'Nano will add to global pollution'

Sify News ^ | Tuesday, 24 March , 2009, 14:45 | Sify News

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Melbourne: An Australian motoring expert has slammed the world's least expensive car Nano, which was launched in Mumbai Monday, claiming it would increase global pollution and push up fuel prices.

"When India gets to the level of car ownership that we enjoy in the West, which is about 700 cars for every 1,000 people, it could double the number of cars on earth, presently 900 million, to 1.8 billion," Wheels magazine's features editor John Cadogan told ABC Radio.

"That will have profound impact on carbon dioxide production, greenhouse (gases), the environment and health generally," Cadogan added.

However, despite slamming Nano for its perceived adverse impact on the environment globally, the automobile expert was quick to admit that the tiny car, manufactured by the $62.5-billion Tata group of India, was an "absolutely landmark car on a global scale".

The car, priced at Rs 100,000 ($2,000) at factory gates, has attracted worldwide attention ever since it was showcased at an auto show last year, with the Nano website reportedly registering a whopping 40 million hits.

But Cadogan was emphatic that the huge response would not translate into people stepping off giant gas-guzzlers and squeezing into the tiny 624-cc jellybean car with a 35-bhp engine.

"It would be brilliant if that happened but what's going to happen in India is that the Tata Nano is going to put new car ownership on the shopping list for a bunch of people who just haven't been able to afford a car in the past," Cadogan said.

"So we're not going to be replacing gas-guzzling 4x4s with fuel-efficient cars, we already do that in the West. What's going to happen is a lot more cars are going to get on the road and that's going to happen in India and China and it will be a profound change."

"Oil is running out and in fact we're at about peak oil production now. China and India are running to the party and the keg is half empty," he said.

The three-metre long car, which sells for less than A$3,000, cannot be sold in Australia as it does not meet all its safety compliance standards.

However, the Tata group isn't looking at Australia currently, focusing first on meeting domestic demand, and earmarking Europe and the US as future markets with enhanced safety features that meet global standards.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Low-priced Nano taps into Indians’ aspirations

 

The $2,000 vehicle, launched Monday, targets millions of Indians who up to now couldn't afford more than a motorbike.

 

 

 

For $60 down, a shopowner in a heartland Indian city can – for the first time – own a set of wheels. That’s the promise of the new Nano, a pint-sized car with an even smaller price tag: 100,000 rupees, or about $2,000.

As he launched the much-hyped vehicle Monday, Indian auto mogul Ratan Tata said the toughest task was to ensure that, for the price, drivers didn’t get a “half-car.” Some might question his success: the jellybean-shaped Nano can’t break 65 m.p.h., and power brakes and even the front cup holder are premium features.

But Mr. Tata has broken a major threshold here, reaching out to an untapped middle class of modest income and no credit history that’s eager to acquire the trappings of their country’s rising prosperity. And he’s doing it at a time when the US automotive and banking sectors are diving for the bunkers.

 

EXCERPTED. Read more at:

 

http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/03/23/low-priced-nano-taps-into-indians%E2%80%99-aspirations/

[Uncle Miltie]

OH STFU!

Go kill yourselves, greenies!

[neodad]

Quite possibly the gayest looking car ever.

[rom]

All hail Capitalism! Doing the job Government can not do.

[mainestategop]

"When India gets to the level of car ownership that we enjoy in the West, which is about 700 cars for every 1,000 people, it could double the number of cars on earth, presently 900 million, to 1.8 billion," Wheels magazine's features editor John Cadogan told ABC Radio.

TRANSLATION: For the sake of a scientific theory that is totally unproven, we should force the brown and poor to die and remain in poverty.

That's the funny thing about liberals. Anything that isn't fine with them is racist but leave it to them to shaft those they claim to support.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Who do these poor people think they are? Why, next, they’ll want to be eating meat and heating their houses.

[edcoil]

maybe australia should be forced to give up everything it has and go back to donkeys to keep things even.

[Tenacious 1]

Does Al Gore know about this? Now the Indians are going to ruin the world for the rest of us.

Oh, the Humanity!

[angkor]

An earlier breakthrough in "green" tranport:

[Islander7]

I would need two of these; one for each foot.

[arealconservativeforachange]

No need for my post.
I think you covered everything just fine ;)

[Tenacious 1]

As he launched the much-hyped vehicle Monday, Indian auto mogul Ratan Tata said the toughest task was to ensure that, for the price, drivers didn’t get a “half-car.”

Half a car would have been twice this size and scope.

[tcrlaf]

I read an article not too long ago that said this car would cost $5,883 to build in a UAW-run U.S. Factory, NOT INCLUDING US Saftey upgrades, Liabilities reserves, things like Airbags, Air conditioning, automatic transmission, etc,etc.

[Tenacious 1]

Where do you put the car seat?

Will it pull a trailer for my golf clubs?

What is the total capacity? I mean, how many American’s would this car transport on the inside?

(Good for India, BTW. I hope everyone in India buys these)

[mamelukesabre]

I like it. I can think of a few ways to make it even cheaper.

Delete the back seats. Make it a two door, not a 4 door. Delete those funny little wing windows. Instead of windows that wind down, give it window that pop open like the back windows on a conversion van. Instead of bucket front seats, give it just a single plain bench seat like they used to put in pickup trucks.

Do that and drop the price by a couple hundred bucks and I would buy two of them.

[Tenacious 1]

In other words, this vehicle won’t be street legal in the US anytime soon.

[AndrewB]

"Quite possibly the gayest looking car ever."

Consider if you will...the Smart Car...

[tanuki]

BTTT.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Make no mistake: The environmental left has absolutely no interest in improving the lot of the poor and downtrodden. If they had their druthers, all civilization would be rolled back to the stone age, and we'd spend our days sitting in piles of organic matter.

[Misterioso]

NANO is the wrong name. Should read POS.