TATA NANO - cheapest car, what do u guys think?
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Cars in China are usually made for use that includes highway driving. (Yet to be done C-NCAP tests not withstanding.) But this little urban runabout is not designed for highway driving.
And the piracy vigilantes might peg the Nano as a Chang'an CM8 knockoff?
And the piracy vigilantes might peg the Nano as a Chang'an CM8 knockoff?
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Safety?
This opens up a interesting issue for me............safety vs. price. I read another article about the Nano (courtesy of our friends at China Car Times) that says in order to achieve the $2,500 target price the Nano does not have things like ABS, airbags and even NO safety side beams within the doors for passenger protection. Granted, this is not supposed to be a highway car, and therefore the assumption is at normal city street speeds you don't NEED those things to survive a accident. I also know that cars like Geely's MR and Xiali's N3 don't have ABS or airbags either - but I've NEVER heard of a small car that has PURPOSELY left out things like safety side beams! NO WAY would I buy a car which has such MINIMAL passenger protection - nor would I buy a car from a company that does this on purpose to keep costs down. To me, Tata is saying "keeping the cost low is more important than people's lives" - WTF??????? It is ALSO a VERY "bare bones" car - no a/c, power windows, radio/CD - it makes a Geely Haoqing look luxurious by comparison. Sorry - if I were to buy a really low cost micro car I'd wait for the upcoming Chery QQ2 or the BYD F1 - more "creature comforts" AND I'll also have a much better chance of surviving in a accident.
This opens up a interesting issue for me............safety vs. price. I read another article about the Nano (courtesy of our friends at China Car Times) that says in order to achieve the $2,500 target price the Nano does not have things like ABS, airbags and even NO safety side beams within the doors for passenger protection. Granted, this is not supposed to be a highway car, and therefore the assumption is at normal city street speeds you don't NEED those things to survive a accident. I also know that cars like Geely's MR and Xiali's N3 don't have ABS or airbags either - but I've NEVER heard of a small car that has PURPOSELY left out things like safety side beams! NO WAY would I buy a car which has such MINIMAL passenger protection - nor would I buy a car from a company that does this on purpose to keep costs down. To me, Tata is saying "keeping the cost low is more important than people's lives" - WTF??????? It is ALSO a VERY "bare bones" car - no a/c, power windows, radio/CD - it makes a Geely Haoqing look luxurious by comparison. Sorry - if I were to buy a really low cost micro car I'd wait for the upcoming Chery QQ2 or the BYD F1 - more "creature comforts" AND I'll also have a much better chance of surviving in a accident.
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Interesting article in NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/b...ar.html?_r=2&ref=asia&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
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More pictures and video at:
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/10/video-live-reveal-of-tata-nano-plus-more-pics/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/b...ar.html?_r=2&ref=asia&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
More pictures and video at:
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/10/video-live-reveal-of-tata-nano-plus-more-pics/
jmsteiny said:
Sorry, I am being a hypocrite here, I am just gonna say something really quick. You are right, this car is not designed to run on highway at high speed. An article from the UK times online states that this car is only safe when travel at the speed of 7 mph which is the average speed on the Indian roads.
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Guy's the Chinese have missed a trick here. TATA has built a car that has made the front pages of UK newspapers. People here are calling it "the people's car". TATA are now firmly on the map. You may criticise them on safety, but this car is safer than putting an entire family on a scooter in the pouring rain!
They are talking about making 1 million a year for India alone. Imagine how many they could sell if the make some in China! In addition TATA has built this from the ground up. It's not a rip off of a Daewoo or a Smart car. This give's it street cred and means that no other car maker can put them out of business.
Now imagine the version of this car that is rumoured to run on compressed air. It will be a zero emmision car that the developed world is screaming for. It could be refuelled at a tyre pump in a petrol station in 3 mins! We want a city car like this desperatley. Yes it's basic. But we can forgive that.
Now look beyond this small car. TATA are already selling over 200,000 small cars a year in India. The are a big producer of comercial vehicles and they are about to buy Jaguar and Land Rover to give themselve real credibility. They are designing an entire range of cars in Europe and if they get Land Rover then they will also take control of the Rover car brand to use on that range (are you reading this SAIC?)
No Chinese car maker is playing in this league yet, except for maybe SAIC who's biggest purchase was to buy Ssangyong). Give TATA a pat on the back. Now figure out how they did it and make a rival car quickly.
They are talking about making 1 million a year for India alone. Imagine how many they could sell if the make some in China! In addition TATA has built this from the ground up. It's not a rip off of a Daewoo or a Smart car. This give's it street cred and means that no other car maker can put them out of business.
Now imagine the version of this car that is rumoured to run on compressed air. It will be a zero emmision car that the developed world is screaming for. It could be refuelled at a tyre pump in a petrol station in 3 mins! We want a city car like this desperatley. Yes it's basic. But we can forgive that.
Now look beyond this small car. TATA are already selling over 200,000 small cars a year in India. The are a big producer of comercial vehicles and they are about to buy Jaguar and Land Rover to give themselve real credibility. They are designing an entire range of cars in Europe and if they get Land Rover then they will also take control of the Rover car brand to use on that range (are you reading this SAIC?)
No Chinese car maker is playing in this league yet, except for maybe SAIC who's biggest purchase was to buy Ssangyong). Give TATA a pat on the back. Now figure out how they did it and make a rival car quickly.
There are a few things I would like to say here, firstly Tata has no plans to sell it outside India probably until 2011, second Tata himself said in an interview that no China dealers associate him to this car. Thirdly, referring to Land Rover and Jaguar, let us not forget BMW and Ford, and did Land Rover and Jaguar do any good for BMW and Ford in the end of the day ? Not to mention Ford and BMW are the big names in auto industry and they could not get Land Rover and Jaguar back up on. So I think we will have to wait and see what Tata can do.
I think people should wait and see. If people love it, why not? That proves that the car doesn't really need side beams and is indeed better than a scooter and fits Indian market. If its lack of safety causes too many accidents (I hope not), then that's a disaster and TATA has to take all the responsbilities and concequence.
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No going over what...44mph? Or you'll create wear and tear on your wheel bearings. It is what it is...a cheap city car. It'll be a mega-seller for Tata of India. Watch and see.
That schematic is probably based on a dscussion with industry idiots driving their SUV all day long.
Saved $10 bucks on auto headlight levelers did they? Even worse, they also saved $300 on the Xenon set that requires the automatic headlight leveler. You see, most cars with halogen bulbs still have an old fashion knob for that.
Many small cars like a toyota aygo also have a 1blade wiper, and the 109hp of the Honda Fit is almost double the 68hp of the Aygo. Maybe they havent realised that the Fit, 'one of cheapest and smallest' cars in the USA is actually a normal small family car in many countries.
I also read a funny comment in this topic somewhere:
"but I've NEVER heard of a small car that has PURPOSELY left out things like safety side beams! ", well try pulling apart a santana, jetta, geely, chery amulet of any of those older model cars still in production today even produced by western car brands in China. If safety was really a concern for volkswagen or citroen they would have stopped producing the santana, jetta and zx a long, long long time ago.
That said, I never felt unsafe 25 years ago when we used those 'death traps' as they are known today. The whole safety thing has been shoved down our throat more or less since the introduction of those NCAP tests. Today you don't even feel safe in a car without side bags. When riding my motorbike I never feel unsafe, I just feel I have to be carefull. It's all a mind game.
Saved $10 bucks on auto headlight levelers did they? Even worse, they also saved $300 on the Xenon set that requires the automatic headlight leveler. You see, most cars with halogen bulbs still have an old fashion knob for that.
Many small cars like a toyota aygo also have a 1blade wiper, and the 109hp of the Honda Fit is almost double the 68hp of the Aygo. Maybe they havent realised that the Fit, 'one of cheapest and smallest' cars in the USA is actually a normal small family car in many countries.
I also read a funny comment in this topic somewhere:
"but I've NEVER heard of a small car that has PURPOSELY left out things like safety side beams! ", well try pulling apart a santana, jetta, geely, chery amulet of any of those older model cars still in production today even produced by western car brands in China. If safety was really a concern for volkswagen or citroen they would have stopped producing the santana, jetta and zx a long, long long time ago.
That said, I never felt unsafe 25 years ago when we used those 'death traps' as they are known today. The whole safety thing has been shoved down our throat more or less since the introduction of those NCAP tests. Today you don't even feel safe in a car without side bags. When riding my motorbike I never feel unsafe, I just feel I have to be carefull. It's all a mind game.
I think this car is ingenius. Think about the target consumer: the billions of dirt poor folks who can only afford to walk, ride a bicycle, moped, and at best motorcycles or those 3-wheeled carts with a motor in the back. This car is a HUGE improvement over what they had and could afford, in comfort and safety.
The target audience of this car is NOT you, the middle-class to rich folks who are embarrassed to drive anything under $25,000.
Yeah, I'd never buy one myself (44mph top speed? Come on...) but billions of poor around the world will. My only concern is, give how cheaply made, will it hold up on pot hole filled streets of the 3rd world countries???
The target audience of this car is NOT you, the middle-class to rich folks who are embarrassed to drive anything under $25,000.
Yeah, I'd never buy one myself (44mph top speed? Come on...) but billions of poor around the world will. My only concern is, give how cheaply made, will it hold up on pot hole filled streets of the 3rd world countries???
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agree, safe or not the nano (or scooters with a cage). overall the car should be a success, it achieved what it wanted to achieve. but i read somewhere that it only has one suspension???? so is all four wheels tied to four double wishbone bars then to one spring and one shock absorber?? or is there going to be an option of which wheel do you want your suspension to be on.
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Now it is for us to decide, is the future of autos the gas guzzling SUVs with price tags of $30-98K USD or is it modest conserver vehicles that save the environment?
BTW, with americans now being the fatest nation in the history of mankind, they might have to go on diets to even fit in this vehicle. No kidding or jibing intended, average wieght of adults in usa has increased 50# in past 20 years.
These vehicles will catch on in the n.american market only under 2 conditions, oil will have to hit $200Bb, a recession bordering on depression will have to hit american consumers in the wallet and waistline.
I am an average, active healthy educated male and still gained 10Kg over the holiday season, its compelling when food is nearly free and widely available at every sitting.
We are in a society of excesses, we are now at the overabundance, what the future holds is widely uncertain but i think inflation will soon become a major factor.
Personally, i would go on a diet and buy this type of vehicle as i am concerned about the permanent and irrivocable damages we in n.america are doing to our air, soils and water.
I just did a stint at the athebasca tar sands. They do not allow you to take pictures of syncrude or its surroundings. A team is hired just to clean and dispose the wildlife that daily dies after drinking the water or trying to swim in it. That team is kept busy 7 days a week and is comprised of 12 members.
Just looking at the 'tar pond' backwash system makes you want to puke, fresh water fish caught 100 miles (60Kms) away stink of gasoline, moose and deer taken 200Kms away are found to have tumors and cancers at age 2.
Cancer rates of sands workers and residents are 35 times the national average.
An enviromental disaster is being allowed so that america can shop at walmart and drive rediculously large cars. In a "free & open" society cameras are inspected by oilsands security teams and pictures deleted.
The media in canada and the USA sends messages about china being a major poluter, yet they ignore disasters in their own yards.
Things have to change, smaller cars are the first step.
BTW, with americans now being the fatest nation in the history of mankind, they might have to go on diets to even fit in this vehicle. No kidding or jibing intended, average wieght of adults in usa has increased 50# in past 20 years.
These vehicles will catch on in the n.american market only under 2 conditions, oil will have to hit $200Bb, a recession bordering on depression will have to hit american consumers in the wallet and waistline.
I am an average, active healthy educated male and still gained 10Kg over the holiday season, its compelling when food is nearly free and widely available at every sitting.
We are in a society of excesses, we are now at the overabundance, what the future holds is widely uncertain but i think inflation will soon become a major factor.
Personally, i would go on a diet and buy this type of vehicle as i am concerned about the permanent and irrivocable damages we in n.america are doing to our air, soils and water.
I just did a stint at the athebasca tar sands. They do not allow you to take pictures of syncrude or its surroundings. A team is hired just to clean and dispose the wildlife that daily dies after drinking the water or trying to swim in it. That team is kept busy 7 days a week and is comprised of 12 members.
Just looking at the 'tar pond' backwash system makes you want to puke, fresh water fish caught 100 miles (60Kms) away stink of gasoline, moose and deer taken 200Kms away are found to have tumors and cancers at age 2.
Cancer rates of sands workers and residents are 35 times the national average.
An enviromental disaster is being allowed so that america can shop at walmart and drive rediculously large cars. In a "free & open" society cameras are inspected by oilsands security teams and pictures deleted.
The media in canada and the USA sends messages about china being a major poluter, yet they ignore disasters in their own yards.
Things have to change, smaller cars are the first step.
Holy shiat! That's really messed up...
I firmly believe in the 3 R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reduce consumption as much as possible. Then reuse anything as much as possible. Finally, recycle what you can't reuse as much as possible.
As soon as highway safe electric cars or plug-in hybrids are available, I'm buying one and put solar panels on my roof so I can charge my cars directly from the sun.
Come on BYD!!!
I firmly believe in the 3 R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reduce consumption as much as possible. Then reuse anything as much as possible. Finally, recycle what you can't reuse as much as possible.
As soon as highway safe electric cars or plug-in hybrids are available, I'm buying one and put solar panels on my roof so I can charge my cars directly from the sun.
Come on BYD!!!
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