Nano, naanu, neenu.. (Nano, me and you)

I think Nano is up to redefine the concept of family car, like the way Maruti did two decades ago.
The ever inspiring and soft spoken Ratan Tata’s words “a promise is a promise” just showed the dedication and commitment this man had for his words. Despite several hurdles, he and his team managed to limit the price to the magic number of Rs. 1,00,000. It’s said necessity is the mother of invention. It’s this necessity to curb the price to 1 lakh rupees that resulted in the development 20 new patentable innovations.

I am sure come Deepavali, despite fears of traffic congestion and environment isuses, there would be long queues of people in front of Tata Motors showrooms booking their Nano. It should not be surprising to see the waiting-list running to 2-3 years !!

But there are a few threats that I feel could potentially impact the excepted sales:
The safety aspect of the car is still unknown. Even though it’s publicized that the car is compliant to all statutory safety standards, some of the default safety features such as side impact bars, etc have been given a miss. Many of the customers may hesitate to venture into untested waters..

Besides, all of us have a natural craving to feel special and a desire to be recognized to have something the only a few others have. By owning a car, we feel special by belonging to an exclusive class of car owners. Now, with the 1 lakh car, this feeling of exclusiveness is certainly going to be reduced. This may possibly turn-off a few potential buyers while on the other hand induce some others to shell out few more bucks and go for a costlier car (thus making them a little more exclusive).

Only time can say whether my skepticism has any truth in it. Until then, its wait and watch.

I am off to play badminton now..ciao.. : )