Of Indian roads and TATA NANO a rethought

Three days since the release of 1 lakh car from TATA, I am having hick ups on the concept.. agreed; its a great creation packed with innovation. But does it have what it requires to succeed? A lot of people are concerned about the congestion on Indian roads. But that my dear friends is restricted to the major India cities (at least for now), which have an overwhelming population.

The real users of the car will be the middle class who form the majority in the Indian towns. Now let me describe these ‘small towns’ the dominant population here are small businessmen and people working in service industry like banking! And this class forms THE target audience for the car.. So what are the problems of having such a small car in these towns?

Roads are poorly maintined in many of the Indian townsFirst of all towns have narrow roads and they may not be able to handle the sudden explosion of traffic! And knowing our politicians they are not bound to widen the roads in a giffy.. they will take their own sweet time by which the small towns will face traffic problems earlier found only in cities like Bangalore.

Also about the roads again.. having driven in these small towns we need to keep in mind that they may not have best of roads and one kilometre out of the town you reach villages where the only form of transport are jeeps and TATA Sumos. Will NANO’s baby tyres be able to carry it on the rough terrain? Can Nano rule the roost in an area under the rule of big brother Sumo? I doubt it!


10 responses to “Of Indian roads and TATA NANO a rethought”
  1. Ruhi Avatar

    I’m going to say here the same thing that I said in Nita’s blog:

    Agreed, the car business is indirectly affected by the condition of the roads. But do you think that these people, who have finally been given the option of buying a car that costs only Rs. 1 lakh, will bother about the condition of the roads?

    I think that driving a cheap car that costs only Rs. 1 lakh through these roads is better than buying a VW or any other german car (whose parts are so expensive) and then torturing it on these streets. In fact, bad roads demand cheaper cars!

  2. | Balu | Avatar

    lol ya maruti’s worked wonders but it has a pretty good suspension and slightly bigger tiers.. and hey Maruthi is quite famous for ability to get stuck on potholes!

  3. | Balu | Avatar

    The problem is not with people buying the car.. there is no way one can stop that.. the problem is with the administration.. they wont do enough in reqd time! thats the sad part!

  4. Ruhi Avatar

    true…when has the govt. ever worked on time? that’s too much to ask 😉

  5. Xylene Avatar

    well, the maruti 800 is climbing the western ghats, to the dusty deserts in Rajasthan, the flooded roads in kerala.. So I guess the little Nano can do it aswell. Lets give it a chance.

  6. Manish Avatar

    Want my views?
    Wait and watch…. One of my friend tagged it as a “Concept Car”. We have to wait till hits the roads.

  7. | Balu | Avatar

    U can call it a concept car but it isnt as it has undergone most of the tests! Well there is a great concept behind it so nothing wrong in calling it so!

  8. Manish Avatar

    Concept car in the sense changing the way we take cars in our minds. Before Maruti 800, cars were meant only for rich people. Changing the mindset, that’s why I agreed to this term “Concept Car”. A Concept to change the outlook of middle class Indians towards car. A second car revolution after Maruti 800

  9. | Balu | Avatar

    Couldn’t agree with you more! 🙂

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