Tata's 1 lakh car

Tata's new cheap car caused a bit of a stir last week. It was originally touted as the first 1 lakh car, a slightly obscure description for an international audience (1 lakh is an Indian counting unit of 100,000 and this is a reference to the car's target price in local currency), so at the launch it was described as the Nano, which I think is a pretty good name if Tata can secure the rights to use it in its main markets.

In its press releases, Tata also referred to its new baby as the People's Car and said that it was part of a 'blitzkrieg' of new product announcements. I assume this unfortunate echo of Nazi language is unintentional, although if the Nano does as well as the Beetle, I'm sure Tata will be very happy.


Anyway, to the car itself - I haven't driven it and I haven't even seen it in the metal but I like what I've been able to find out about the Nano very much. A few observations. The Nano's mechanical layout - a small rear-mounted engine in a five-door hatchback body - is broadly similar to that of Mitsubishi's 'i' car, and the Smart For Two, two of the more interesting small cars on the market today. The other thing I found interesting about the Nano is that it is recognisable as what you might call a 'complete car'. By that I mean that every element that anyone would consider essential in a proper car is present, even if in pared down form. The Nano has four road wheels, a steering wheel, and space for a full complement of passengers. I had feared that in its efforts to cut costs, Tata might have been forced to produce, say, a three-wheeler or something with motorbike-style handlebars, or without full bodywork.

Although it doesn't seem to be everyone's cup of tea, I also quite like the Nano's styling, which, at the rear, is similar to that of Tata's larger Indica, the car that was briefly sold in the UK in modified form as the City Rover. That was sneered at by some reviewers because it had a few rough edges by western standards, and Rover probably pitched its price a bit too high, but its industrial significance - that Tata was capable of producing a car that was broadly competitive in international markets - was completely underestimated.


I'll be very interested to see whether Tata really can deliver the car for INR1 lakh, which, according to my calculations, is almost exactly £1,300. From the coverage I've seen, Tata seems to be conceding that this is the target for a very stripped down version (something like the red car in the second photo above with unpainted bumpers), but nevertheless, the Nano is still going to be a lot cheaper even than other bare-bones specials aimed at developing countries, such as the Renault/Dacia Logan or the Fiat Palio.

There seems to be a certain amount of angst out there about the prospect of large numbers of Nanos flooding onto the roads in the hands of India's growing middle class, and the consequences that may have for climate change. I have to say I don't particularly share that concern; I think it's just impossible - as well as wrong - to insist that Indians shouldn't be allowed to get onto the lowest rung of the motoring ladder when we ourselves in the west drive far heavier and thirstier cars. A better idea might be to ask whether our big, heavy European motors shouldn't look a bit more like the Nano. Most of the car journeys we make on this small and crowded island are short and are undertaken at fairly low speeds - a suitably adapted Nano would probably be able to do the job in the overwhelming majority of cases.

Motoring memories 1 – the launch of the Austin Metro at the NEC Motor Show in 1980

Back in 1980 there was only one story at the Motor Show – the launch of the new Metro, seen as a make-or-break model for British Leyland, then under the management of Sir Michael Edwardes, in the face of scepticism from the recently elected Thatcher government.

At some unearthly hour – I think it was 5am - my equally car-mad school pal Bruce and I got a lift from Bruce's dad to the station for the long journey from deepest Essex to Birmingham. If I remember correctly, we arrived at about 9.30 but the official opening time was 10. Even so, in the excitement (yes, I agree this seems fairly sad from today's perspective), we ran for what felt like miles through the station and the NEC complex to the exhibition entrance, and were rewarded with the discovery that the doors were already open. For a short while, we had the show more or less to ourselves, and made an immediate bee-line for the Metros on the BL stand. We sat in that year's hottest car and gave it a quick once over before deciding to come back later on for a proper look. Of course, when we returned, the BL stand was just one enormous bun-fight with hundreds of eager punters all clamouring to touch or even just catch a glimpse of the Metro, and we couldn't get anywhere near the cars again.

The Metro was a success but it had to soldier on well beyond its sell-by date – its replacement would have been the MINI but BMW kept that for itself, so the short-lived City Rover, based on Tata's Indica had to do the job for MG Rover instead.

Bruce and I have attended many motor shows together since, including, most recently, the latest London show at Expo in Docklands last year. But none have matched the 1980 Brum show for excitement.

Great spots 4 - Proton Gen-2

Spotted this one today in a McDonalds car park near Manchester.

You don't see many of these around but this example provides a reminder that the Gen-2 is a handsome car. Many of the fundamentals are pretty sound as well - there was a certain amount of input from Proton-owned Lotus after all.


Unfortunately, this model was let down at launch by its cabin trim, which was rather flimsy and a bit too beige for most tastes, although Proton has recently changed the Gen-2's interior colour scheme by introducing the sorts of dark grey shades that European buyers prefer - and is offering free leather upholstery at the same time. I haven't seen the revised Gen-2 cabin up close, an omission I am hoping to rectify at this year's SMMT test day on Tuesday, but Proton's recent work on the interiors of the Savvy and Satria Neo does provide a certain amount of encouragement.

While UK Gen-2 sightings are, and are likely to remain, fairly rare events, things could have been very different. It was widely reported a few years back that MG-Rover was considering a deal to use the Proton as the basis of a Rover 45 replacement. I think this might just about have worked if Rover had carried out a thorough revamp of the interior while preserving the Gen-2's basic strengths such as its smart exterior styling, eager (if rather noisy) engine and keen handling.

Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that such a happy outcome would have been unlikely. MG-Rover had already taken the approach of borrowing and then adapting another manufacturer's model to fill a gap in its own range by using the Tata Indica as the basis for a Rover 100/Metro replacement, the City Rover. It is now widely agreed, I think, that not enough was done to adapt the Indica to European standards; I suspect that MG-Rover would have been tempted - or forced for reasons of financial necessity - to take similar short-cuts with any adaptation of the Gen-2, with similarly disappointing results.

Anyway, I have to confess to having something of a soft spot for Proton and its quirky ways, so more on the cars and the company another time, I'm sure.