| Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car with a price | | | | for two- or three- wheelers but is only going to add |
| sticker of $3,250 tax inclusive, drew hundreds of | | | | to the confusion, road snarls and pollution." |
| Indians at this year's Auto Expo in New Delhi. The | | | | According to a 2004 U.N. survey, India is the |
| attention is overwhelming but watchers in the auto | | | | fifth-largest producer of carbon emissions around the |
| industry fear that the car's arrival would exacerbate | | | | globe, releasing 250 million tons annually. The figure, |
| the country's mass transit condition. | | | | to note, is more than any European country. What's |
| "This is a good day for India," said Rajesh Bindal, a | | | | more, the territory's carbon emissions are expected |
| paint salesman who graced the launch of the Tata | | | | to triple by 2020. |
| Nano. "Now everyone can afford to travel safely in | | | | A study conducted by the New Delhi-based Center |
| comfort, to be modern." | | | | for Science and Environment found that average |
| How affordable is the Nano? The four-seat | | | | vehicle speed in the city plummeted to nine miles per |
| jellybean-shaped vehicle, dubbed the new People's | | | | hour in 2002 from as much as 21 miles per hour in |
| Car, is less than half of today's cheapest auto. The | | | | 1997. The decline is blamed mainly on the rise of |
| Nano, which is expected to open India's improving | | | | compact cars. The study added the trend toward |
| middle class market, will be available in the territory | | | | cheap vehicles will only aggravate congestion and |
| this fall. But it won't be available in the United States | | | | smog-related illnesses. |
| or anywhere outside India anytime soon, said Tata | | | | In addition, what is more alarming is the increasing |
| Motors. | | | | number of automakers which have expressed their |
| Ratan Tata, 70, said he came up with the idea of an | | | | plans of producing super-cheap cars. Renault SA, a |
| ultra-cheap car after seeing a family of four perched | | | | French automaker, is in talks with India's Bajaj Auto |
| on a small scooter braving city traffic. "It led me to | | | | to manufacture compact cars bearing a $3,000 price |
| wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, | | | | sticker. Automakers such as Ford Motor Co., |
| affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a | | | | Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Co., Hyundai Motor |
| family," Tata said at the opening ceremony of the | | | | Co., and Suzuki Motor Corp., have opened auto |
| expo. | | | | factories in India. Would the maker of brake pad |
| But some critics fear the anticipated repercussions of | | | | sensor Canada go with the production of |
| the super-cheap car. They said the car could give | | | | super-cheap cars trend? That's for the industry to |
| more menace than miracle in India. They expect the | | | | see. |
| car would contribute significantly in chaotic traffic, | | | | Environmentalists, meanwhile, are waiting for some |
| pollution, deprived roadways, and other concerns, | | | | solid proof of the car's aftereffects. "If the Nano |
| reported The San Francisco Chronicle. | | | | takes over the market from gas guzzlers, then that's |
| "The Nano is giving me nightmares," said Rajendra | | | | not really a problem," said Soumya Rahut, a |
| Pachauri, 2007 Nobel laureate and chairman of the | | | | spokesman for Greenpeace India. "This could be a |
| U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. | | | | boon, or a bane, depending on what it replaces. |
| "Let's not fool the public. This car will not substitute | | | | |