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Jokes aside, here's one video, though the angle is terrible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahw7-KarkWw
"MUMBAI (Reuters) -- India's Tata Motors today unveiled an upgraded Nano model as it looks to improve on well below-estimate sales of a product touted as the world's cheapest car.
Tata has sold around 130,000 Nanos since the car was launched in April 2009. The four-seater car costs as little as 140,000 rupees ($2,730), and was launched in a blaze of publicity in price-sensitive India.
Sales have underperformed expectations, as rising input costs forced the firm to increase the car's price, and a land dispute at the model's original factory forced Tata to move production to an alternative site.
In November, Tata offered Nano owners the option to install safety protection in their vehicles after local media reported that seven cars had caught fire. The carmaker said it was not a recall as the fires were specific to the units.
The new Nano, according to a company statement, boasts increased fuel efficiency, a more powerful engine and new interiors."
More power, more economical, new interiors. What's not to like?
Power assist for the brakes now standard!
Scratch that, looking at how the natives drive when they come here and line up to buy Camcords and Civrollas, all assistance is good :shades: :sick:
The Nano is hot Hot HOT!!!
"MUMBAI -- Tata, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover Group, says it has selected Cyrus Mistry to succeed Ratan Tata as chairman of Tata Sons, the group's holding company.
Ratan Tata, 72, plans to retire next year from the helm of the company which bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor Co. in 2008 for $2.5 billion.
Mistry is the managing director of Shapoorji Pallonji group, which has interests in construction, real estate, infrastructure and textiles, and a director of Tata Sons. He has initially been appointed deputy chairman of the holding company. He will take over as chairman when Ratan Tata retires in December 2012, the company said on Wednesday.
Mistry, 43, is the son of Pallonji Mistry, whose family is the largest individual shareholder in Tata Sons with an 18 percent stake. He has degrees in engineering and management from Imperial College, London, and the London Business School."
Sounds like Jag and Land Rover sales are surging in China.
Tata Motors Profit Beats Estimates on Demand for Evoque (Bloomberg)
The brands are well positioned for the growing new gilded age, and the corrupt wealth in our most favored "partner".
More scary than any horror movie I've seen. I couldn't sleep at night. :surprise:
Amusing that maintenance on a German that cost twice as much would likely be less.
His other car is a Boxster Tiptronic (*), so I think he got his inheritance early from his dad.
* best conventional auto I've sampled, thing reads your mind
Inheritance, something I do associate with the brand :shades:
They paid pennies on the dollar compared to what Ford paid, I'm sure.
I think it was much worse than that. More than money was lost.
Having Jag and Land Rover always limited what a Lincoln could be. Lincoln was the de-tuned Jag. LS vs S Type for example. On top of that they dragged down Jaguar to try to get financial synergies (X Type).
In the end it hurt both.
This is common in the industry - when you have multiple brands, especially premiere brands, that limits what the lesser brands can do.
Toyotas don't have DI because Lexuses do. Meanwhile Hyundai and others offer DI, so that's a handicap. Without a lux brand Hyundai doesn't have to hold back.
Hyundai doesn't hold back because it dearly still wants and needs recognition and credibility. Lux brand won't come without the importation of some actual design talent.
To be honest, though, I hope they don't.
Mercury?
We saw how well that worked.
I could see Genesis working with a larger lineup - small/medium/large/coupe/cabrio/SUV etc, but I don't see those in the pipeline.
Kia needs a sporty division to tune its cars.
Hyundai would need to distinguish itself more.
Both brands need more differentiation from each other. They've done a lot to move past the bad old days, but most see them as near identical siblings.
They went from the punch line of a bad joke, to class-leading DI engines, even at Accent/Rio price levels.
But I agree on the 2nd point, too. They are actually MORE similar now than they were a few years ago, when there were vehicles unique to each line (Rondo, Sorento, Borrego).
Styling is the only real differentiator.
At a fraction of the price, the Nano competes with bikes, walking, or taking the bus. Or maybe a beat up used car (and not a good one).
Any how, we're off on a tangent....I guess Tatas are for people who can't afford to care about styling all that much.
Seeing as how the Nano isn't sold in the market where the forum is hosted and never will be, I don't worry about a tangent :shades:
Yeah, to stay on topic this thread would go dormant.
Funny we have a Tata thread, but no real dedicated general Hyundai thread.
Half of Americans think Canada is in Europe. :sick:
Ask random people about the spin-off Japanese luxury brands...few know the parentage. I remember asking people when I was in school, and so many didn't know Acura is Honda, and so on.
For a split second...I believed it. Very, very funny.
Looked something like this (image is suitable for work):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariel/40598250/
Funny that this board is more active than the Hyundai News one. None of our snappy name choices have struck a nerve, much less the current boring one.
Maybe Googlers are searching for squatting Hyundais or something.
Back to the topic, I "trust" Hyundai reliability more but like Kia's styling more (like the Soul I admired in the parking lot at lunch today).
Oh wait, what is the topic?
Beats me. :shades:
Your reliability perception is probably had by many, although I think today they share a lot of mechanicals. I'll say an Optima is a lot sharper than a Sonata, especially that hilariously odd hybrid fishface model.
Also, and this is little known, but Kia tends to have bigger rebates, so the transactions prices are lower, too.
Let's see them improve on stick shift feel. The Optima's was disappointing, though the Sportage's was good. The latter also had better steering. Too bad you can't see out of it.
Tata Nano has great visibility.
(see what I did there? LOL)
Nano would also be visible to other drivers, people would point and stare. The local people of Indian heritage would probably make a yucky face, they left to get away from things like that :shades: