Watch out Tata: Bajaj to double small car fuel efficiency, Ford invests in Indian small car plant
It's just two days before the debut of Tata's $2,500 car and a major U.S. car maker blinked. Ford said Tuesday it will invest $500m in a vehicle plant in India. Ford also says a significant part of that investment will go toward making a small, inexpensive car. Ford is not alone in trying to grab headlines away from Tata.Bajaj Autos, Indian's first and the world's fourth largest maker of three wheeled vehicles, has decided to add a wheel and is getting into the car market. "It would be inappropriate to say that it will be priced at a lakh or two or anywhere in between because is too premature," says Bajaj. The car, which is two to four years away, "will set a new benchmark in terms of fuel economy and offer twice as much as the current crop of small cars," according to Bajaj. Will increasing fuel efficiency come at the expense of more important things?
The New York Times wrote an article about Tata's $2,500 car with a compilation of the cost-cutting measures. The Times article questions the environmental claims from the company that the car would have low emissions (more precisely, that a car this cheap could maintain low emissions for the life of the vehicle). Go below the fold for the quote from the Times.
Related:
- The real reason Tata's Rs 1-lakh will change everything: it's green!
- Tata's $2,500, 59-mpg offering described as "eco-car," on display in January
- Tata claims $2,500 car will be the cleanest in India
Michael Walsh, a pollution consultant and former United States Environmental Protection Agency regulator, said that a car so cheap was likely to lack the complex technology to maintain its initial level of emissions and that without such technology cars could soon be producing four to five times their initial pollution level.
Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group says "the emissions standards were much easier to meet than the crash test." What do you think readers: Is the Rs 1-lakh giving up safety and low emissions for high fuel efficiency?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ann 8:03AM (1/28/2008)
Tata sounds like a good deal but it would never work in USA for that price. By the time everyone got their share that car would cost a lower middle class person per around $12,000 to $14,000. No automaker in USA would allow it to sell for $2,540 they would loose a lot af business, which is MONEY, CONTROL and POWER...
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EJIS1979 9:15PM (3/04/2009)
I believe american people will keep buying this kind of car.Because this is an alternative. it's so cheap and it's enviromental friendly car. Definitely the automakers will provide an alternative system to ensure the consumers can afford to buy it,the manufacturers always make a profit from this car and so they will keep manufacturing this cars.
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Wildgoosechase 4:49PM (1/08/2008)
Just wait, I'm sure by 2016 all but the most expensive low volume small cars will be produced either in India or China. Sure they will get 40 mpg but thousands of autoworkers will be unemployed.
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