10 Jan 2008 0931H

the Tata People’s Car

I’ve talked a lot about cars here in the past, mostly small cars, and how cars represent a design challenge because of their impact on the environment and users and usage contexts and the like. So, by now people probably have heard all about Tata Motors’ bargain basement car, Rp1 lakh/$2500, comes with nothing but a plastic shell and a motor that probably wouldn’t be out of place on a moped if mopeds still existed, lots of corner cutting, lots of nothing that a car doesn’t need. Granted, 7 people out of a 1000 own a car in India now, which is nothing compared to the China or the US. And there are a lot of questions around the potential environmental impact, again, trotting out the spectre of a billion Indians driving around in tiny cars. But there aren’t many folks looking at ways the car is put together. Check out the info graphic from the NY Times article that explodes the car for the autopsy.

Edit: Hah. It’s been officially unveiled as the Tata Nano. No Apple knockon effect there, clearly.

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