Landmark on wheels

Extracts from international publications published in Hindustan Times on 12th January, 2008 - The Washington Post

For millions of people in the developing world, Tata Motors' new $2,500 four-door subcompact - the world's cheapest car may yield a transportation revolution as big as Henry Ford's Model T. The company will, however, not say how the price was kept so low on the basic version and won't say how much the luxury Nano will cost until it hits showrooms toward the end of this year. The company also refused to let reporters sit in the car, let alone drive it.

A snub-nosed wonder

Extracts from international publications published in Hindustan Times on 12th January, 2008 - The Sydney Morning Herald

INDIA'S TATA Group unveiled on Thursday the world's cheapest car costing $2,predictions the no-frills vehicle could revolutionise how millions in India and elsewhere travel. The four-door: five-seat sportylooking can which defied prelaunch predictions that it would be little more than a "motorised bullock cart on wheels", is due to hit the roads later this year at just Rs 100,000, excluding tax, after the Tata Group cut costs to the bone. The Nano has a two-cylinder 623 cc, rear-mounted engine with a top speed of 105 kms an hour The theme from Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey played as Tata unveiled the snub-nosed Nano -- so called to appear both high-tech and small - to cheers and applause at the annual Delhi car show.

Another Indian icon

Extracts from international publications published in Hindustan Times on 12th January, 2008 -The New York Times

For MILLIONS of people in the developing world, Tata Motors' new $2,500 four-door subcompact may yield a transportation revolution as big as Henry Ford's Model T. The potential impact of Tata's Nano has given environmentalists nightmares, with visions of the tiny cars clogging India's already-choked roads and collectively spewing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air Industry analysts, however, say the car may soon deliver to India and the rest of the developing world unprecedented mobility "It is a potentially gigantic development if it delivers what has been promised," said John Casesa, managing partner for the Casesa Shapiro Group, a New York-based auto industry financial advisory firm.

Another The no-frill smart car

Extracts from international publications published in Hindustan Times on 12th January, 2008 - The Guardian

It HAS no radio, no boot, no airbag, no passenger-side mirror and just one long windscreen wiper. And if you want air-conditioning to deal with India's summer heat you'll have to buy the deluxe version. India's Tata Group on Thursday pulled the covers off the world's cheapest car, the Nano, which goes on sale later this year with a price tag of Rs 100,000 £1,260 - to bring motoring to the country's billion-strong masses.

For 70-year-old Ratan Tata, the group's chairman, the launch of the Nano is a landmark in transport comparable to the first powered flight by the Wright brothers, or the first moonshot. Like a modern-day version of Henry Ford, Tata's idea of an affordable car that is light and simple, yet made from high-quality materials. The result is a jelly bean shaped vehicle into which five adults can squeeze. The basic model makes no concession to luxury: its price has been kept low by using more plastic than steel, and swapping hi-tech glue for traditional welding. Rival manufacturers had questioned whether the car would meet safety standards, especially if the company plans to export such models to Europe.

Tata have been very smart and have studied the market very carefully, said Abdul Majeed, of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Like Ford's Model T, which drove the American motor boom in the early 20th century, Tata will give the Indian consumer a tough, easy to drive, cheap to maintain and, most of all, affordable car.

Tata's Nano defies expectations

Extracts from international publications published in Hindustan Times on 12th January, 2008 - The Times

It IS 3 metres long, seats four comfortably or five at a squeeze, does 65mph and aims to revolutionise travel for millions. The "People's Car" is also the cheapest in the world at Rs 100,000 rupees (£1,300) - the same price as the DVD player in a Lexus. The car is the culmination of five years' research and input from across the world, including Italy and Germany. But it was designed and made in India, defying expectations that a company best known for its elephantine lorries could manufacture a cutting-edge passenger product.

Environment worry of evolution?

Extracts from international publications published in Hindustan Times on 12th January, 2008 - The Independent

IT'S EITHER the start of a people’s evolution of the trigger for social and environmental headaches across the globe. The Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, was unveiled with great fan fare in the Indian capital on Thursday amid bright lights and blaring music. Designed to put a stop to a family of four travelling on a scooter, the new model from Tata Motors – and more importantly its price tag of ?1,277 – should make motoring affordable for a new class of consumer in the developing world. But green activists predict trouble ahead for countries that already have inadequate infrastructures and CO2 emissions. Tony Bosworth, from Friends of the Earth UK, said “The Tata Nano makes motoring cheaper and growing car sales in India will lead to big rises in carbon dioxide emissions. This is another blow to efforts to tackle global climate change. But per-person emissions will still be much higher in the West. Our priority must be to increase efforts to cut our own emissions and to show the rest of the world how to develop a low-carbon economy Though Tata talked of helping solve the transportation needs of rural Indians with his now car, it seems his vehicle is targeted at the country's newly aspirational middle class.