The Truth About the TATA Nano

Sajeev Mehta
by Sajeev Mehta

Why is a soon-to-be success story gathering dust at TATA dealers across India? Much like the initial growing pains of the Ford Model T, the $2000 Nano currently lies on waiting lists. Given the lopsided supply/demand and construction conflagrations with the government, I reckon enterprising Indians are flipping the Nanos living in parking lot limbo for profit. Still, my precious few moments sitting in somebody’s dusty Nano left me impressed. Not because it was a perfect machine: I saw automotive history in the making.

Rarely in America is a car designed around a vision: witness the overweight performance icons clawing for yesteryear’s glory, car based trucks and globally designed, badge engineered atrocities. Not with the TATA Nano: behold the homegrown hero.

The Nano is born from an undying need for affordable transportation in a country with a growing but repressed middle class. This group needs a family vehicle superior to tube frame rickshaws and 150cc motorcycles carrying four or more people. Yes, really: I saw a family of four riding a motorcycle through the congested, fast paced, life threatening streets of Bangalore. Make no mistake: a car at this price and size is the automotive embodiment of “If You Build It, They Will Come.”

It’s all about the lakhs; the Nano is designed around a price befitting the Indian working class. One look around the beast shows the good, bad and ugly of the situation.

Exterior fit and finish is respectable, until you spot the unfinished rear hatchback seams, hurriedly painted over. That stylish rear hatch is glued shut, so cargo is only accessible from the rear seat. And the list of price-conscious ideas doesn’t stop: three-lug wheels, single arm wiper blade and an adorable looking center exit exhaust.

But the expansive glasswork and exotic-ish side air extractors look more expensive than the asking price, making the VW Beetle references more believable. Even the brand honest taillights, aping the larger Indica sedan, might foreshadow an Indian styling hallmark for generations. So TATA got the branding thing down right, at no extra charge.

The Nano’s stoic interior is a successful implementation of common sense engineering. The interior polymers wouldn’t blush next to a Dodge Caliber, aside from the buffet of plastic flash casting on the dashboard’s nether regions and wavy A-pillar trim fashioned by a sharabi in a dark, dank corner of a sweatshop. With cloth-trimmed and painted metal doors, an ergonomic center stack, rubber flooring and Corolla-like seating for five Americans (i.e., eight Indians), the Nano’s ambiance is acceptable by American work vehicle standards.

Options like power front windows and air conditioning might prove popular, but the center mount gauges and cubby-intensive dashboard make the Nano ready for an owner’s personal modifications: religious figurines and stickers (that Hindus, Muslims and Christians frequently install) need apply to the Altar of Nano.

But design on a budget has downsides: the driver seat’s footprint barely covers the engine’s oddly-placed battery, the engine’s under the rear bench (i.e., the heated seat comes standard) and the front cargo hold is hastily crammed with stuff: spare tire, gas filler and braking components. Anything larger than a bag of Basmati won’t fit. Even worse, opening the hood lets debris slide down the HVAC’s unprotected intake tube. Conversely, four wheels with a roof beats two, with none.

But in India, size is a concern: the closer to motorcycle dimensions, the better. [NB: Nano means “small” in Gujarati.]

First, the doors take up the vast majority of the sheet metal, indicative of a design maximizing passenger space with a tiny footprint. There’s the 624cc, two-cylinder, all aluminum engine. It’s small by Indian car standards—the Maruti/Suzuki 800cc sedan comes next—but it’s a small-block Chevy relative to a Honda scooter. Which makes interstate travel possible, without resorting to filthy, crowded and unsafe buses.

Speaking of not dying, standard seatbelts (that nobody will use) and 7″ drum brakes keep the Nano’s occupants from turning into commercial-truck chapati: the stoppers are much larger than any scooter. Hell, the Nano’s brakes overshadow a rickshaw’s wheels. And with the modest increase in size, Indian traffic gets a little safer with a level playing field for all participants. Airbags be damned, TATA makes the safest vehicle at this price point.

To the naysayers: imagine America if there was no Model T. Jaded Americans might scoff, but sovereign nations are just that. And middle-class Indians shall no longer soak in their own sweat, reeking of exhaust on their commute to the office. Witness the American dream, garam masala style: the Nano’s chances of stateside success rival that of a Slumdog becoming a Millionaire. This car makes an Aveo seem like an Accord; it has no business on 90% of American roads. Still, this is the right car and the right time. The Indian people shall now overcome.

Sajeev Mehta
Sajeev Mehta

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  • Sajeev Mehta Sajeev Mehta on Oct 02, 2009
    PeteMoran : What?!?! Lokkii suggested that Indian’s can’t cope, therefore they “need” cars. I responded to that. Patronising. Whoops, looks like I misread that and screwed the pooch. Sorry about that. None of it driven by taking money from private disposable income, burning it down a tailpipe, for zero value-add. That was my point to start with. Zero value add? Prove it. Sure, no problem. Excellent. Nothing I have said would suggest otherwise. Doing it via the “car” path (like the USA), for India and China will be ruinous. For some reason you don't think Middle Class Indians deserve a roof over their head and four wheels with brakes for a modest bump up in price and down in fuel economy. That amazes me, because it is such an significant increase in their standard of living. What really shocks me is someone who has visited India (even UP) wouldn't see the upside to a citizen having a tiny car instead of a bike. Besides that, the Indian people I have met don’t talk about private cars; they talk about electricity, water, schools/education, health, food security, shelter improvements, cricket. Where should those rate on the “standard of living”??? I agree with you 100%, though when Indians talk to me they almost naturally get excited about cars. That's thanks to TTAC...but your points are right, too bad it goes beyond the scope of my Middle Class moving up to better/safer transportation. Fact is, they don't have what we do.
  • PeteMoran PeteMoran on Oct 02, 2009

    @ Sajeev Mehta This reference material is full of inapplicable theory and discussion of rational changes for highly industrialized nations. Actually it compares the productivity of developed and developing nations/cities. Oh well. Zero value add? Prove it. Well, it's a bit more complex than a simple blog, but it's in that paper. For some reason you don’t think Middle Class Indians deserve a roof over their head and four wheels with brakes for a modest bump up in price and down in fuel economy. Where have I said that? I simply tried to point out that having more cars diverts private disposable income (especially imported energy) away from economic expansion. I also wanted to counter the argument that having a car based economy somehow delivers wealth. It's a nonsense myth perpetrated by Western interests mostly, especially in China. What really shocks me is someone who has visited India (even UP) wouldn’t see the upside to a citizen having a tiny car instead of a bike. Because of the above, but yes, you're right. The Nano is preferrable, but it won't bring wealth in-and-of-itself. Also, it seems incredibly patronising (and oh so Western) to me to say "Oh, that motorbike/bicycle must be terrible, why don't you buy a car instead?"

  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
  • Dave Holzman A design award for the Prius?!!! Yes, the Prius is a great looking car, but the visibility is terrible from what I've read, notably Consumer Reports. Bad visibility is a dangerous, and very annoying design flaw.
  • Wjtinfwb I've owned multiple Mustang's, none perfect, all an absolute riot. My '85 GT with a big Holley 4 barrel and factory tube header manifolds was a screaming deal in its day and loved to rev. I replaced it with an '88 5.0 Convertible and added a Supercharger. Speed for days, handling... present. Brakes, ummm. But I couldn't kill it and it embarrassed a lot of much more expensive machinery. A '13 Boss 302 in Gotta Have It Green was a subtle as a sledgehammer, open up the exhaust cut outs and every day was Days of Thunder. I miss them all. They've gotten too expensive and too plush, I think, wish they'd go back to a LX version, ditch all the digital crap, cloth interior and just the Handling package as an add on. Keep it under 40k and give todays kids an alternative to a Civic or WRX.
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