Tata Nano PR Campaign Takes More Prisoners
There’s only one thing worse than realizing you’re a cynical bastard: realizing you’re a cynical bastard and the world really IS that corrupt. Oh well. The truth hurts, both giving and receiving. In this case, I had high hopes for the Tata Nano. As the son of a Romanian immigrant for whom car ownership was proof positive that America is the world’s greatest country, I believe that the motorization of the world’s largest democracy would unleash that nation’s creativity, productivity and prosperity. But when Tata “launched” the Nano two days ago, without a factory to produce it, I smelled a rat[tan]. The next day, there it was: Tata’s in not-so “secret negotiations” for a billion dollar UK bailout for their ill-advised—not to say hubristic—purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover. So, there’s your timing then. Oh, and the announcement on Autobloggreen this morning that the NSFA (Not Safe For America) Tata will export the micro-car to America (with a few mods, ’natch) in 2011 or 2012 (or 2020) is not to be taken seriously. The argument that Tata’s pie-in-the-sky promise to do the same for Europe actually weakens the case, not strengthens it. Or maybe that’s just me being cynical again. One can only hope.
More by Robert Farago
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RF, What's Tata supposed to do? The Nano's fully engineered at this point and ready to start production, they've been rolling out the publicity campaign for two years, and the Nano has gotten more press and publicity world wide than just about any new car launch that I can recall. Meanwhile, local political opposition to the deal that gave Tata land for their original Nano assy plant (the deal was cooked up, btw, by the state government which is currently held by the communists) put the plant on hiatus just as soon as they were about to install machinery and start production. So what should Tata have done? Delayed taking orders as they arranged production in a different facility? Scrap the whole project?
Having enjoyed to drive the old Fiat Panda for several years, the Panda still appears far more convincing and not that ugly. Could well save the fate of Chrysler, won't it?
The cheapest car of the world has been launched on 24th March. According to the web site, the NANO is a proper car, as it offers better space than even a Santro at the front, while backseat space is quite decent.
I actually live out in an Asian province (moved out here twenty five years ago) and a suburban/urban area grew up around me. Cars are great for empowering the blue-collar class, but not for farmers. They have rickshaws, tractors, motorcycle-powered cargo vehicles, tractor-powered cargo vehicles, trucks... Make it a $2000 cargo vehicle, and maybe you've got something that will boost India's economy. A $2000 car won't do much that motorcycles just half-the-price aren't already doing. It just gives those who can already afford bikes the luxury of bringing their families along to work. The Tata Nano is interesting for the urban set, but they already have a plethora of cheap cars there. The Maruti Alto is already rather cheap, for example... though twice the price... The big question with the Nano is whether Tata can actually deliver on its promises. Here's a car that promises to put people on the road for half the price of the Alto, which is already quite small and crude (1980's crude, it feels like) by western standards... and yet they're promising to make it so that it can be sold in Europe and America... two markets which the Maruti cannot ever hope to penetrate, not without a total re-engineering of the car. How Tata propose to achieve this with a car that's even cheaper and more cheaply assembled... well...