Tata Nano – the world’s cheapest car

Tata Motor’s new Nano starts at under $2000. I love how spare the dashboard is. Their attitude towards safety is interesting:

Is it safe?
The Nano is built to meet the safety standards of whatever country it is in. For India, that means crash tests, seat belts and fog lamps, but no airbags. As it moves to other countries, the Nano will scrupulously meet minimum standards, but Tata Motors is not trying to use safety features as a selling point.

While this may seem like a dangerous trade-off, the main article points out that low cost might be a much more important safety feature than expensive airbags:

In New Delhi in the early 1970s, my family traveled by scooter in the classic, death-defying Indian fashion. My father would drive, with me, a toddler, standing in front gripping the handlebars and my mother seated pillion, my infant sister in her arms. My father was a civil engineer and my mother a nurse, and in India at that time, cars for a young family were far out of reach.

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2009-3-23-7:47 AM #   

One comment

It’s not just ’70s..It still is reality..And while people in the west would frown for designing a killer machine with no safety standards, one should realize that it is not meant for those in their Toyotas, but for those like this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mS870L9NH08/RtGrhM-QgHI/AAAAAAAAAeI/wav0vUC5Vj8/s320/family_bike.JPG

by Anand
3-23-7:59 AM