When Ratan Tata unveiled the Nano, he made history. He had accomplished what some auto giants claimed was rubbish and others proclaimed impossible.
The car meets Euro 4 emission standards, gives good mileage per litre of petrol and is sold for $2,500 (about Dh9,178), making it the cheapest car in the world.
Is the car a boon or a bane to the world?
People who agree it is an accomplishment and boon cite its affordability among other reasons. The price of the Nano makes it affordable even to those who are unable to buy a car and hence invest in two wheelers.
This is usually the lower middle class and people in rural regions. As Raja Sowrirajan says, "My employer got me a motorbike.
However, I'm married and have two daughters. I worry about their safety as I can't drop them in school. Therefore, I pay Rs2,500 to get them taken to and from school. The Nano is not only affordable but also safe for my entire family and I plan to buy it." Revolution The Nano may decrease the number of two wheelers on the streets.
Many auto giants may shift their design and research base to India as Indian designers have proved they are competent and economical.
Another incentive would be the cost factor, as Indian designers are paid 1/6th that of their Western and Japanese counterparts.
In addition, auto giants have to come up with a new model each year. Most importantly, Indian designs are suitable worldwide as they take into account all the variances in climate.
There are others who feel that the Nano will bring about the demise of the mass transport system, especially autorickshaws, buses and trains since now almost everyone will be able to buy the car.
This will result in a huge loss of jobs and livelihoods. According to Nandita Deb, "Nano will do to mass transit what email and courier did to postal services.
"Environmentalists feel the pollution level is likely to become higher with massive sales of the Nano in developing countries. According to Shanti Rangarajan, "Why didn't Tata design a better bus? With the current price tag and car loans offered by banks, everyone will be able to buy it.
Can you imagine the amount of pollution this will result in? We also won't be able to meet our country's emission standards.
"Traffic congestion in the developing world will increase and add problems to the already strained infrastructure. Ajit Sharma, a software engineer from Bangalore, says, "It already takes me an hour to travel from my house to my workplace which is just seven kilometres away because of traffic congestion.
Once the Nano hits the roads in Bangalore, it will probably take me two hours." The massive increase in imported oil as the car is neither hybrid nor electric will cause the global price of crude to keep rising.
The extent to which these factors will affect India and the world remains to be seen as it is still early to say if India and the world will go the California way — smog, personal cars and almost non-existent public transport, or the New York way — cabs, robust public transport despite the availability of cars and traffic congestion.
The Nano can become the middle class family car, the new developing world's cab replacing the autorickshaw, tuk-tuk, etc, the new bike of the youth replacing two wheelers, the poor man's car or the corporate employer's give away.
Design race
The demand for the Tata Nano is dependent on how its economic status is perceived and this will result in the number of cars sold in India and globally.
This will eventually determine if the Tata Nano will be a boon or bane.
On the other hand, by making the Nano, Tata has effectively thrown the gauntlet into the automobile designer ring, especially to the automobile makers worldwide who said it was impossible to make a good car at this price.
Indian auto designers have a bright future as they have shown the impossible is possible. Overall, the Nano is bound to create a design and development race in the automobile sector globally and it is high time too we had an automobile revolution.
Maybe the others will take up the challenge and come up with newer designs that are more efficient. For a long time it has been about aesthetics, but with the Nano the race is on for who can produce the best under the hood and economically.
The Tata Nano marks the beginning of the global race of the sensible, cost-effective transport for the masses.
