Nano: Firing a billion dreams??

I was just reading an interesting (and funny) article (NDTV.com) about TATA’s Nano and what it means to our billion plus population. The tile of the article is Nano: Firing a billion dreams, and I believe it is pointing to our country’s population. Firstly, more than 25% of the 1 billion are categorized under ‘below poverty line’ and another 25% as ‘middle class’. TATA’s Nano does fire a few million dreams (about 250 million if you consider just the middle class population which is by any terms HUGE!), and according to what I understand from the article every middle class citizen would exhaust their credit card limit by swiping for the cute small car.

Forget the cars safety features, even mid segment cars costing more than five lakh rupees do not come with airbags/ABS, and in some of them they are not even an option. I do own a mid segment car whose interiors, including plastics/components made by local companies, do not appeal much, rather gives a cheap plastic-ky feeling. This observation is true with most other mid segment cars too!

We’ve been born and brought up in a society that teaches us to compromise on quality – be it a 10 lakh car or a one lakh car. I may not do justice by commenting on the quality of the Nano without seeing and feeling it, but it’s my presumption and sixth sense that makes me come to this conclusion after seeing TATA Indicas and Indigos.

“If India is stepping into a disaster traffic zone, what’s that to do with the Nano alone? All small and big cars will lead to congestion and the number of cars will only go up, Nano or no Nano.” – says the article. The pain point is why make the situation worse when you can’t make it better?

“So think about it. It’s a car that costs about the equivalent of a price of the optional DVD player on a Lexus sport utility vehicle. It’s car for half the price of a high-end Vertu phone. You could think of buying the car or two and a half Bose speakers. Or if you are not a gadget freak, then how about this – one nano is one Louis Vuitton bag or three Prada underwears or one third of a luxury Chanel jacket.” Well, I don’t think a typical middle class citizen would be comparing this car to an optional DVD player on a Lexus, Vertu phone or Louis Vuitton bag – for him ’tis just an affordable utility vehicle. On the other side, an upper middle class citizen whose annual family income is above fifteen lakhs would hardly think of buying a Nano – his ego would come into play masking the utility factor.

So, let’s get realistic about the Nano! I believe the media should give an unbiased view of the product and its after effects, rather than calling it ‘Gandhian Engineering’. Gandhi would’ve preferred providing 1 billion Indians with better roads and public transportation, than producing the world’s cheapest car!