My Next Car: Nano

If you haven’t already heard, Indian conglomerate and car-maker Tata is launching a Rs. 1 lakh ($2500) “people’s car” in October. Tata decided to put the plant in West Bengal for lower costs and to spur economic activity in the state. They even co-located suppliers, a necessity when shooting for a $2500 price tag. However, some in the state are crying foul about the appropriation of farmland for the project. I don’t know the details and have so little understanding of Indian politics I wouldn’t begin to put forth an opinion, but the most common one I’ve heard is that this is clearly political maneuvering because otherwise this would have been settled years ago when the project was started (I referred to this project in my b-school essays 3 years ago). Too bad either way for West Bengal, who might get a bad name in the business community. However, production is moving forward and none of this has stopped the excitement for the Nano. Check out what Vincy thinks on his auto-rikshaw. (By the way, personalization of vehicles is everywhere here. More on that later. )

I totally want one, but they are not street-legal in the US because they don’t meet safety standards. Safety is not as much a part of the culture here in India, with entire families of 5 traveling on a single motorcycle with no helmets.