It doesn’t even go on sale until October but the Tata Nano, soon to be the cheapest new car in the world, is already making a big impact in its native India.Since it was announced less than a month ago, the Nano has almost single-handedly destroyed the value of budget secondhand cars in India. Prices for a secondhand Maruti 800, currently the cheapest and most popular car in India, have dropped by 30 per cent in just two months.Nanomania also appears to be putting the nail into sales of new Maruti 800s, with new registrations down 20 per cent in January, a month that normally sees a rise in sales.Darius Lam of Autocar Professional in India said: “People are asking themselves – and us - why they should pay, say, 250,000 rupees for a new Maruti Alto, when they can wait and get a brand new Nano for less in a few months’ time, a car that is actually bigger”.Some ten million users have already visited Tata's microsite for the Nano - a figure that Tata claims is a record, and proves that the car is sure to be a hit when it goes on sale later this year.The Renault-Nissan Alliance looks like it too may cash in on the Indian cheap car boom too, as it looks to launch a £1,599 car with India's Bajaj Auto.
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Re: Nanomania overwhelms Indian car market
Uh the Nano for travelling 6 times the distance and selling 500 times more!
Ouch Mr Enviromental car loses!!!!!
Re: Nanomania overwhelms Indian car market
It's not a matter of being smug. It's a case of economic and social reality.
The point wasn't to suggest that any country should have more right to as what it is allowed to have over other countries. Indians have every bit as much right as us to have cars. And yes, India is a growing economic and industrial power. However the reality remains that hundreds of millions of its people still live in abject poverty and squalor. Many people's concern is to make it from one day to the next and have enough to eat to survive. Very soon it will overtake China as the World's most populas country and over 25 million are born and added to its population every single year. The country simple does not have the infrastructure, the organization and the road network system to cope with million of new cars, at this point. But that is an issue for the Indian authorities and I'm sure that's what they are focusing on instead of worrying about what we in the UK think about the prospect of mass car ownership in India.
As we all know, we have our own serious problems with the transport system in the UK. And yes, many of our politicians, AND council officials, seems to be intent on making life more difficult for people and appear to take particular pleasure in penalising the average motorist at every turn instead of addressing the root cause of the problems. Nevertheless, despite our (often justified) moans we should still keep in mind that we are lucky enough to live in one of the wealthiest countries in the World with access to the most of the best things that life can offer. And we are fortunate enough to able to afford more cars per head (all be it that many do so on credit) in this country compared to the average Indian. Not at all a matter of being smug.
As for all the science on concern on CO2 emissions being dismissed as "piffle"; ok, if you say so.
Re: Nanomania overwhelms Indian car market
Come clean, you never had a 15 mpg car. Even a 50's Bentley returned 17 mpg. Makes a good story for a "sour grape" though.