The Tata Nano arrives

As disgusting as this all is, it is what capitalism is all about, and always has been. Read about labor conditions at the start of the industrial revolution: children working 16-hour days and dying from malnutrition and the dust in the mills by the age of 12. Wages so low that workers had to eat bread with sawdust in it. The wealthy families of today are descended from the robber barons who screwed the country exactly as we've been seeing now.

This is what capitalism has always been about. What we are seeing now is business as usual.

But if course, all anybody wants to talk about is the individual crooks each time. Nobody wants to talk about the economic system that makes it possible, and indeed inevitable.

But the purchase price is a couple of thousand dollars, instead of 25 to 30 thousand. The people who will buy the Nano and have personal transportation for their family could not afford a Prius if they saved up for a decade.

 

Amen,Daniel, Amen!!!

By the way, what breed of cat do you have, it has a very mischievous face!!!

 

Who?
Oh, yea detroit ... I remember them.

This tata ... is it just me? Or has any one else mistaken the tata for the Mitsubishi iMiev? The tata reminds me of the similarity between the Gen II Prius and the new 4 seater Insight. Very similar. Both tata & iMiev are tiny, with front & rear wheels at the far ends of the car. Both have that bubble shape going on ... except the iMiev is drasticly closer to U.S. sales, already sporting an ICE version (well made) in Japan, and best of all the pure EV version is here in the U.S.A. getting set up for use as fleet vehicles for the folks at so. cal. edison. But as for tata ... another gas burner? I suppose the smartcar can use the competition.

 

well i am VERY HAPPY TO SEE INDIA ADDRESSING THEIR CARBON EMISSIONS issues.

whether the car FITS MY NEEDS is not really this issue here. India, by its sheer size and lack of infrastructure (most cook with an open charcoal fire, the worst pollution option out there) is a major Carbon producer. if this car will help reduce that, i am all for it.

i guess, my only real bitch, is the US of A, with all its resources and supposed smarts, i have to go to Canada to buy a semi-decent EV

 

Leonardo was a short-haired American tabby cat. I did not have a camera in those days (photographic emulsion is made of gelatin from the slaughterhouse). Leonardo died 20 years ago and I still miss him. The picture in my avatar is of a cat named Aja, belonging to a friend of mine in Spain. Aja is a found cat, so it's anybody's guess what breed he is. The picture is a bit distorted because it was taken very close up. The Abyssinian look may be due to the camera perspective, or he may actually have some Aby in him. It's anybody's guess.

Not entirely true. By all accounts, the newest model Chinese-made Xebras are much improved, and even my 2006 is semi-decent, and more fun to drive than any car I've owned before.

Of course, the Tesla Roadster is definitely not in the "semi-decent" category. I'd classify it in the amazingly fabulous category. Too bad it costs $100,000 and has well over a year waiting list.

 

ok you right daniel, my statement is not entirely true, you can also go to China, and now India, and nearly every country in Western Europe along with most of the REST OF THE WORLD and get a decent EV...

 

It is depressing! I'll give you that. But not to worry: Pretty soon our economy will collapse completely, there'll be massive starvation, people will be willing to work for a dollar a day in unsafe factories, and all those jobs will come back to the U.S., and we'll be building cars to sell in China and India.

 

Yeah, I really do see that happening too. Those of us with some basic survival skills, wits, cunning, and a fallback plan will have to hide it out

At least I have my two kitties to keep my company ...

 

Test Drive Tata Nano

Beginning to see test drive reviews of the Tata Nano. Here's a short one from the New York Times:

Test Driving the Tata Nano - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com

 

The comments on the NYT blog, seemingly mostly from south-asian
descent people, are still obviously tainted a bit by typical
US-centric "speed-n-power" thinking but are nonetheless a little
more intelligent than the the typical redneck trash you get on
most car sites when talking about fuel economy and modest power.
.
It's still really depressing how the immediate reaction of so many
is "you'll get crushed on the freeway" and the like.
.
_H*

 

Ha!

Next generation: the 'Mongoose'.

 

Factor in a global economic meltdown, worthless Greenbacks, and oil creeping higher again, in 20 years the pick em up trucks with Skyjacker lift kits will all be rusting in fields, the Prius will be considered a "large luxury" car, and most of us will be driving something like the Nano

I would imagine two Nano's in a head on or offset crash do fairly well. Usually, a staged crash with a pick em up truck, the truck does poorly, especially an offset crash featuring two pick em up trucks