Tata small car - boon or curse?

Stress on roads will reach such a level that we will all finally do something about it. Thats the positive way of looking at it. Just because we can't manage traffic, doesn't mean you wont let people buy cars. I seriously think that this car will lead to more meaningful decisions and actions on public transportation and traffic management. The only real con I see is overall high energy bill for the nation. That is assuming this car's buyers would be moving up from their two wheelers. Would that be the case though? BTW, I remember reading the news that Kinetic is supplying the gearbox for this car. This might be an automatic transmission car, but that wasn't clear from today's coverage or pictures. This thing could replace autos, a good thing to look forward to. Three wheelers have had an unfair edge in cutting lanes, something that autos make annoyingly good use of. Pros and cons apart, all said and done, this has been one exciting car launch.

There is a lot of media hype and people discussing many things about this car. I have few points: 1. People are already getting used cars for less than 1 lakh. Even Maruthi Esteem is available for as low as 80,000 and 800s even as low as 35,000. People who badly need car can even now can go for these cars and they are not eager to get this 1 lakh car. 2. Threat to 2 wheeler market - Lot of medias are saying that there is a threat to 2 wheeler market - I don't think so. 2 wheelers are available for as low as 20,000 and second handle vehicles are available for as low as 5,000. Even worst 2 wheeler mileage is more than 25kmpl and most of the commuter bikes gives mileage of 70+ kmpl. Media is comparing high end bike price to low end Tata car which is nothing but impractical. Also, the ease a 2 wheeler for using is not available in a 4 wheeler such as getting a parking space and ease of maneovaribility. So, most of the people who do have cars use 2 wheeler for daily use and cars only for family use. It is very few who think that there is no safety in 2 wheeler use cars. In the recent survey that was conducted in this website also favoured ungeared scooters followed by motorbikes and last with only 4% of votes for small cars. It all tells the story. 3. Coming to the mileage of this car, earlier it was told 25, then it came to 22 and now it is 20 in most of the news papers. The newer MPFI Maruthi 800 gives 18kmpl and older carbeurator model was giving 16. 4. Safety issues - Wheelbase of this car(Nano) is smaller designed for city use for easier manoevorebility compared to even 800. People should stick with this car within city. Highspeed driving on the highway may be dangerous by seeing the wheelbase of the car. Should see how people will use this. 5. Threat to the environment - I don't think so. People especially in the metros are nowadays compare too many features. Although M800 is available for as low as 2lakh 50 thousand with A/C, still people stretch a further and go to either Alto or Santro. 800 market is very low in Metros. Only in tier 2 cities, people go for low end cars. Nano may be successful in these cities. So, we cannot expect roads to be full of Nanos - it will be just another car. Cars are already a threat to environment, if not Nano, some other.

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