The middle class can own cars too!

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The middle class can own cars too!

Tata��s Nano makes it possible for the Indian middle class as also the middle class in Africa and Latin America to own a car. For the latter, owing a car is no longer a dream. Tata and Buddhadeb will go down in history as sellers of this dream.

CJ: Sumantra Maitra

Mon, Jan 21, 2008 09:35:59 IST

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IN THE last couple of months, the most hyped and watched development in India, which has had a global effect is perhaps the launch of the “people’s car” by Ratan Tata. An event, though nano in size, it had a significant impact (apart from Rakhi Sawant losing in Nach Balliye 3 and all the consequent whimpering, that is; it definitely got more bytes from the media, but then that’s a different issue altogether). The baby car, aptly named Nano, was mired in controversy right from the embryonic stage. Its factory is located at Singur; the name itself is mired in controversy, where Miss “meddling” Mamta Banerjee valiantly tried to swim against the tide of growing urbanisation.

The pessimists said the roads would get congested; the environmentalists said greenery would be destroyed; the purists said that a car ought to be for a certain class of society, and it could not be so cheap and the narcissists said that it was too small and won’t look good. But it did come out, heralding a new road revolution; the second industrial movement after the 1950’s that a new India has been waiting for. In short, it came and made its way to be the new hot wheels. Time magazine has named it among one of the ten cars that had an impact on the history of motor transport, thereby giving it a place beside other greats, notable among them being the Beetle Volkswagen, Mercedes May Bach, Cadillac Convertible, and of course Chevrolet 350, 1957 model.

What is it in Nano that catches the eye? For the uninitiated, here are the stats in short: it is by far the cheapest car in the world; its fuel efficiency is over 20 kmpl; it meets international safety norms and is Euro-4 compliant; most importantly, it boasts of almost 21% more space than Maruti 800, the most successful car so far in India. They say “a good thing comes in small packages”. I bet it never was so true. Ratan Tata has already filed a candidature for a “Guru” sequel. Are you hearing, Mr Maniratnam?

But let us not go into all that. It is best to say that the car provided an answer to the cocky cynics who commented on road congestion or the ‘green’ rabble-rousers who reckon only the emission from Indian automobiles and do not mind the other pollutants from their “developed” world. If they have the right to own a car, we’ve got it too. The young urban professional who longed for a joy-ride but couldn’t afford it, will look eye-to-eye, with an Audi or Aston Martin revving engines at traffic signals. Dreams, which are a rarity to find, are again being sold in a “Nano” package by Tata Motors not only to the Indian middle class but also to the middle class in Africa and Latin America. Ratan Tata and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya will go down in history as visionaries and sellers of these dreams.

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