3 Tests for Tata ‘Nano’ Car

India’s Tata Motors wants to release the ‘Nano’ car this year. The price tag – 100,000 rupees or around $2,000. There are, however,

three obstacles that must be overcome.

1. construction costs  are nearly double what they were in 2006 when the car was first announced.

2. prices for materials for the car have risen comparably

3. the Indian government’s higher interest rates.

Tata Motors has already invested 20 billion ruppees, 3 billion more than it had planned just to build the factory. One unforeseen problem was flooding during the monsoon season! Still, trial production is expected this month or next and the car’s release is planned for October of this year.

Still, there is the problem of increased material prices, and even Tata subsidizes those costs, it may not be enough to keep the price down. Interest rates on the car for buyers wanting to switch from their motorbikes to a four-wheeler are expected to be around 17-18%. Imagine if they were using a credit card!

Even with all the obstacles, Tata Group is pushing ahead to provide safe vehicles for low-income families to use up all the rest of the world’s fossil fuels in a much shorter time span. The good news is that once all the fossil fuels have been used, we will have come up with an alternative.

So, why are we waiting until then?

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