Small Car - Big Dream (Here Comes the Nano)

So finally the day has dawned upon the aspirational Indian: The Launch day of the TATA Nano. The car every two wheeler riding middle class family man was waiting for. The car will hit the showrooms today.There will be three versions-The base version,the one promised by Mr. Tata and other 2 higher versions. The higher versions it seems would have all the goodies but the power steering it seems is going to miss out.The bookings are going to commence on the 9th April till the 25th April.

The Nano will be sold to the first 100,000 buyers at a price to be announced later.

The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early-July and that applications for booking of the car would be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India.

Of course, there are some Indians in this great country of ours who will be kicking themselves sore and cursing their political parties for losing the Nano project from their state. While the land of the traders & businessmen would be praising their already much respected & revered leader(in their state,i might add) to the moon.

Well, that's about the background to the Nano story for those who came in late. What are the implications of the Nano on the unsuspecting Indian population?

For practicality sake, the Nano is supposed to be much safer than your poor plain Maruti 800 or for that matter the Alto also as per various reports. It has no less than 23 patents.It also meets the much stricter Euro IV norms.Though all the other Indian automobile manufacturers are sitting mum and watching the action from the sidelines after their unsuccessful attempt to sideline the Nano project, you can smell the sweat under their Saville Row suits and Oxford shirts right on your screen. They are lucky that the economy is in recession mode,otherwise who knows what the Nano would have done in a buoyant economy let alone what it will do in a depressed one is anyones guess.

In Mumbai, the swish set is already cracking jokes in the page 3 layouts about how they will use the Nano for their grocery purchases and for Golf or for their servants, etc.

But Mr. Tata doesn't care as these fools are not their target audience. What Mr. Tata has done is really unimaginable. He has turned the global auto industry upside down, he has changed the rules of the game. After acquiring JLR, he has proved that the TATA group was not just about being cash rich, it was also about the putting its money where its mouth is.

I am just waiting in anticipation for the 9th of April to see the reaction of the Indian public when the bookings open.

I mean this car has the capacity to open up an entire depressed economy(pretty optimistic,huh?)

So long for now, until the next news on Nano comes up.

Cheers.