Jewel Of India !
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Please read,react,circulate and Write.Just Visit:
Nandigarmunited.blogspot.com
Bengali Brahminical Ruling Hegemony has got a Supreme Global Information Network which is lacked by the indigenous people worldwide targeted for infinite genocide. Yes, it is Anand Bazar Group of Newspapers. It has got an electronic media network Star Anand allied with Global Star TV network. The West Bengal government is no more run by Alimuddin street as it has been the ritual during Massacre Master Comrade Jyoti Basu. Capitalist Marxist gestapo head Chief Minister of West bengal the Elite Brahmin Buddhadeb has got a guid and philosopher in Anand Bazar which in turns promotes the Brand Buddha.Azzkaal is another mouthpiece of the ruling Hegemony alongwith party mouthpiece Ganashakti. Other mainstream Kolkta electronic as well as Print media follow suit.
Recently Anand Bazar published a serial on urbanisation and industrialisation on its edit page authored by the World bank slave so called Nobel Laureate Dr Amartay Sen, justifying all the capitalist ways of Buddhadeb. This group has added an unprecedented ideological dimention to the Ideology of Marxism that Capitalism is the medium of Revolution! We kanow all about the subvertions during Pdt nehru and Indira tenure. For example: Socialism, Lohiabad, Total revolution, Garibi Hatao and so on. The capitalist Marxist ways of revolution are reminiscent of those days. Neoliberalism and Open Market is salvation for the ruling Hegemony and the Global Ruling Class is donig everything to depopulate the Indigenous people worldwide to capture evrey resource of Nature. It is colonising the Earh, the Galaxy!
Anand bazar Group has been against Singur and nandigram Insurrections. It is doing everything for privatisation and disinvestment and justifying indiscriminate land aquisition. Recent articles by economists in all its publications are targeted to the urban and semiurban caste Hindu middle calss to disassociate them from people`s popular resistance. Dr Amartya sen, dr Md. yunus, Dr Abhijit sengupta, Dr dipankar dasgupta , surjit Margjit and so on. The motto projected is that ther is no alternative for foreign investment and MNC raj! Amartya speaks out: even one percent land is not aquired. This aquisition is a must. All these Icons of ruling class including some writers like Sunil Gango, Subodh sarkar and Mallika Sengupta, Buddhadeb Guha, some film personalities like Tarun Majumdar, Soumitra Chatterjee and mrinal sen ar ebusy in damage control. SC and ST folk artists are used for popular mobilisation backed by popular parliamentary political representatives of all indigenous communities! mahashweta devi, mamta and Medha along with the icons of Civil society involved in resistance are opainted as villains and vamps. Taslima nasrin is ousted to appease Muslim Vote bank! counter dalit movement is sponsered spearheaded by Brahmins and caste hindu intellectuals with ministerial surviallence with Dalit samanya samiti!
Now anand bajar group is pleading Bharat Ratna for Ratan Tata for his Car for the common men, the Nano! Social revolution is iconised with upsurge of middle class purchasing capacity and consumer Culture uprooted from indigenous roots. DESH patrika has published a cover story in its latest issue.
Buddhadeb and his political and non political allies have been projectin a virtual Reality Show of Progress and development which are nothing but Regress and Depopulation. they claim that Food security is intact. But death Processions never stops. Genocide of indigenous people is a ritual well esatbilshed right in 1979 with marich jhanpi massacre. Human and civil right violations are alarming!Aids control and recent Bird Flu hype overlooks the basic medical set up corpotarised. MNC rules the health sector. malnutrition, Starvation, Malaria,TB and other epidemics underplayed to save the MNC interests!
Even in New delhi, so called Ntaional Mainstream media is projecting Ratan Tata as the real Jewel of India. he is equalled with great Ford. It is campaigned that only Tats are responsible for Public Transport and latest Nano car defends the Privacy of Middle class family transport! They have been saying that singur would be the Image of Shining India, superpower India! let us see the surroundings of Tata Nagar, the base of Tatas. What is the scenerio there? What is the status of development. What about the plights of Jharkhandi tribals enjoying all kinds of industrialisation in Jamshed Pur, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Ranchi, hazari bagh and elsewhere? have you fotgot the scene in the streets of Dispur? do you know the roots of all those immigrant, displaced tribals scattered all over the country for life and livelihood? And thsi is predestined for all nationalities, enslaved communities, SC, OBC, ST and minorities and in general the peasants of Rural India cutting accrose the Manusmriti based Caste System!
Pl visit these sites to confirm:
http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/india.htm
http://www.searchindia.com/search/News/Regional/Bengali/index.shtml
http://www.sangbadpratidin.net/
http://www.anandabazar.com/archive/1010524/desh.htm
http://www.calcuttaweb.com/newspapers.shtml
Think big with the small car: Ratan Tata
17 Jan, 2008, 0000 hrs IST,Team AutoMania , TNN
Ever since the Nano debuted last week, Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata has faced all manner of questions. From environmental (congestion/ pollution/emission) issues to the problems at the company's under construction plant in Singur, West Bengal. Normally reticent, he has painstakingly answered all of them. Here are some excerpts from some of the non-spec specific questions that he had to field at the Auto Expo.
The Nano project was delayed because of the political agitation and later other issues. Will Tata Motors be able to wrap things up as per schedule?And will the car itself undergo any more evolution?
There is always last minute engineering that gets done. The main sisue is that we have built the plant. It was flooded earlier last year but thankfully before the machines and equipment were installed. The water receded and construction is now on in full swing both from our side as well as the vendors.
The problem in Singur was not of our making, It was unfortunate. I hope we can improve the quality of life in the Hooghly district as a good corporate citizen should. We have already started to do that and I hope the plant will attract more industries and create more job opportunities for the local populace.
Isn't the Nano very cramped on the inside?
A small car is a SMALL car. If one is looking for a limousine this is not the car to buy. If one is looking for a three-box sedan, this is not the car to buy.
How eco friendly will this vehicle be?
We've not made a claim to be the most eco-friendly in the world. We are in compliance with emission norms in India and this current engine meets BS3 and is capable to being scaled up to Euro 4 as well. There is a cost attached to being a totally green car. At the end of the day, all the things you ask for may not be there in this vehicle because we had a cost target. And that would include some of the green stuff as well.
Will the margins make sense on this car? Will you make money on the Nano?
We are a socially responsible company but we are not a philanthropic trust. We will make profits. As for margins there would be several uptrim versions and we will have our margins spread over those versions.
There has been widespread apprehension that this car would create congestion because of its sheer numbers...
All the question of congestion implies that we will seek the global market with millions of these vehicles. We don't have the resources to do that. But we are country of a billion people. Most Indians are denied connectivity and this is a way.
But India's roads are in terrible shape already. Can they take another 250,000 units of this car? Isn't a more efficient public transport system the answer? It took me one hour to go from south Delhi to Pragati Maidan today and the traffic was a nightmare...
India desperately needs a mass transport system and better infrastructure. But those are issues that we don't deal with. I would be concerned if our vehicle created absolute chaos all over India. If you faced chaos today it did not include these vehicles...so clearly there are other issues involved.
But my point is should the masses be denied their individual transportation rights? This car is not a targeted at a particular segment of consumers. But having said that I hope it will change the manner in which one travels in semi urban and rural India.
Tata Nano may affect three-wheeler sales
17 Jan, 2008, 0337 hrs IST,Gouri Agtey Athale, TNN
Nano in pics
Auto Expo in pics
Industry reactions to Nano
Special: Peoples’ car
Skoda Fabia in pics
Glam and auto
Spicy tidbits of Auto Expo
PUNE: India's four-wheeler drive first impacted the cargo carrier three-wheeler market. Now, with Nano, Tata Motors' Rs 1 lakh car, the impact may be felt by the passenger carrier three wheelers, the ubiquitous 'autorickshaw'.
“India's gone four-wheel. Look at the Tata Ace: it hurt the three wheeler heavy (load carrier) market and now the Rs 1 lakh car will hurt the three wheeler light (passenger) market,” said Simon Dobson, managing director, Magna Steyr India Pvt Ltd. He added, “I am quite sure that the rickshaw market will continue but perhaps not in India. Other markets have not moved to four wheels quite as fast as India.”
While the automotive industry has been concentrating on the impact of the Nano on two-wheelers, Dobson was confident it would have a greater impact on the three wheelers. His view supports chats and discussions among auto fans on the internet that autorickshaw driver unions had begun to file requests that they be allowed to operate the Nano using their existing three wheeler permit. This was before the January 10 launch of the ultra small car.
For Magna Steyr, the over $24 billion diversified automotive supplier, the three wheeler segment is an area of interest, having first displayed its 175 cc three-wheeler, which can run on CNG and petrol, a year ago.
Called `ricksho', the Canadian-Austrian brand-independent engineering and manufacturing partner of automotive companies, has shown the 'ricksho' to Indian OEMs. However, nothing has come of it and Dobson said they are now working on upgrading it technologically.
Also Read
à In pics: Detroit Auto Show
à Nano in absentia: The most talked about car in Detroit
à Tata Nano may expand market by 65%: CRISIL
à Tata Nano: Thin margins worry dealers
à Nano to cut ownership cost of entry level car by 30%: CRISIL
à Now, firms want to learn the art of making small cars
à Designer Girish Wagh: The whizkid who shaped Tata Nano
à The wide world of the small cars
“If a three-wheeler has to maintain its advantage over a four-wheeler, it has to offer something the four wheeler does not. A three wheeler is superbly manoeuvrable, it is lighter and cheaper than a four-wheeler. If the market is moving away from the three wheeler, one must move to the market,” he said.
The three wheeler industry in India is dominated by Bajaj Auto in the passenger segment. Other players include Piaggio Vehicles, Force Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra, while there are several other regional players. What is worth noting is that Piaggio, with a big presence in the cargo segment, has launched its four wheeler cargo carrier, the Ape Truk.
Force Motors has late last year launched its four wheeler in this category while Bajaj Auto had declared a couple of years ago its intention of moving to a light, cargo carrying four wheeler (it showcased two vehicles at the Auto Expo). M&M is an established player in the (four wheeler) utility vehicle category although it does not have a product yet in the same space as Tata Motors Ace.
All for Nano
Author: Ashish Jagtiani Date: 17 Jan 2008
Tata Motors has finally launched the Nano, against all odds and weathering great skepticism.
Illustration / Sameer Pawar
Tata Motors has finally launched the Nano, against all odds and weathering great skepticism. By all counts, it is by itself a fabulous achievement. Just creating that car would put you in the annals of history; of course, Ratan Tata has managed much more than just that. The caveat is that it remains to be seen how the car performs on the road.
But right now I want to address the issue of corporate social responsibility. As with every great achievement, this too has its share of detractors. Will Ratan Tata’s dream add a lot more cars on the road? Sure. Will it stretch to the breaking point of the already creaking road infrastructure? Certainly looks like that. Will it create traffic jams the size of which are yet to be imagined? You bet. Will it embolden more women to turn drivers and make the lives of male drivers a living hell? I’m willing to bet the same teeth of mine that feminists are threatening to break that it will.
But, the crux of the issue, it is not Ratan Tata’s problem. One cannot get up and say that he has ignored his responsibility to society by building a car that will stress infrastructure and create traffic jams. The situation, as is true with most of our problems, is for the government to resolve. Infrastructure is their problem and up to them to provide for, not of Ratan Tata.
Does our government think that people are ever going to buy fewer cars, use less electricity or drink less water? It’s their frikking job to provide for this, that is why they were voted to power. The government’s inability to provide basic infrastructure, road or otherwise, to keep up with the times, is their fault, not Ratan Tata’s. I’m guessing that the people complaining about the Nano and the mess that it will create are almost without exception owners of a large car or two themselves.
When Henry Ford put one of the world’s first mass produced cars, the Model T, on the road, some jokers must have got up and said that our roads are meant only for horse carts, not automobiles. What was Henry to do, shut his shop and go home because a small section of people didn’t want progress and were blind to the future?
Why should we look at the Nano as a pollution creator? It meets all emission and pollution control norms and is expected to give better mileage than any car on the road. So, if enough people got rid of their gas guzzling sedans and SUVs and switched to the Nano, it would make a difference for the better.
The concept of the Nano is a matter of pride. From so many people scoffing at the idea, now international car manufacturers want to copy the concept and introduce their own versions of the Nano all over the world.
If social responsibility is to be questioned then why target the Tatas in isolation, every car manufacturer should be hauled up every time they introduce a model; that should be fun!
While on the subject, let’s do some historical hauling too. Starting from the Doshis of Fiat fame and the Birlas of Ambassador fame, for foisting on this country obsolete automobile technology that they juiced for decades because of their licence raj denominated monopolistic market. This country drove around for decades in a bucket of bolts because the Doshis and Birlas showed no responsibility to introduce cars that moved with the times. Look what happened to them when Maruti came along. They tried their best to haul their lazy behinds to offer some competition but sunk without a trace because of their Stone Age thinking.
Let’s question the Bajaj Auto family. Right now they have every intention of following Ratan Tata’s footsteps in introducing a small car, but let’s not forget that the Nano sells for a slightly higher price than a Bajaj three-wheeler autorikshaw. So much so, that the press had interviews of rickshaw drivers dreaming about sacking their rickshaws and buying a Nano instead. If Tata Motors can build a whole damn car at that price, what kind of killing has Bajaj Auto been making all these years selling its three wheelers? If they could spend some of the money improving the ubiquitous but rickety autorickshaw and not fleecing the poor guy who has to buy from them so he can ply his trade, nor the commuter who has to ride it, that would be social responsibility. I couldn’t blame you for thinking I was getting a little too fanatical, but I thought these were perspectives worth bringing up.
Given what they have done for the country, questioning the social responsibility of the Tatas is like questioning the Sindhiness of Jhule Lal.
http://www.mid-day.com/web/guest/opinion/bhejafry/article?_EXT_5_articleId=909264&_EXT_5_groupId=14
Editorial
The Other Nano
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/opinion/16wed4.html?ref=opinion
What do a ’73 Volkswagen Bug, a navigation system on a new Jaguar and a brand new Nano sedan have in common? Two things: they cost about $2,500 and involve the Indian entrepreneur Ratan Tata.
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Mr. Tata is chairman of the Tata Group and currently the leading bidder to buy Jaguar from the Ford Motor Company. Last Thursday, he unveiled the world’s cheapest car — a cute five-door hatchback called Nano that’s powered by two cylinders in back, capable of running at 75 miles an hour and costing about $2,500. Mr. Tata hopes to sell a million Nanos a year in India and to expand to other developing countries. He claims the car meets European emission standards and gets a hybridlike 50 miles to the gallon.
Given the gas-guzzling behemoths that so many of us in the West feel entitled to, it would seem hypocritical to begrudge people in poor countries an affordable car. Much like the hypocrisy of the dealers who have resisted Tata’s bid for Jaguar on the grounds that Indian ownership would erode the brand’s prestige.
The sad fact is that the world has changed since Americans celebrated the egalitarian breakthrough of the Ford Model T. We know now that gas-driven automobiles do terrible damage to the environment, and the notion of loosing millions upon millions of new carbon emitters on our planet is not something to celebrate.
So while we admire Mr. Tata’s business and engineering acumen in creating the Nano, we ardently wish that he would focus his talents elsewhere: creating transportation that is both affordable and doesn’t emit ever more greenhouse gases. That would be something for the whole world to celebrate and buy.
Tata Motor's $2,500 car to put India on global autos map
Tue Jan 8, 2008 12:30am EST
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By Rina Chandran
MUMBAI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Only 10 years ago, India's Tata Motors Ltd (TAMO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) unveiled its first car, a hatchback, that established the truck maker's credentials as a car maker.
On Thursday, the $7.8 billion company unveils its boldest initiative yet, a car that will sell for just $2,500, less than half the cheapest car on the market.
Dubbed the 'People's Car', it will determine Tata's (TTM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) place in the global automotive arena, where the battle is increasingly being fought in emerging economies such as India, China and Russia.
The new model, using re-engineered plastics and modern adhesives, is a far cry from the premium Jaguar and Land Rover brands Tata is negotiating to acquire from Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research).
Tata Motors' drive to produce a cheap, no-nonsense, small car was born from close observation of a local market where millions often ferry families of four, plus baggage, on motorbikes and scooters.
Critics initially derided Tata's 100,000 rupee, or 1 lakh, price target, more so as oil and steel prices rocketed. But global car makers have taken note and are scurrying for their own versions to meet growing environmental and cost concerns.
"The product has rightfully gained a lot of international attention," said Mohit Arora, managing director for India at research firm J.D. Power Asia-Pacific, who will fly in from Singapore to see the car being unveiled by Chairman Ratan Tata. Continued...
Counterpoint | Ratan Tata: Then and Now
Vir Sanghvi
Email Author
January 12, 2008
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=44874d07-afdb-41bd-84a5-5ac7451dc7fe&ParentID=21071534-bcf5-4d80-9bb7-3ab3266f1482&MatchID1=4627&TeamID1=1&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1165&PrimaryID=4627&Headline=Counterpoint+%7c+Ratan+Tata%3a+Then+and+Now
Nobody disputes that, during his lifetime, JRD Tata was the most respected — and probably the most admired — businessman in India. On Thursday, as I watched the TV coverage of Ratan Tata unveiling the Tata Nano in New Delhi, I was struck by a sudden thought: Ratan has finally inherited JRD’s title. He is clearly the most respected and admired businessman in India today.
And then, I thought back to that phase, 10 years ago, when the Tatas struggled to reinvent themselves in the post-JRD era. I thought of how Ratan was perceived then: awkward, untalented, unworthy of the job, out of his depth and full of vindictive anger against many of the satraps of the JRD regime.
It was a time of change. New groups were springing up out of nowhere. The certainties of the old protectionist economy and the license-permit-quota raj had collapsed. Reliance had made the transition from being seen as a parvenu to being regarded as an industrial behemoth. The Infosys legend, personified by Narayan Murthy’s personal simplicity and marked by the world-class skills of his high-tech partners, had just begun.
At Tata headquarters, however, the crises mounted: record losses at Tata Motors, the much-derided plan to launch the Indica, criminal charges over Tata Tea’s alleged links with Assam militants, allegations of foolishness in the sale of Tata Oil Mills’ assets, a plan to launch a domestic airline with Singapore Airlines that was comprehensively scuttled and more. And many of us wondered if we were watching India’s greatest industrial group diminish before our very eyes.
The house that JRD had built was crumbling. Poor, shy, inept Ratan seemed unable to cope.
And yet, a mere decade later, here was the same Ratan being feted by the world’s media as the man who reinvented, if not the wheel, then certainly the motorcar. A man who did what no global carmaker believed was possible: to build a car that looked this good and drove so well for so low a price. And here was a new Ratan, his legendary shyness temporarily in remission, as he joked about calling the car the ‘Pachauri’ (after the environmentalist who chose to attack the Nano as a pollution threat, a charge that the Nano has easily beaten) or even the ‘Mamata’ (after the nutcase) or ‘Despite Mamata’.
The following day, the Nano managed the impossible: there was not one negative review of note and the raves kept coming. To the chagrin of his rivals, Ratan even kept to the price commitment. Though input costs had gone up, he said, the Tata’s would still price the basic Nano at a lakh because “a promise is a promise”.
The triumph of the Nano was merely the crowning glory in a series of successes. Throughout the 21st century, the Tatas have beaten every doom-laden prediction and silenced every critic. Tata Motors came back from losses of over Rs 600 crore to make huge profits on the back of the Indica, the all-Indian car that had been Ratan’s dream, and — to his detractors — the vanity project that would sink the company. Infosys had fulfilled its early promise but even then Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a company that had been little noticed in the 1990s, had grown to dominate the Indian IT sector, its size dwarfing Infosys. Tata Steel had defied Rusi Mody’s predictions, had been whittled down to a slim and lean company, and had even gone ahead and bought Corus, a global giant, after a bidding war during which Ratan had shown nerves of steel. And even as Ratan was unveiling the world’s cheapest car, the Tatas were on the verge of clinching the purchase of Jaguar, one of the world’s great luxury cars.
Engineering the Nano
January 15, 2008
One could be pardoned for thinking that the hype surrounding the world's most cost-focussed mass produced car was all a media creation. Given not the column inches but literally double and triple page spreads in most national publications of relevance the Tata Nano was burdened with a great deal of expectation, both from within the company and outside.
The objective of delivering a four-wheeled all-metal car with performance, safety and comfort also had to keep an eye not just on the customer price point framed in 1000-point letters on the engineers walls in the ERC but also the fact that the project has to make money as well. Clearly philanthrophy was not even considered by the team led by Girish Wagh to translate his chairman's vision of providing automobility hitherto unavailable to a great strata of Indians.
Many completely rebuked the concept as not just audacious but totally harebrained when it was first espoused. This is an even more incredulous lot today, changing its line of detraction and seeking to know how and where the cost savings were made to arrive at the price Ratan Tata promised years ago. And it looks all set to deliver from the third quarter of this year.
Clever design, intelligent solutions with simplicity thrown in to achieve the functional aspects, weight reduction by way of ample digital analysis and a strict adherence to cost were some of the means employed to get the project so clearly defined through each and every stage of the design and development process.
Wagh's team underpinned its efforts by zeroing in on three vital parameters: it had to be a low cost focused automobile. Secondly it had to be designed and developed to meet all statutory safety and emission legislation while also being package protected to meet additional safety and other legislation issues which changing homologation requirements could throw at it. And finally the car had to have acceptable performance.
Clearly the project was much too daunting to have even precluded the normally focused Japanese small car giants to cry off. It also eliminated the Chinese for this was an all-new out-of-the-box concept which hadn't been made before and therefore couldn't be copied. The Europeans were scared after the painful exercise with the Smart which lost out on the grounds of complexity and price all that it tried to gain by having a very small footprint on the road. This fact was not lost on the Tata design and engineering teams and so began the arduous process of not just lateral thinking but also involving almost everyone within the company to think collectively.
Yes collective thinking came to the fore given the project's attraction. The challenge was also the attraction, engulfing everyone from the man at the helm of affairs to the shop floor operator who could - and were empowered to - bring in their own knowledge and experience to bear on various aspects of the design and engineering, the latter focusing on both the product as well as the manufacturing processes. This collective thought process was perhaps the biggest money saver and the largest repository of common sense brought to bear on a car everyone wanted to play a role in creating.
Good design was the critical element behind making effective savings in material usage, reducing mass and weight, getting the weight distribution spot-on for both ride and handling plus also stability and safety. Good design also made the engineers opt for the rear engine placement, in the process gaining both large occupant space and also major cost savings. First off lets factor in the design vis--vis the monocoque chassis. Absolute structural stiffness analysis was done concurrently with the stylists at the I.De.A. Institute in Italy who penned the look of the car.
NVH characteristics were as important to tackle at this stage as was the torsionsal strength of the structure. Using very lean but intelligent design, the team did enough to achieve its objective of a robust build for the application intended while yet not falling prey to the downward spiral of either over-designing or over-engineering. I think this is an abject lesson of great value engineering over both under - as well as over-engineering a concept.
Given the rear engineered layout, the engineers were able to move the firewall well forward and this proved advantageous in terms of not just reduced weight but also enhancing the cabin footwell area. A great deal of digital validation occurred at every stage of the design and build process, ensuring that corrective measures if needed, could be taken quickly in the normal process. Two clear instances of low weight and low material requirements come to mind straightaway: the ribbed (or swaged) roof structure is not just a style element but also a strength structure by design using sheet metal of a thinner gauge. A second design detail which delivered cost and weight reduction along with the adoption of a cheaper manufacturing process was in the use of the rear glass windscreen bonded to the tailgate. This helped in maintaining the structural rigidity while cutting down on the weight and also in the stamping and blanking processes.
The adoption of good design and packaging of the mechanical aggregates brought in great savings. The compact manner in which the engine is configured with a transverse twin-cylinder layout placed ahead of the rear axle line with the four-speed transaxle immediately behind it aided mightily in weight distribution plus also deriving a low centre of gravity. The battery being placed under the driver's seat helped spread the weight optimally while the radiator placed at the rear on the right hand side, ensured good placement of the ancillaries from an ease of operation point of view.
The rear-engined layout also helped save costs and complexity given that the driveshafts didn't need complex joints as in a front engined, front-wheel drive car wherein these shafts also needed to swivel with the steering. GKN came up with a great set of driveshafts which are robust yet light and pretty efficient to handle the power and torque. Speaking of engine performance, the 623.6cc engine makes 33bhp at 5000rpm coupled to a lusty 48 Nm of torque at 2500rpm. In fact the commuter nature of the car is best shown on the torque front with the low engine speed peak torque is produced, staying in a linear line all the way to the upper ends of the rev range.
Driveability isn't compromised while effecting major gains in fuel efficiency. Bosch played a major role in the development of the multi-point fuelling system and also the electronic management system enabling consistent and precise fuel delivery with optimized spark control, resulting in the frugal consumption of the 623.6cc engine.
Another element of good design and engineering concerned the 623.6cc engine displacement. Earlier a 580cc engine was designed but Ratan Tata himself found this inadequate in driveability and fuel efficiency. Bumping up the displacement helped the volumetric efficiency and with good thermodynamics, achieved the engine performance characteristics to haul four adults easily in the cut and thrust of our daily commute.
Another area where critical weight was saved, both physically and also dynamically concerned the adoption of the tubeless tyres made by MRF who are the single source tyre supplier's for the Nano. Given the lack of a tube in each wheel, a total of two kilogrammes were saved from the tyres alone, the lack of mass manifesting itself in low unsprung weight and resultant benefits in dynamic ability.
The use of just the right amount of plastics for the given surface area they covered in the cabin plus the architecture of the seats with optimised cushioning are details which might not seem very glamourous but they did aid the packaging engineers in their battle to balance costs, comfort and complexity. Bare basic instrumentation for this class of car comes across as more than adequate.
Finally, the complete project cost for the Nano, from design, development and production engineering a facility to make 250,000 units per annum are pegged at Rs 1700 crores - exactly the same amount the company spent a decade ago to kick start the Indica project. If that isn't good value engineering, pray tell us what is, for a car that you can buy for the price of top notch TAG Heuer sports watch? Need of the hour or a sign of the times? Or maybe both - the clock is now ticking for all the others to try and get their Nano clones ready.
