What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
businessweek.com
What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
1–10 of 32 posts
Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#2Despite the question in the headline of this article, there is very little actionable advice. "Get closer to the customer" is about the best teaching the author can come up with.
There has been a lot of talk about this $2500 car, but everything I've read (in articles with actual data) indicate that there is no way to sell the car for $2500 and cover the cost of raw materials plus assembly/shipping. This is even with the concept of the dealer doing some of the final assembly. Then you have to offset R&D costs, and the other overhead of trying to run an automaker.
A car at a sub-$5,000 pricepoint might work in India, where the regulations are much less stringent than in the US. But, to imply that there is any great new innovation here that other automakers (I don't see Toyota with a $5,000 vehicle, either) have missed is somewhat of a stretch.
Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#3Despite the question in the headline of this article, there is very little actionable advice. "Get closer to the customer" is about the best teaching the author can come up with. There has been a lot of talk about this $2500 car, but everything I've read (in articles with actual data) indicate that there is no way to sell the car for $2500 and cover the cost of raw materials plus assembly/shipping. This is even with…
As pointed by business week(via trak.in), the innovations made by Tata Nano are:
1. The car was built from ground up.
2. The supply chain was simplified by making the suppliers partners.
3. Shipping the whole car as kits for the downstream distributors to assemble, thus reducing several costs.
4. The key success factor for Tata Nano project was price. The price was fixed and everything else just worked around it.
Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#4America's Big 3 automakers have been lazy and complacent for years. They haven't made substantial increases in fuel efficiency in decades, and preferred to sue California to fight the zero-emission vehicle law rather than sell more electric cars. They take tons of handouts from the government (hydrogen research, hybrid research, bailout money, etc.) yet lose millions per day.
Bottom line: they don't deserve to be in business.
Even if Tata's Nano is $5k, I would buy one.
Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#5It's an India-only car. It would be a death trap on American roads, and so Detroit has really nothing to learn from them. Detroit always had well-staffed marketing departments to tell them what to do, and for the most part it worked. The problems were always elsewhere. It's just a liberal fantasy that Americans want caskets with wheels.
2500 dollars will get me a decent used car.
Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#6I've been told that the Indian middle class will prefer a regular car. But this certainly beats a scooter.
I have a Vespa. I'd love a covered motorcycle. It could be electric, because I have no plans on going long distances. Solar panels on such a small vehicle might actually work quite well. They could unfold from the sides to take up the same area as the roof of a sedan.
Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#7It's an India-only car. It would be a death trap on American roads, and so Detroit has really nothing to learn from them. Detroit always had well-staffed marketing departments to tell them what to do, and for the most part it worked. The problems were always elsewhere. It's just a liberal fantasy that Americans want caskets with wheels. 2500 dollars will get me a decent used car.
You should at the specs really.
The last time I read its review during a local auto-showin my place, the middle class guys would probably go for a revised version of the good old Maruti-800 car which costs around $5000 approx and has the basic safety features that a car requires (and also A/C and other optionals). But Nano doesn't even have a front bumper.
So as you said it's really just a casket on wheels that people should avoid buying (what's a car without it's basic safety features).
I'm not much into auto, but I guess there's a govt team that reviews cars manufactured in India. So if that team ever reviews such a car, it should presumably fail the safety test (so guess that the Tata guys 'might have' bribed them).
Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#8I've been told that the Indian middle class will prefer a regular car. But this certainly beats a scooter. I have a Vespa. I'd love a covered motorcycle. It could be electric, because I have no plans on going long distances. Solar panels on such a small vehicle might actually work quite well. They could unfold from the sides to take up the same area as the roof of a sedan.
I don't think that area (of solar panels) would be sufficient to generate any serious charge.
Good sun in an ideal case is around 1kw/m2. Whereas, a scooter output will be around 10kw (?).
So naturally depends on how much area you really want to invest in. But I'd say 1m2 would be the maximum for a fold-out on a scooter.
With the losses, less ideal sun, the weight of the batteries and the solar panels - not sure this would add up as a viable solution... You'd need to be charging for a day or two just to get an hour's output.
A plug-in option probably more viable.
Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#9Despite the question in the headline of this article, there is very little actionable advice. "Get closer to the customer" is about the best teaching the author can come up with. There has been a lot of talk about this $2500 car, but everything I've read (in articles with actual data) indicate that there is no way to sell the car for $2500 and cover the cost of raw materials plus assembly/shipping. This is even with…
As pointed by business week(via trak.in), the innovations made by Tata Nano are: 1. The car was built from ground up. 2. The supply chain was simplified by making the suppliers partners. 3. Shipping the whole car as kits for the downstream distributors to assemble, thus reducing several costs. 4. The key success factor for Tata Nano project was price. The price was fixed and everything else just worked around it. Agr…
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Re: What can Tata's Nano ($2500 car) teach Detroit?
#10America's Big 3 automakers have been lazy and complacent for years. They haven't made substantial increases in fuel efficiency in decades, and preferred to sue California to fight the zero-emission vehicle law rather than sell more electric cars. They take tons of handouts from the government (hydrogen research, hybrid research, bailout money, etc.) yet lose millions per day. Bottom line: they don't deserve to be in…
Your two statements seem at odds - You want less pollution, but you're happy for hordes of people to buy a new, polluting car - especially one which doesn't have the same emission standards. e.g. It's catalytic converter isn't nearly as efficient as western cars.
Maybe we should be getting out of cars altogether and invest in the public transport system.