Llewellyn
King
Read Llewellyn's bio and previous columns
January 21, 2008
The Nano: The Latest
People’s Car
What should have been a modest piece of commercial news out
of the 2008 New Delhi Auto Show has seized the world's imagination. Tata
Group, the Indian industrial conglomerate, whose Tata Motors is the
world's 18th-largest automobile company, unveiled a new
“People's Car” – the Nano.
Given the reception the Nano has received, one would think
that it is a new weapon of mass destruction. In fact it is a very small,
slow, basic four-seater, designed to operate in Indian cities at speeds
of not more than 50 mph. The bombshell is the price: $2,500, according
to Tata.
This is a great price, but it is not much of a car. Tata
seems to know this because it has been frugal with information –
releasing a list of specs, but not allowing automotive journalists to
even sit in the car. What we know is that the Nano has two cylinders and
develops between 30 and 40 horsepower. This is basic transportation.
Very basic.
Tata's hope is not that the Nano will elbow Ford Neons out of
the market, depress the sale of Toyota Camrys or hobble the market for
its own conventional range of cars. No, this car is several orders of
magnitude less of a vehicle than anything now being sold on the world
automobile market.
You would have to go back to the 1930s to find something with
the same range of performance and economy as the Nano. I would suggest
that you look at the Jowett Bradford light van, made in the English city
of Bradford in the 1940s and 1950s. It boasted a two-cylinder,
horizontally-opposed, water-cooled engine, and probably developed about
35 horsepower. It was rated at 8 horsepower under the British system of
measuring horsepower at idle. What the Bradford lacked was hydraulic
brakes and a synchronized gear box. Even so, it met many of the targets
of the Nano. Of course, it was not a sedan but they were easily
converted.
The People's Car has intrigued automobile manufacturers
throughout their history. While the term goes back to 1938 and the
design of the Volkswagen Beetle, it could be claimed that the first
People's Car was the Ford Model T.
Aspirants to the title of the People's Car, besides the most
successful of all, the Beetle, include the French Citroen Deux Chevaux
and the English Morris Minor. But only the Beetle saw global
distribution and really earned the title.
For a People's Car to work, it not only requires a price
point that will tempt people who have never owned cars to buy, but it
also requires a classlessness that makes the rich and the poor alike
comfortable behind the wheel. There are a few things in society that are
classless – blue jeans, sneakers and hamburgers come to mind. The
Beetle, the Morris Minor and the Honda Civic triumphed in this regard.
There is a good place for a classless car in the world. It
would have to be inexpensive, fuel-efficient and safe – and ideally a
hybrid. This is not the Nano. It is not even clear that Indian families
will buy the Nano because it meets so few of today's motoring criteria
besides fuel efficiency. It has very little space for luggage. It would
be murderous on a long trip. And despite protestations from Tata, it
would not meet most Western safety standards.
There is also considerable doubt whether Tata can hold its
declared price for the car. This has been achieved by skimping on
features, using cheap labor and receiving massive subsidies from the
state of West Bengal.
Don't know much about West Bengal? It is India's most densely
populated state – its major city is Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, and it
has had a Marxist government since the British left India in 1947. Like
all Marxist governments, it has been economically ruinous. Its subsidy
to Tata to build the Nano is a blatant attempt to paper over the
economic stagnation of the state. It is unlikely that the subsidies will
last or that Tata can build a car, with or without subsidies, for
$2,500. Automotive economists believe that the real price of the Nano
will be about three times the introductory price.
Despite the huge publicity that the Nano has received, it
probably will not revolutionize the world automobile industry. Remember
the Proton? Of course not, but it is a Malaysian car that has been
trying to revolutionize the world automobile industry since 1985.
© 2008 North Star
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