Rs. 1 lakh car

Few dream big. Very few achieve it. Ratan Tata is one among them. Its not so easy to commit something that others thought would be impossible. you don't achieve that by just dreaming. but you need to know the reality and facts. this country has produced some of the finest spearheads in business and Ratan Tata is one among them. he brought tata groups in one umbrella, went to on make tcs a public company, now the Rs.1 Lakh or $2500 Nano. critics cry out loud that launching the nano is detrimental to the environment.

Year 1989, My father bought his first scooter, a bajaj super. Me, my father and my mom used to go in that scooter. this was a typical indian family in those days. as a kid i would look at some of my friends going in a car and wonder when my father would buy one. for a middle class family with one income, it was a tough task those days to run the family as well as meet all the needs. even today it is difficult. as a kid you wouldn't expect me to understand all those. i got my first two wheeler two years after i got my job. i could feel the pride in owning a vehicle of my own. later i got a tata indica car as a gift. you wouldn't believe me though it is called as gift, i paid 1/3rd of the price as gift tax.

when i first started driving two wheeler, some of my friends used to wear helmets. at that time it was not mandatory. after few months of driving two wheeler in the city, you understand the necessity of the helmet. its not that it protects your head, of course it does, but because it helps to prevent you from getting a facial from the pollution and the dust everytime you drive on or off the traffic. you would never know at what state you would reach the office, after going through the mud and dust and if it rains, good god.

The hot sun and the humidity makes it even worse. how many times you get into a restaurant or a coffee shop just to take a break from the high humidity and be in a air conditioned place just to feel better.

We earn to make our living better. owning a house, having a vehicle, more than a status symbol they are a necessity nowadays. we deserve to live better. now with the IT industry, buying a car is within the reach. but its not the same with all middle income people. cars are not investment as like a house. it depreciates every year. one wouldn't prefer to spend awful lot of money on that.

People need a vehicle which can accomodate a nuclear family, is affordable, more mileage for the gas and can give the minimum comfort you need to travel. i think nano fits the bill. what more could a first time buyer expect.

Is it going to impact the environment. might be. but then think this way, you have millions of auto rickshaws which are polluting the environment, you have thousands of buses which no one knows which standards they meet and they emit pollution you wouln't imagine, millions of two wheelers emit pollution and then you end up with you have millions of people suffering from asthma or other diseases due to pollution. aren't they affecting the environment. people do care about the environment, but you need to put your health ahead of it.

Does India have infrastructure to accomodate this. it may not. but you can't wait on the government to develop infrastructure to lauch a product. are they going to come with a plan if you ask them. hell no. you need to keep going. it is very important from a business perspective. new product developments are essential for the country and the people. i don't see any company in the city that has sufficient parking place if every employee owns and drives a car. this would drive the government to mandate requirements for parking when building commercial complexes. US has it. you can see a wendy's or mcdonalds with a parking space much bigger than the restaurant itself. you can't expect people to drive in autos and bikes just because you don't have a plan to accomodate the changes and to mandate it.

Its not easy to make a promise and to stick to. the engineers over at tata have put in a lot of effort to meet the needs and to keep within the cost target. this is big step in the consumer market. people over here in US are in awe when they heard that a car gives 50 mpg costing only $2500. though it may not meet the US consumer requirements, they would love someone to develop a car like that in US.

There might be a business motive to launch a 1 lakh car by tata, but this nano does sure steers and accomodates the dreams of millions of people.