Hi MS members and bloggers,
The car has still not hit the road but so many concerns are been raised like it is going to cause congestion on the roads, its going to cause pollution, its going to cause road rage, its not safe etc and I doubt whether Mr.Ratan Tata’s marketing team would also have thought about these factors in their marketing presentation regarding the hindrances to the sale of this car in the Indian market
I was going through the views of bloggers who have posted their views, issues and concerns regarding this car NANO. Sometimes I feel that if there were a weight machine which can weigh the concerns, issues and hypothesis then the concerns, issues and problems(hypothetical) that may arise would weigh heavier then this car itself
We talk about the car having a small engine so we feel that there may be an issue with the car not being able to take the load of its occupants but we don’t consider the change in design in NANO with regards to other tested cars. NANO has a RR design with the help of which NANO would have increased traction as the driven wheel is being loaded with the engine which accounts for maximum weight amongst all components in a car but yes this design can cause over steer at high speeds, wet good quality roads like expressways and icy roads but are these type of roads and conditions available in Indian cities? Moreover Inter city drive is not the cup of tea for the middle class who are going to buy a 1.25 lakh car
We talk about this car being driven for long drives and along side a middle class family is also referred to as the buying segment who has never ever gone on a long drive and doesn’t has the mentality of doing that as well. By the time the mentality and the dispensable income will develop, India would have moved 5 yrs ahead and Mr. Ratan Tata would have developed another concept of planning a car like Santro or i10 at 30% higher cost then NANO- I mean a car with much better capability and capable of more safety and safer cruising at higher speeds
We talk about risk of NANO not able to meet safety standards but along side we talk about congestion on roads. With the average road speed being in the range of 20-30 km/hr is there that threat to the occupants of NANO, atleast with the sheet metal in place it can take the hit of the scratches and its more safer then a two wheeler in this way:-if the occupants were on a two wheeler, the occupants and the two wheeler both would have got scratches but if the occupants are in a NANO or any 4 wheeler the scratch and hit is being taken by the vehicle.
We talk about this car increasing road traffic and congestion but actually this car is going to eat up the market share of the alto and the 800, so much reduced selling of the Alto, 800 and higher selling of NANO. Incremental higher sales of NANO is negligible
With the rise in the cost of petrol, the cost of operating this car for a middle class family is high. So this car will take care of the seldom family outings on weekends when the family will go out together, and it will not substitute daily movement to office for the middle class. For the middle class families, this car would be a dream and so it can be a status symbol or it would ignite the SNOB effect amongst the middle class people. The SNOB effect would be more because of the cost of operating the car and it would be less for owning a car, a 60:40 ratio within the middle class
Awaiting Comments!
Thanks,
Perdue