"What is important Is, whether you have The Desire, Strong Enough to Prevent the Odds from Overwhelming You " said Mr. Ratan Tata in reply to what enabled him to cut down costs, meet the safety challenge and score over the entire global auto industry - as he unveiled the World's cheapest Car on JAN 10th 2008!
Certainly! I thought, as I went 20 years back in time when my DAD sold off his Yezdi, to buy a Kinetic that was an amiable choice for a family of four. It would accommodate me standing in the front, Dad driving, Anant sitting in the middle and Mom cautiously holding onto him. We had some extremely fun times moving around on this wonder, which still is a priced possession in the Family - attached with an emotional value and hence was passed from Dad to Me then to Anant and now to my cousin Anuja studying her engineering …
Fortunately a lot changed for us as a family since then…
Dads 1st car was a second hand Premier Padmini, the 2nd - a second hand Maruti Omni, the 3rd - could have been a Santro but he cancelled his booking for INDIA's 1st manufactured car of its own – a small hatchback – A Brand New Indica! We all loved it for its Fuel Efficiency and the Space! He kept retiring his old Indica's till he recently bought the 3 rd one in a row - the Turbo Diesel V2. He surely is a devoted customer of The Tata's Car.
But a majority of Indian families were still unable to own even the cheapest car on the roads and enjoy those long drives to go waterfall watching in the heavy moonsoons - or that small drive together on chilled winter nights to have chai by the roadside dhabha - or even a ride to the closest hill station on bright sunny days … and it is for these very families – not exactly at the bottom of the pyramid not really middle class - that Mr. Tata conceived a Dream of a safe, affordable all weather form of transport - The PEOPLEs CAR !!
And it surely did make heads turn when someone like Mr. Tata, who had only a 10 year history of MAKING CARS, decided to serve a billion people who are at the cusp of an explosive consumption growth by making a car they could afford, instead of waiting for this class to become affluent enough to consume western style goods that are at present quite unaffordable!
Abhi was in Delhi for a couple of meetings and got a chance to catch a glimpse of the NANO and he told me over the Phone .. "Just by the looks of it I loved it ! Beautifully styled - a car in just $ 3000! I feel a sense of pride to see the world media turn their attention to India who has never had a history as strong as theirs in automobile manufacturing.."
Tata's decision to go in for a fully locally built product followed by tractor maker M&M's success with Scorpio - a SUV developed domestically has had a profound impact in the way the global auto industry has come to view India. "There's a good chance of India becoming a world wide production centre for mini and small cars for which there is a big domestic market potential in Europe, Japan, South East Asia and Africa, if the Nano catches the fancy of customers from Thailand Turkey to Nigeria just as it has of the global media" KPMG said.
As someone rightly said - The world is changing. The Bucknors, Whites [CEO of Orient Express, Paul White who refused an association with the Taj ], and Suzukis don't know it yet, but they could find out the hard way. Just as our politicians found out the sheer power of numbers of previously downtrodden people. In the coming year 2008 and beyond, you may not be able to run a finance company without Chinese money, you may not be able to run a luxury hotel without the Asian service, you may not be able to win any election without the votes of those you abused.
My Salute to the Ambani's, Tata's, Mittal's and numerous other Indian Industrialists who keep generating employment for the needy, Realizing their Dream for a Developed India, Keeping Hope Alive for the "trying to make ends meet" commoner and doing their bit to bring a smile on each of our Faces…
- an Idea can change lives ! Dream On…
~ sayli :)
P.S: Time dint allow me to Wish you a Happy New Year till the NANO had my heart feeling Proud and my fingers pounding the keyboard for the 1 st time in 2008!
So for those whom I missed wishing – HEREZ wishing you a Successful, Healthy, Happy & A Prosperous New 2008!
Keep in Touch!
Certainly! I thought, as I went 20 years back in time when my DAD sold off his Yezdi, to buy a Kinetic that was an amiable choice for a family of four. It would accommodate me standing in the front, Dad driving, Anant sitting in the middle and Mom cautiously holding onto him. We had some extremely fun times moving around on this wonder, which still is a priced possession in the Family - attached with an emotional value and hence was passed from Dad to Me then to Anant and now to my cousin Anuja studying her engineering …
Fortunately a lot changed for us as a family since then…
Dads 1st car was a second hand Premier Padmini, the 2nd - a second hand Maruti Omni, the 3rd - could have been a Santro but he cancelled his booking for INDIA's 1st manufactured car of its own – a small hatchback – A Brand New Indica! We all loved it for its Fuel Efficiency and the Space! He kept retiring his old Indica's till he recently bought the 3 rd one in a row - the Turbo Diesel V2. He surely is a devoted customer of The Tata's Car.
But a majority of Indian families were still unable to own even the cheapest car on the roads and enjoy those long drives to go waterfall watching in the heavy moonsoons - or that small drive together on chilled winter nights to have chai by the roadside dhabha - or even a ride to the closest hill station on bright sunny days … and it is for these very families – not exactly at the bottom of the pyramid not really middle class - that Mr. Tata conceived a Dream of a safe, affordable all weather form of transport - The PEOPLEs CAR !!
And it surely did make heads turn when someone like Mr. Tata, who had only a 10 year history of MAKING CARS, decided to serve a billion people who are at the cusp of an explosive consumption growth by making a car they could afford, instead of waiting for this class to become affluent enough to consume western style goods that are at present quite unaffordable!
Abhi was in Delhi for a couple of meetings and got a chance to catch a glimpse of the NANO and he told me over the Phone .. "Just by the looks of it I loved it ! Beautifully styled - a car in just $ 3000! I feel a sense of pride to see the world media turn their attention to India who has never had a history as strong as theirs in automobile manufacturing.."
Tata's decision to go in for a fully locally built product followed by tractor maker M&M's success with Scorpio - a SUV developed domestically has had a profound impact in the way the global auto industry has come to view India. "There's a good chance of India becoming a world wide production centre for mini and small cars for which there is a big domestic market potential in Europe, Japan, South East Asia and Africa, if the Nano catches the fancy of customers from Thailand Turkey to Nigeria just as it has of the global media" KPMG said.
As someone rightly said - The world is changing. The Bucknors, Whites [CEO of Orient Express, Paul White who refused an association with the Taj ], and Suzukis don't know it yet, but they could find out the hard way. Just as our politicians found out the sheer power of numbers of previously downtrodden people. In the coming year 2008 and beyond, you may not be able to run a finance company without Chinese money, you may not be able to run a luxury hotel without the Asian service, you may not be able to win any election without the votes of those you abused.
My Salute to the Ambani's, Tata's, Mittal's and numerous other Indian Industrialists who keep generating employment for the needy, Realizing their Dream for a Developed India, Keeping Hope Alive for the "trying to make ends meet" commoner and doing their bit to bring a smile on each of our Faces…
- an Idea can change lives ! Dream On…
~ sayli :)
P.S: Time dint allow me to Wish you a Happy New Year till the NANO had my heart feeling Proud and my fingers pounding the keyboard for the 1 st time in 2008!
So for those whom I missed wishing – HEREZ wishing you a Successful, Healthy, Happy & A Prosperous New 2008!
Keep in Touch!
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