America'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.<p>Bottom line: they don't deserve to be in business.<p>Even if Tata's Nano is $5k, I would buy one.
Despite 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.<p>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.<p>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.
It'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.<p>2500 dollars will get me a decent used car.
Okay, so plus ten for style but minus several million for good thinking.<p>The Maruti-800 is a stripped down, fuel efficient car that anyone with decent enough job should be able to afford. The Nano might be good for small towns, but for places like New Delhi, anything less than an 800 is not viable. One of the biggest objections to the Nano has been a lack of safety. The last I heard, even the screws TATA were using were made of plastic.<p>Also, this car still isn't available for purchase yet. I wonder why the article is touting it as a success. The OLPC was suppossed to be big, but I don't really see it changing lives.<p>BTW, there's a cheap electric car already available for purchase in India, called the Reva. It has been pretty successful, and you see a lot of them these days. Here: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reva" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reva</a><p>Yo Bikes are also a <i>huge</i> success, probably more successful than any other electric vehicle. Here: <a href="http://yobykes.in/" rel="nofollow">http://yobykes.in/</a><p>That's not to say the Nano doesn't make me go "Ooh ... shiny.".
I've been told that the Indian middle class will prefer a regular car. But this certainly beats a scooter.<p>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.