Toyota Plans Car For Developing World
Auto Motor Und Sport reports that Toyota boss Katsuaki Watanabe has told German TV that his company will decide by the end of the year whether or not to introduce an entry-level model for the developing world. Watanabe revealed that Toyota has been working for two years now on development of the entry-level model, but that more work has yet to take place. "Success in developing markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China are the keys to growth for the entire industry," says Watanabe-san. He sees developing markets as an issue of decisive importance to the industry on par with the environment, energy and safety. The "interplay of cost and quality" is the major unresolved issue in the proposed entry-level car, meaning we don't yet know if ToMoCo has the Tata Nano in its sights, or if it is aiming higher to protect the brand's reputation for quality. We'll be watching.
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i always thought that only city cars were made for developing countries because farmers are always poor. the only people in the country with enough money for a car are the UN/NGO and they buy landcruisers
chanman, I have in mind something more like a cross between the Citroen 2CV and this Cushman Haulster: http://www.cushmanco.com/pages/industrial/haulster.html For the transition from donkey or ox cart, the vehicle must be very rugged and simple (e.g., an air cooled engine would avoid the complications of water pumps and radiators), and stripped down to the essentials (e.g., wheels large enough for terrible roads, but a hand crank to start the engine to save the cost of a big battery and a starter motor). It'd be more like a Model T than a Tata Nano.
[...] and India, as witnessed by the unveiling of the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, and the entrance of global brands into these developing [...]