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It's an India-only car. It would be a death trap on American roads, and so Detroit has really nothing to learn from them. Detroit always had well-staffed market

It's an India-only car. It would be a death trap on American roads, and so Detroit has really nothing to learn from them. Detroit always had well-staffed marketing departments to tell them what to do, and for the most part it worked. The problems were always elsewhere. It's just a liberal fantasy that Americans want caskets with wheels. 2500 dollars will get me a decent used car.

SingAlong 18y ago
You should at the specs really. The last time I read its review during a local auto-showin my place, the middle class guys would probably go for a revised version of the good old Maruti-800 car which costs around $5000 approx and has the basic safety features that a car requires (and also A/C and other optionals). But Nano doesn't even have a front bumper. So as you said it's really just a casket on wheels that people should avoid buying (what's a car without it's basic safety features). I'm not much into auto, but I guess there's a govt team that reviews cars manufactured in India. So if that team ever reviews such a car, it should presumably fail the safety test (so guess that the Tata guys 'might have' bribed them).
- anamax 18y ago
  > I'm not much into auto, but I guess there's a govt team that reviews cars manufactured in India. Why would you think that India's safety standards would be the same as the US? Why would you think that they should be? (Americans and Indians have different amounts of "not car" risks. Spending money to make India's "car risks" the same as the US would not make much difference to the total risk in India and would use resources that could be used to reduce said total risks.)
- aagnihot 18y ago
  "Nano" is not meant to compete with Toyota/Honda/GM. Tata Nano offers an alternative to 2-wheeler owners to own a car. Also, Nano is good candidate to replace India's 3-wheeler auto-rickshaws. India's emission norms are based on euro-emission norms. So they are no as lenient as perceived. Moreover, This car is meant to be used for intra-city transport. The speed here is around 30-50km/hr. At such a speed, it is less likely to have fatal accidents. What must be appreciated is Ratan Tata's ambitious vision and excellent execution by Tata Motors to achieve their goal.
  - lucumo 18y ago
    > India's emission norms are based on euro-emission norms. I didn't notice that when I lived there. It was hard to breath in busy intersections. As a European I'm quite sure that isn't happening here. But the standards are probably different for old vs. newly produced vehicles.

SingAlong 18y ago

You should at the specs really. The last time I read its review during a local auto-showin my place, the middle class guys would probably go for a revised version of the good old Maruti-800 car which costs around $5000 approx and has the basic safety features that a car requires (and also A/C and other optionals). But Nano doesn't even have a front bumper. So as you said it's really just a casket on wheels that people should avoid buying (what's a car without it's basic safety features). I'm not much into auto, but I guess there's a govt team that reviews cars manufactured in India. So if that team ever reviews such a car, it should presumably fail the safety test (so guess that the Tata guys 'might have' bribed them).

anamax 18y ago
> I'm not much into auto, but I guess there's a govt team that reviews cars manufactured in India. Why would you think that India's safety standards would be the same as the US? Why would you think that they should be? (Americans and Indians have different amounts of "not car" risks. Spending money to make India's "car risks" the same as the US would not make much difference to the total risk in India and would use resources that could be used to reduce said total risks.)
aagnihot 18y ago
"Nano" is not meant to compete with Toyota/Honda/GM. Tata Nano offers an alternative to 2-wheeler owners to own a car. Also, Nano is good candidate to replace India's 3-wheeler auto-rickshaws. India's emission norms are based on euro-emission norms. So they are no as lenient as perceived. Moreover, This car is meant to be used for intra-city transport. The speed here is around 30-50km/hr. At such a speed, it is less likely to have fatal accidents. What must be appreciated is Ratan Tata's ambitious vision and excellent execution by Tata Motors to achieve their goal.
- lucumo 18y ago
  > India's emission norms are based on euro-emission norms. I didn't notice that when I lived there. It was hard to breath in busy intersections. As a European I'm quite sure that isn't happening here. But the standards are probably different for old vs. newly produced vehicles.