TATA unveiled the one lakh car today and it met many people’s, including yours truly’s expectations. Instead of a toy car, TATA showed a very practical vehicle which will help many Indian families to upgrade from two wheelers. The reaction to this car has been mixed. As I wrote earlier, many people were worried about the consequences of introducing this car on Indian roads: Further congestions on the already jammed Indian streets, the questionable safety aspects of the car and the resultant increase in fuel prices. Tata has answered many of these questions convincingly.
I am writing this post mainly for the friends from western countries who question the need for such a car. Most questions are directed towards the safety aspects of it. What one should understand is that this car is for a family like the one below, who cannot afford to buy a four wheeler. As far as they are concerned, the TATA Nano is much much safer than driving on their two wheeler. The Nano is priced at Rs. One Lakh (US$ 2500), which is a very affordable price point for most Indian middle class families.
The traffic on Indian cities move at a pretty slow 25 mph most of the time, because of which fatal accidents are very low in number. The Nano has passed several crash tests, which should address the safety aspects very well.
Once again, kudos to TATA for achieving something which was dismissed as impossible by competitors.
Scooter Photo from http://nh80.eximie.net.
