Tata Motors has launched the cheapest car in the world with the purpose of providing a car with the minimum standards and affordable for many Indians.

Strategy:

It is an extreme case of design reduced to what is strictly essential; we have seen this in notebooks and other electronics already. Having a look at the features it includes, helps us picture the scene:

On the cheapest version the driver’s seat is the only seat which can be adjusted.

There is no power steering and various “luxuries”, such as air conditioning, fog lamps, front power windows or central locking are only available on pricier models. I don’t know about you, but I could do without  front power windows if that would mean reducing the price of the car. For us, the ones that see the car as a big tool that helps us get from A to B, there is a big difference in the value of real functionality, such as power steering, and commodities that allow you to get lazy such as central locking.

It is a nice example of targeted design: rather than competing directly with the next cheapest car, it aims to substitute scooters and small motorbikes, with a price of Rs. 100,000 (around $2000).

Safety on the road – the Nano has a point here. Image from Joe Athialy

To meet all economical and quality requirements a good bit of innovation has been required. It is estimated that at least 35 patents associated with the vehicle have been registered.

Environmental issues:

This is one of hottest aspects of the Nano; on the one hand it is a car and it pumps out twice the CO2 as a scooter. On the other hand it has a 4-stroke engine and a crude catalytic converter which appears to reduce most pollutants by about 80 percent and which scooters lack of.

It also meets Euro-IV and Bharat Stage-III compliant, European emissions standards.

From my point of view, the problem here is not the Nano. Of course it will have a terrible effect on the already highly polluted cities in India, when the 50 million orders already placed for the car are delivered. But this is just the consequence of a barely existing public transport system in cities.

Now 50 million can… Image from Jaaziel

Indian cities are extensive and saturated with traffic, and on top of it most of the families can’t afford their own vehicle. This is cry for a well planed and far reaching public transport. If there are no measures taking in this direction, India will probably soon assume the car centred transport system, similar to the US, and then it will be really difficult to change things.