TATA NANO-the hottest story right now. Whether it’s good or evil? Well, I, being the employee of the company who made the car will always say that its good, but not just because, I am being loyal to the company but because I really know that it is.
Let’s counter the so called evils one by one:
1.The car is polluting : as has already been decaled, the car has already cleared BSIII and EURO III pollution norms and can be upgraded to meet EURO IV norms too. That’s more than what some of the current vehicles on the road meet. (Frankly, I sometimes wonder whether some vehicles, especially the commercial ones do meet any type of pollution norm of this era!!
2.The car is unsafe: The car has passed full frontal crash test which is required in India and will also meet offset frontal crash test. The car does not compromise on safety at all.
Some brilliant people have declared the hollow driveshafts of the car to be unsafe. Some engineer has to explain these people that a hollow shaft is as safe as the corresponding solid shaft of the same diameter. (Forgot the derivation, but its true!) People should think logically. If a company is using hollow shafts to save costs at the cost of safety, why would they go on declaring it to the world that they have done so?
Also, people have demanded Airbags and ABS as safety measure in the car and in the absence of these, have declared the care unsafe!! How many cars in the lower spectrum of the price band on Indian roads come equipped with these features??
3.The car will cause congestion on the roads: The Mercs and BMWs and SUVs of the rich people do not cause any traffic problems and the pint sized TATA nanos will cause traffic jams. These people should first realize that owning a car for the people whom the Nano targets is a necessity and not a luxury. And that is because of the prehistoric public transport system in many of the cities of our country. No person in this income group would like to spend a lakh of Rupees just for the sake of owning a car. He would buy a car so that he and his family can travel to their desired location safely and on the correct time.
As far as the traffic problems are concerned, what is the situation today? Even in a place like our national capital where the huge roads are bigger that the Pune Mumbai Expressway, traffic snarls are a more than regular feature even at 11 pm.
This is a failure of the government/s to provide world class infrastructure and lack of vision.
4.The car hasn’t got features: This is by far the most logic-defying objection raised against the Nano. Come on guys, give us a break. You want AC, Power steering, ABS, Airbags et al at Rs.1 lakh??? That will be possible only when the tatas or any auto company for that matter decides that it is going to wind up its business and turns philanthropic and distribute their cars for free!!! Please noe that there are cars in this country which are being sold at Rs.2.25 lakhs without a power steering and an AC (Suzuki Alto). Why don’t you demand these features in them too??
An interesting fact to note is that all these allegations are leveled by corporates which are directly or indirectly the competitors of the tatas and who were skeptical about the project. The common man, who is the target, is more than happy at the achievement.
We should all welcome the NANO, and that too not only because it’s the lowest priced car in the world.
It has put India on the world map. It has proved that Indian engineers are right there at the top along with others. It has brought that recognition to brand India every corporate entity would give a princely sum for.
Hail the Nano. Whether it succeeds or not, that the future will tell. At present,it has fulfilled a lot of wishes.
