Tata's Nano: A car and a Nation

Finally the much awaited car of the year Tata nano has come. I and my friend were eagerly waiting to see the fist photos of the car on 9^th Jan morning. We saw the pictures in CNN IBN website (www.ibnlive.com). On seeing the photo I felt like giving a kiss on the fore head of the car because it looked so cute. The reactions from my friend and my boss who was around were not very different. Tata has kept its word once again in time and pricing commitment it had given to Indian people.

The weeks before its release there were much debate about the ‘car’. Environmentalist like Sunita Narain argued that car is going to be environmental nightmare. Industrialists like MD of Maruti Suzuki expressed his concerns over safety and security aspects of the car since it is priced so low. Till its release Tata remained silent on all these arguments. Tata gave a fitting reply by claiming that it is the most fuel efficient and cleanest on the road as of now or rather it meets all emission, pollution control and safety norms of the present times.

I believe the concerns expressed by other players like Maruti Suzuki in the industry are due to the fear of threat the people’s car is going to pose to their product lineup. I strongly feel that Tata’s Nano is going to give Maruti 800 a run for its money. Tata priced the cars only 40% more costly that Indian favorite motorcycle “Bullet”. The intense competition in the banking and finance sector in Indian market would enable the normal motor cycle customers to go for Tata’s Nano.

The concerns raised by environmentalist are at least two

1. The car being cheap would not be able to meet environmental and pollution norms
2. The easy affordability of the car would mean more cars on roads leading to congestion and more emission.

Both these are very genuine concerns and need attention. As an industrialist Tata has done his duty by ensuring that his product meets the pollution norms (Euro IV). I feel it’s unfair to complain that Tata increased congestion and pollution by making a car affordable to common man. If industrialists were take up this responsibility we would soon end up in Stone Age. It’s the responsibility of the government to have infrastructure to meet the requirements of its tax payers.

The outcry by the people of Singur, West Bengal where Tata has made Nano’s factory is purely a political failure of the west Bengal government. A developing country like India cannot go back in industrialization. The government failed to rightly compensate the displaced people and showcase the benefit of the factory to the Singur people and the nation. On the other hand the opposition from within and outside the ruling party in West Bengal democratically succeeded in tarnishing the government image. In that attempt they more than managed to give a black mark on Tata’s image, who other wise is known to be man of ethics.

Another discussion that is going around after its release is its durability for a highway drive… This is rather a result of wrong expectation. From the day 1 when Tata announced a car for 1 Lac I have never expected it to be something like a BMW for that price and never I dreamed to drive down to Pune from Mumbai in a Nano. Nano is designed for a city only drive, till now you were riding ... now you can drive!!!!.

Now above all this discussions and debates the actual verdict will be out when the car is on road. But I feel it’s going to be a success for what it is meant to be.

I wish all the best to the ‘people’s car’.