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Unless they sneak it in as a motorcycle or something, to bypass all the safety regs, we won't see cars anywhere near $2500.
Especially with the cost of fuel heading to or reaching $5/gallon.
The US has/is regulating everything out of existence. The Tato Nano is not the first vehicle that would have been a good, fuel saving vehicle that could have reached the US market, but because of all the regulations, never made it.
I'd trust a Euro or Japanese minicar more.
If it is build well, what makes any other "micro" car better than it?
I miss how it would be bad for our roads.
As for trusting a euro car or asian car over it, that is why people have choices.
Crashworthiness, build quality, ability to deal with freeways and urban grinds both...not as simple as it looks.
I'm pretty aware that it isn't as simple as it looks. I've spent the last 30 years in this industry.
My point is, there isn't enough information on what would be presented to the american market to make any kind of judgement on it right now.
It would have to meet the minimum crash specs to even be considered for the american market, so that takes care of that argument.
Ability to deal with freeways, most micros can't even do that.
The point is, regardless of what it is, it should be given an opportunity.
Minimum crash test requirements are a simple legality. There's a lot more to it from build quality to comfort.
This thing would likely approach 10K when brought up to first world standards. I can get a good used fuel efficient car for that.
If we were in 1986, I wouldn't be willing to give the Yugo an opportunity either - one could tell what was going to happen before it arrived. I'd predict not much different today. You can vote with your wallet, I'll vote with mine
And there are many European cars that should have never made the US market. Some models of Fiat failed miserably and Citroen never did officially make it to the US market.
That's why I think a 3-wheeler design of some sort, classified as a motorcycle, would stand a better chance. It would not have those same hurdles.
FIAT and Citroen failed during the dark days when almost every firm was making crap. That coupled with parts supply and dealer network issues did them in here.
Personally, I don't care for normal cars or small bikes though, so it won't happen :shades:
I'm just saying it's a design that could work if Tata wanted to get around the safety regs.
1962 Roustabout TriVan
If registered as a motorcycle, shouldn't one then have to have a motorcycle endorsement on their license? A lot tougher than a normal car...
Wow, that's just rolling art...
I have no idea what the company that makes the Nano has in mind and neither do you.
To say that any vehicle should not be released in the US is closed minded and counter productive. If they are released and fail, then that is there problem. Not really anyone else's.
There are a lot of vehicles that I thought shouldn't have made it in US, but did. But I do have to give credit to the companies that built them for trying.
In the late 70s and early 80s, I worked on a lot of European garbage that was released in the US, that I couldn't understand how they even got past the crash testing.
I have never said it shouldn't be released - corporations can spend their money how they please. Maybe not a franchise I'd want to run, though. And there is a problem - the people who buy the things and get stuck. How did 1986 Yugo buyers feel in 1991?
I own a European car that is heading for 50 years old and pioneered a key safety feature found own everything now. I'd say in the dark days of malaise, there were quite a few American vehicles that also weren't exactly stellar in a crash.
I agree that they Yugo was a total failure, but even at that, when it was released, there was a lot of speculation in the industry that, because it was from a communist country, it was destined to fail.
Kia went through a lot of bumps and bruises before it was somewhat accepted as a vehicle.
There are so many makes of vehicles that met with similar distrust. Volkswagen was one of them.
Would I buy a Nano? Probably not, but when Kia and Hyundai were first introduced to the US, you couldn't have convinced me that I would ever own a Hyundai, yet I own a Santa Fe. I had never owned anything other than a GM product. So anything is possible.
And right now, the Nano has quite a few "bugs" that need to be worked out, before it will consider it for the US market. Like the fact that it catches on fire.
The Japanese took 20 years.
The Koreans took 10.
The Chinese will do it in 5.
***
Let's see if that's true or not, but it certainly looks like it'll take more than 5. Also, let's see if it's indeed China, or India instead.
China only lets outsiders sells cars there via joint ventures, so you know they're stealing all sort of trade secrets. I would not be surprised to see a lot of "break ups" with these JVs, and then a year later a bunch of clones coming out using all that proprietary design.
Do you really think the Chinese government would stop them? It's probably their idea in the first place. They'll cheat to get there.
Tata owns Land Rover and Jaguar, right? That helps, though it's hard to see technology transfer from those segments all the way down to a cheap people mover.
PS Saab is now part Chinese owned.
Double those year statements for the two former, and for the latter, it might never pan out.
Copying will only get you so far. Indeed, the Chinese government encourages it, the nation is an intellectual property pirate. We'll see what it gets them. I don't see anyone rushing to head up technology R&D there, there's a foreign staffed branch office for that, at best. Labor costs make the place work (although some still say our taxes are the issue)
India would probably get there first, and even then, I wouldn't bank on it actually happening.
Maybe the fire thing can be something used to build mystique, like it does for the Italians :shades:
I sort of know a guy (well, met him one time) who is a metallurgy consultant and travels widely and he's not impressed with Indian engine quality.
If you are one in a million, there are 1,000 people just like you in India.
1,200 in China.
or better still, this...
With the girl.
Most of the Wind Generators and electric motors are now built in China. So just about every EV or Hybrid will have major components from China. I thought the Volt had a Chinese gas engine. And Korean batteries.
I wonder how much of it our cowardly treacherous globalist executive class masters will be able to dodge by mandating away country of origin information - it's vanishing already, and you know the motives can only be sinister.
This is certainly better than a couple of hundred of years ago, though, where we'd get little or no entertainment or cheap alcohol. Back then, you'd work and grind yourself into the dirt and have little to show for it.
If this is a prison, it's certainly the nicest one the average working person has had in human history.
That sure is a nice...car, huh?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/05/13/putin_test_drives_europes_chea- pest_car_takes_5_attempts_to_start.html
Very much like a homegrown Chinese car no doubt.
Two modes of propulsion = hybrid. LOL
Rs. 1,35,151
Tata Nano CX
Rs. 1,64,481
Tata Nano LX
Rs. 1,86,498
Enjoy it Cheers