The India Tata’s Moto will launch their cheapest car in the world by end of March. It is given the name Tata Nano (good name?). The company hopes to reach out to lower income group and give them the ability to own a transportation. This is a good thing indeed.
I was reading the news from Kwong Hwa Yit Poh – chinese newspaper. Below is the extracted news:
世界上最便宜的汽车─印度塔塔汽车公司生产的“塔塔Nano”将於周一上市。
“塔塔 Nano”售价仅2000美元（马币约7285令吉），号称全球价格最低的汽车，塔塔希望能让更多印度人能买得起汽车。虽然它的问世吸引了很多眼光，但分析认为，Nano第一年估计只能卖出 3000至5000辆，远低于塔塔原先的计划。第二年有望增加200%，达最高1万5000辆。
Nano为了降低售价，极尽俭省之能事，不配置音响系统，没有转向助力、电动车窗和空调，甚至仅仅保留一支雨刷。除了外形能够让人捕捉到一些时尚感，该车甚至采用了很多过时的技术。
The reason that Tata Nano is so cheap is because it excludes a lot of features that are normally taken for granted in a car. But after looking at it, I am pretty sure I can accept it.
- I don’t listen music while I driving.
- I don’t need power steering if it’s a small car like Perdua Kancil.
- The car has air-conditioning
- Saves fuel
That’s it! What else do you need? To me, a car’s primary purpose is to bring you from one location to another. I don’t live in my car, I use it to bring me somewhere. We don’t spend our time to upgrade the public transport do we? We get in, get out when we reach our destination.
Hmm… suddenly I have a crazy thought…. If some car company implements “Customize your car”, I will surely cut off a lot of unnecessary features. Haha! :D
References: http://www.kwongwah.com.my/news/2009/03/23/1.html
probably someone would come out with something like how airasia is doing for their flight. and as how tunehotels are marketing, choose and pay.
"now everyone can drive" LOL
but then again if wanna think from a cost effective point of view, i am not sure how will that help the company. i would be wrong again :P
tata nano, that car looks good :P a lot of ppl say how to drive without aircond, but what they are missing is tata is aiming for motorcyclist. that's why the basic version is so cheap.
i wouldn't mind owning one since its like 3k US.
but after bringing into malaysia and all the tax imposed, it could sit perfectly at 50k ringgit.
ganas, i wrote so long. hahahaha finally get to see you write here ;)
having no air condition in a closed environment is not a good idea in malaysia, same goes with the car's home country (india). ppl would just suffocate.
but with air conditioning coming in as an option, it's much more saleable.
another point to look at is safety, with such low profit margin, would there be enough steel to protect you from an impact? kancil is a good example. they dont call it milo tin for nothing.
but with tax and all, even given a 40k base price with everything excluded (except air cond) its still pretty steep for a bare bone car.
still, we might never know...
william, it's aimed at motorcyclist actually. whatever they are offering is definitely better than a bike for sure.
aircond isn't a problem cause most ppl drive with the windows down in india.
safety has always been an issue but i think that's what you get with the price you pay. more over it's definitely safer than a bike ;)
imagine ferrying 5 family members on a bike .... that's where the nano comes in :)
Good points from Satkuru. If you think from the point of view of a motorcyclist .. he/she would think .. hey, add a couple more hundred, I get a metal AROUND me instead of me AROUND the metal. So .. why not?
But for a car user that live in a very humid country like me, I would need an aircond before I can consider buying. No radio, no safety metal bar around me, no sport rims .. fine by me anyday.
hahahaha it's meant for india lasker. as for export models for our country and others, it would be based on requirement :)
i won't be surprised if china comes out with one for their own ppl.
that's why in india it's nick named the people's car.
the look not bad, if appear to be in penang, I sure buy 1 :P
I'm happy with Myvi. lol~
uhm... I want power steering :( no power steering = back pains for me esp in traffic... I tried driving my cuzn's car with no powersteering i say die die leh... ouchy back
40k.. go get a proton saga