. If you talk one American out of his Suburban, that’s equivalent to talking 8 Indians out of their Nano, in terms of environmental impact.

You REALLY think inefficient transport decisions they make won’t have impacts in other parts of the world? Even in poorer parts of the world, not just the RICH ones??

There will be big impacts. So what?

If they try to buy oil from you, you have your right not to sell to them.

If they try to buy oil from the Saudis, then, well, the Saudis will be glad to sell to them. It’s not your business, even if the final outcome affects you.

An Indian (or Chinese) is as dignified a human as yourself; his one USD is worth as much as your one USD. If you don’t like that fact, beat them like what Brits did a century ago. If you can’t beat them, well, you are out of luck.

They have been “productive just fine WITHOUT cars”? Not a chance. The new jobs (that foreign companies gave them) place new demands on Indian society. Growing consumerism, increase in retail and housing sales, etc…it all adds up to the American way of life.

Which demands a car. America doesn’t have the lock on the American Dream.

Yes, I do. And I know what I am talking about.

and

I doubt the growing middle class in India/China care what we think about our gas prices

and

The automobile is one of the world’s greatest inventions. Why should be deny it to the world’s largest democracy? Because they’ll use OUR oil? Pollute OUR air? BS.

When did India and China become self sufficient islands?

You REALLY think inefficient transport decisions they make won’t have impacts in other parts of the world? Even in poorer parts of the world, not just the RICH ones??

You REALLY think that the Western “way of life” is in anyway sustainable, and is something that billions of people should be told they can definitely aspire to?

Such a vehicle will unleash the productivity and mobility of many people

They manage to be productive just fine WITHOUT cars absolutely everywhere.

The USA could learn a lot.

Add the “myth” that the car is responsible for the greatest revolutions of productive society to the myth blog. Spare me.

Today’s spacefliers wouldn’t dare step into the machines their forebears did only 45 years ago.

I think the Tata Nano is a great idea, and a few could even be sold in the US, I’m sure, if it wasn’t for the regulatory hurdles.

Much, much, much worse.

The Aveo is a mediocre car, but one developed as a CAR for the First world.

The Nano is quadricycle developed for a country where many cities maintain public services to get rid of corpses of people who died in the street: India. A very interesting country with a very long and rich history, OTOH, but a country with a totally different (and lower) set of standards.

The Nano is about the same as a SMART.

No, no, no, no. The Nano and the Smart rest on four wheels. The similarities end just there.

In the video, a Benz 500 (not even an SUV) hit the car from behind and lifted it right over the hood like a basketball bouncind around.

Please watch Smart against MB S-Class. Please note that the survival space in the Smart remains intact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02eghIfyHP0

And now watch what happens when a Smart crashes against a Fiat Seiciento:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYPUxazlNxU

The Seiciento (a REAL car) collapses, while the Smart maintains perfectly the survival space.

I expect the Nano to behave more or less like this blue microcar-deathtrap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYSxA1QB-EU

Of course that for the indians the option is not a Nano or a Smart, but the nano or riding your whole family in a moped. Under this point of view the Nano is much safer than the moped.

You know, I used to live in Williamsburg Virginia. One day when I was complaining to a neighbor about how crowded the town was becoming, he said something that resonated with me:

“Yeah, everyone wants to close the gates after THEY’RE inside.”

Who are we to tell the Indians (and the Chinese) that they shouldn’t have cars?

Wearing helmets in India? Um, not that often.

Considering the Nano will never go faster than 45mph in any major Indian city (even on the downhill flyovers) and 80% of the things on the road are smaller than a Ford Fiesta, the safety argument is irrelevant.

Well, somewhat irrelevant.

I’m sure England said the same thing when America rattled on about their Model T.

PeteMoran : Would you like your oil at $200/bbl? Let’s make car ownership a desire in India and China.

There’s a reason why we have sovereign nations. And because of it, I doubt the growing middle class in India/China care what we think about our gas prices, sitting high and mighty in our amazing cars and SUVs.