Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Tata Nano, The World's Cheapest Car, and it's a product of India

The CEO of Tata Group, Mr. Ratan Tata, was able to keep his promise and deliver a car for Rs 1,00,000 ($2500), the Nano, with help from some 100 component manufacturers, says Wikipedia.

The cheapest car in the world was put together in India through collaborative engineering happened in total secrecy for over three years.

For more than 900 million Indians, who live ordinary lives, this is a rare moment when they feel like they are being taken care of by the rich and the mighty class. The company may be making a humble profit of only Rs 4,000 per Tata Nano, but life in globalization is about ideas plus profit.

The car has no passenger-side mirror, central locking, or power steering. It has only one windshield wiper. Air Conditioning is available only in deluxe versions. The price target was achieved by sheer design improvisation and not cutting corners on essentials.

Their motto was simple : make things smaller and lighter, do away with superficial parts and change the material wherever possible.

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