Sunday, April 28, 2024

Story of the World’s Cheapest Car: Ratan Tata Explained

There were talks that Tata might renew it as an EV but the company has made it clear that the Nano won’t be used as EV.

Tata Nano was introduced in India amid a lot of hype and fanfare. Despite being the cheapest car in the world, it couldn’t survive in the long run. No matter the sale volumes, the Tata Nano was introduced for the Indian family, one that found it hard to purchase a four-wheeler despite the need. Today, years after the mini-car has been discontinued, Ratan Tata himself revealed the story behind the vehicle that many see as a revolutionary product ahead of its time.

Ratan Tata’s explanation illuminates some of the problems faced by the Indian diaspora, especially people with low per capita income. He explained how he used to see Indian families stockpiled on a single two-wheeler. He claimed that this led him to the idea of creating a safer mode of transport. 

The Tata Nano was seen as a medium through which an Indian family can graduate to a much safer family vehicle without the need of burning a hole in their pockets. Ratan Tata in a post on Instagram shared that he observed Indian families with three and sometimes even more people in a single two-wheeler. They moved on dangerous slippery roads. He then explained how he wanted to change this and make the two-wheeler safer. However, he ultimately decided to launch a car instead.

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A post shared by Ratan Tata (@ratantata)

In his post, Ratan Tata said, “What really motivated me, and sparked a desire to produce such a vehicle, was constantly seeing Indian families on scooters, maybe the child sandwiched between the mother and father, riding to wherever they were going, often on slippery roads. One of the benefits of being in the School of Architecture, it had taught me to doodle when I was free. At first we were trying to figure out how to make two-wheelers safer, the doodles became four wheels, no windows, no doors, just a basic dune buggy. But I finally decided it should be a car. The Nano, was always meant for all our people.”

The Tata Nano was launched in the year 2008 at a shocking price of just Rs 1 lakh. The company was confident with its product and planned to sell around 2.5 lakh units every year. However, that couldn’t be reached. There were concerns regarding the car’s safety. However, the comparisons were not made by two-wheelers but with other more expensive cars. In 2017, the company announced that the project is loss-making. (tramadol) Despite that, Tata continued production of the vehicle till 2018. After a decade since its launch, Tata Nano production was halted.

There were talks that Tata might renew it as an EV but the company has made it clear that the Nano won’t be used as EV. Tata’s own subsidiary does use a fleet of electric Tata Nano but that is not available commercially.

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