The promise of the Nano

The recently-launched Nano has created extraordinary ripples not only in India but across the globe. While in the early weeks, the debate on the potential impact of Mr Ratan Tata’s dream project was largely confined to the automobile sector and on the urban infrastructure and environment, lately the focus seems to be shifting to a more broadbased discussion on India’s emerging prowess in the domain of engineering/manufacturing. In such discussions and media posts, by and large, the overall tone is highly positive on India.

Can, therefore, Mr Tata’s dream project and his dogged determination to make it a reality mark another major turning point for India and do for the Indian manufacturing sector what Infosys, Wipro, and TCS did for the Indian IT sector? Would the vastly enhanced international admiration for Mr Tata spur other Indian business titans to dream big on the scale of the Nano and lead to unprecedented product and business process innovation across multiple industrial and service sectors in India?

A lot, of course, depends on the on-road performance of the prototypes shows at New Delhi earlier this month and the ability of Tata Motors to manage the Nano business itself. However, should the Nano live up to its promise in terms of price-performance-experience, the implications for India would be absolutely wonderful!

India is seeing an unprecedented quantum of investment in many sectors. Beyond the boost for the Indian automotive sector and the likely emergence of India as the world’s small car development and manufacturing hub, the first indirect fallout of the potential success of the Nano could be a vastly greater interest of global capital goods and equipment manufacturers to look at developing and producing the next generation of products for emerging markets like India that offer far more appropriate price-performance ratios. There are already some signs of the same in the healthcare equipment arena, where global giants like GE, Siemens and Philips are reportedly looking at engineering new low-cost, enhanced-performance medical equipment, especially in the diagnostic/imaging areas designed specifically for low-income countries like India. The same trend could well extend to other engineering sectors too including construction/earth moving equipment, farm equipment, and power generation equipment.

Beyond manufacturing, I hope that the “Nano” challenge is taken up in other sectors too. For example, textile and clothing remains as one of the most important industrial sectors for India. This sector continues to provide the highest quantum of direct and indirect employment compared with all other sectors, and impacts India right from the hundreds of thousands of cotton farmers to the 1.2 billion consumers of textile products in the country. Unfortunately, for all its promise and India’s competitive strengths at every level of the textile value chain, the sector has largely underperformed in recent years compared to its potential. A Nano-like mission to provide good-quality, good-performance textile and clothing products to all but the top 150-200 million Indians (i.e. the remaining 1 billion) has the power to make an incredible positive impact on the Indian economy itself. Like the Rs 1 lakh car, a seemingly improbable price point of a Rs 100 shirt or a pair of trousers or jeans, or a Rs 250 saree set or salwar suit has tantalising implications.

Healthcare is another area where a Nano-like missionary zeal has the potential to transform the quality of life for hundreds of millions in India and many more outside India that do not yet have access to affordable, quality healthcare services. With a little support from the state and central governments to create the right policy framework to give an initial fillip to massive private investment in this sector, a Rs 1,000 preventive health check-up, a Rs 1,000 per day high-quality hospital bed or a Rs 100,000 cardiac (or other major) surgical procedures is certainly feasible and deliverable.

Applying cutting-edge research and development, and appropriate technology as well as agri methods and processes has the potential to transform fortunes of over 700 million Indians living in rural India and directly or indirectly dependent on the performance of the agriculture sector. Reform in just the cotton-growing sector — with the introduction of genetically modified BT cotton — has led to a near doubling of India’s cotton crop output in the last five years. Much more can be done in almost all other agri-product categories since India’s output per hectare remains at the lower end of the spectrum compared to international best practices. If only the political thinking can get liberal on the subject of agriculture, and if only the government can consciously allow and encourage the entry of private enterprise, Nano-like thought processes can happen in this sector as well.

Whatever be the outcome of the actual launch of the Nano on the Indian roads, Mr Tata has to be given credit for dreaming to make possible and viable — the impossible and commercially unviable. It is now up to others in his elite peer group to make and deliver similar promises in other sectors too.

Source: Business Standard

Tata "Nano" plant under-construction at Singur

‘NINE’FROM THE ‘NANO’

There are several lessons that students can learn from the Nano

HISTORY was made on January 10, 2008 when Ratan Tata launched the ‘people’s car’ aptly named Tata Nano. It is the cheapest car in the world; but by no means a ‘cheap’ vehicle. It is a full car; contrary to what people assumed, it is not a ‘scooter with four wheels’ or an ‘auto rickshaw on four wheels’ or ‘two 2-wheelers welded together. Tata Nano is a ‘grounds up’ designed car that has several breakthrough features, all for an unbelievable price of Rs 1, 00,000 (US $ 2,500) at the show room (taxes extra). Interestingly, there are about 40 patents that encapsulate the ‘intellectual assets’of the Tata Nano.

WHY’S NANO IMPORTANT?
The Nano has been a dream for many countries.Exactly 100 years ago Henry Ford launched his Model T in the US, Volkswagen in Germany had a similar goal when it launched its Beatle model; similar attempts made elsewhere include Citreon 2CV in France and Fiat 500 in Italy; Suzuki Motors launched its Maruti 800 in India in 1981. What sets apart Tata Nano is the price; for example, the launch price of Maruti 800 in 1981 was Rs 60,000, which in today’s terms would translate to Rs 2,50,000. Nano makes a better case, because it has features comparable to contemporary cars, unlike some of its predecessors who had stripped down versions of the cars of that age.

Ford’s Motel T, Volkswagen’s Beetle and Fiat’s Fiat 500 changed their countries; it all started with the farmers using these vehicles to move their farm produce. All those countries did not have a road network when the vehicles debuted. It is a different time today (21 st century and not 20th century); yet, if Tata Nano indeed can mobilize rural India,surely the country will be on its way to prosperity.In USA there is a car for every three persons, in India there is a car for every 1,000 people. If every Indian starts driving the Nano today, there will be an environmental hazard; but the Nano will evolve, as Ratan Tata himself mentioned; it will look at alternate fuel including hybrid and electric versions. Hopefully, over the years governments will build infrastructure too and the Tata Nano will be a ‘watershed event’ in the growth story of India.

The nine lessons from the Nano are:

ENDURANCE IS THE KEY
Tata Nano is the result of four years of toil for a dedicated team of 500 professionals under design head Girish Wagh — a wiz-kid designer who worked earlier on Tata Ace mini truck and Tata Indica passenger car. The Chairman of the $50 billion Tata Group Ratan Tata was personally involved throughout. There was considerable skepticism (even ridicule) from global players. It is to the credit of Ratan Tata and his team that they worked against such adversities. Such endurance is the first lesson for students.

GET INNOVATIVE
Tata Nano posed several technical challenges;the decision to go for a two cylinder engine, introduction of a balance shaft, rear mounting of engine and power train are key design decisions calling for boldness and innovation, the second lesson.

LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE
For the IT crazy youngsters who limit their vision to Java and c++, the engine management system (EMS) and the engine control Unit (ECU) of Tata Nano have a lot of software and hardware challenges;one needs to look at IT in much broader terms, the third lesson for students.

PRESS AHEAD
A hue and cry was raised against Tata Nano; the misguided political establishment is bent on stopping the production of Tata Nano in the Singur plant; the scientific community had some misplaced criticism; instead of pointing out the need for better public transport, rail and road infrastructure, traffic management and alternate fuels, the environmentalists find fault with Tata Nano for making every middle class Indian a potential car owner. It is to the credit of the Tatas
to continue in their pursuit
of excellence, in spite of
such heavy criticism; such
an unrelenting pursuit of a
goal against severe criticism is the fourth lesson for students

KEEP YOUR PROMISES
Over the past four years, the prices of raw materials (particularly metals) have gone up more than the national average price increase. Yet, Tatas decided to keep the price at Rs 1,00,000. As Ratan Rata himself said “A promise is a promise” — a worthy fifth lesson for students.

LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITY
Interestingly,Ratan Tata got the inspiration for Tata Nano by observing a common scene on Indian roads; in Ratan Tata’s words “I observed families riding on two-wheelers, the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby.It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe,affordable,all-weather form of transport for such a family.”Only Ratan Tata could see a ‘hidden opportunity’ in that sight. Such keen observation and ability to see hidden opportunities is the sixth lesson.

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY
The marketing communication during the launch is the seventh lesson for students. The full page advertisement said “It is here, the new Tata Nano, to end all speculations, debate and talk”, and “to change the way India travels”, a simple, compelling way to articulate the value proposition and quietly silencing the critics. For others there were just four points:
• Seats four
• Eco-friendly
• Fuel efficient
• Meets safety standards

BE EXCITED
The eighth lesson for students is the way Ratan Tata reacted to journalists about his feelings on Tata Corus acquisition vs Tata Nano launch. True, Tata Corus is a huge $ 10 billion (Rs 40,000 crores) deal. According to Ratan Tata,”Corus was a transaction; there is a different level of excitement when you are building something.” Students should get this message right.“Creative engineering jobs are as exciting as Wall Street (and Dalal Street) analysts’jobs.”

GET INSPIRED!
One hopes that Ratan Tata will be the hero of your generation — he speaks your lingo and through the Nano — you should be inspired to create something that solves the problem of your country, in your life time. That would be the ninth lesson.


S Sadagopan

Source: Times Of India

Tata goes online for Rs 1 lakh car Nano's design

Log on to the www.tatapeoplescar.com and design your own Nano. If that’s aimed at generating buzz around ‘one-lakh car’, Tata Motors needn’t bother.

The interest in Nano is all pervasive and palpable. And that too without any proactive effort from the company. So, the online initiative must be its first ever salvo to take the brand to the next phase.

While Nano has got unprecedented attention and appreciation, it must be congratulated on another front too. The little beauty has suddenly made auto engineering and design a talking point among those with technical bent of mind. This has gone largely unnoticed amidst all the noise around the launch.

The innovation has aroused a great deal interest amongst students in auto design and engineering. The stream, which is usually lower down in the list of preferred disciplines for aspiring engineers in the country, may find many takers now.

My neighbour’s son tells me that many of his friends are evaluating auto engineering after their class 12th even if that means going overseas. “If our country can be a big force in IT, what stops it from being one in auto engineering and design,” he quizzed me. Auto experts say automobiles has always fascinated youngsters, so a statement like this from my little friend doesn’t seem out of ordinary. It’s just that Nano’s buzz may have inspired its articulation.

So if some technology institutes decided to showcase their students’ innovation at the 8th Auto Expo last week, including a hybrid car, it didn’t surprise me. This bodes well for indigenous auto-manufacturing, design and technology. While India has made a mark for itself the world over in the IT space, it’s intellectual capital in auto design and engineering is far from discovered. Perhaps, nobody thought we could do that too. Nano may dispel the notion.

For the Tata Motors, the new-found fascination for automobiles will keep the people’s car in the news right through to its launch later this year. That should bring some cheer to brand managers on the Nano.

The brand’s journey so far, has a story for marketers who may have a breakthrough launch in the pipeline. And a lesson on how to make a marketing success of a breakthrough product even before its launch. In case of Nano, it may have happened without any conscious effort. Others can plan it.

When Ratan Tata announced his ambitious project four years ago, it met with scepticism all around. However, along with it came a big bang media attention for the Rs 1 lakh car.

Rival auto companies kept the buzz alive with their respective comments on what the car would be like. “Let’s wait and see what kind of car is it going to be,” a top executive of a rival company quipped. “I suspect it would be a vanilla ‘engine-chassis with a tarpaulin cover’.” I almost believed him then. The curiosity soared as the news spread that people could have a glimpse of the people’s car at the Auto Expo.

Source: Economic Times

Amul Hoarding - Tata Nano

The latest Amul Hoarding on Tata Nano, this one is on the road to

Walkeshwar while driving from Marine Drive

Double standards on cars and climate change take us down the wrong road

Different standards are being applied on climate change especially when it comes to cars, writes Tony Kinsella.

Ratan Tata drove his conglomerate's spanking new Tata Nano on stage at the Delhi 2008 Auto Expo on January 10th to the strains of Richard Strauss's Thus Spoke Zarathustra - universally famous from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The "People's Car", as he baptised it, will sell for 100,000 rupees (€1,700), around the price of the DVD player in a high-end Lexus.

Three days later, half-a-planet and several light years away, traffic in Detroit was stopped as Chrysler drove their new Dodge Ram pick-up surrounded by 150 Texas longhorn cattle into the American International Auto Show. Ford echoed this cowboy theme by bringing in country and western star Toby Keith to unveil their new F-150 mammoth pick-up truck. The 2008 F-150 starts at $33,545 (€22,500).

Tata engineers worked to develop the aluminium shell Nano, with input from Germany and Italy. It is 3.1 metres long, 1.5 wide and seats four. Its 623cc two-cylinder engine, like that of the Volkswagen Beetle, is rear-mounted. The Nano's top speed is just over 60 mph and, according to Tata, does 50 miles to the gallon (mpg).

The F-150 is 6.3 metres long, 2 metres wide, and seats 2, 5, or 7, depending on the cab configuration selected. Its standard engine is a 5.4 litre V-8. Ford sales material vaunts the company's efforts to boost its fuel efficiency. The 2008 F-150 can achieve 24mpg in highway driving, although this falls to a more modest 17mpg with urban use.

Comparisons between the Spartan finish of the basic Nano, with its one windscreen wiper, absence of electric windows, air conditioning or radio, and the thirty-five luxurious variants of the F-150, are essentially meaningless.

Tata plan to produce 250,000 Nanos this year for the Indian market, but expects to double that output within four years to offer their People's Car in southeast Asian, African and Latin American markets. Tata have no current plans to produce a version for the European market although the Nano meets EU emission standards. Estimates suggest that a fully compliant European model would retail for around €9,000.

Large mini-trucks form an essential part of the dwindling operating profit base for GM, Ford and Chrysler. Some 2.2 million were sold in the US last year, and while higher petrol prices are expected to cut that by 10 per cent in 2008, these sales remain vital.

Chrysler's top-selling vehicle is its Dodge Ram which accounted for 17 per cent of its total US sales in 2007. The Ford F-150 has, for 26 consecutive years, held the top-selling position in the US, and the F series accounted for 26 per cent of Ford's domestic sales last year.

"The Ford F-150 is an American icon. Ford is the truck leader, and F-150 customers expect and demand the best truck on the market," according to Mark Fields, president of Ford North America.

Since the two motor shows ran concurrently it is not surprising that they were covered by different journalists. It is slightly more surprising that relatively few media covered both, and hardly anyone accorded them equal coverage.

It is, however, quite remarkable to note the differences in the commentaries most editors included in their Delhi coverage, but omitted when it came to covering Detroit.

Virtually all coverage of the Nano launch mentioned concerns over the climate impact of millions of Indians taking to the roads in CO2-emitting Nanos. A Greenpeace picket on the Delhi Auto Expo was widely reported, as was the comment from the chairman of the UN's international panel on climate change, Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, that he was "having nightmares" about the Nano.

If concerns about the impact of 250,000 50mpg. Nanos joining the world's roads are legitimate, similar concerns must apply to two million 20mpg Dodge Rams and Ford F-150s. Yet no such concerns were included in reports from Detroit.

This apparent double standard speaks volumes about what we have come to view as normal, the challenges we face in addressing global climate change, and the changing nature of our planet's economy.

We have come to see it as normal that rangy American cowboys drive from their suburban homes to shopping malls in grotesquely oversized and criminally fuel inefficient vehicles. Yet it strike us as unusual that Indians wish to move from motorbikes and motorised rickshaws to the comfort of cars. This smacks of us continuing to view our world through a distorting colonial prism.

Any approach to the challenges of global climate change which uses such a prism is doomed to failure. Reducing global greenhouse emissions is never going to be achieved by the rich world hoping that our poorer relatives won't seek to reproduce a version of the lifestyles to which we have become accustomed.

We do not have the resources of the five planets required for developed world living standards to become universal. We must therefore develop technologies and systems our one planet can sustain. These cannot include Ford F-150s.

India's economic development highlights global economic changes. The Asian approach first realised in Japan, then applied in Taiwan, South Korea and most spectacularly in China was based on manufacturing goods for export to North American and European markets. Export-led growth then transformed domestic economies.

The Nano approach is different. Tata has developed a car for the Indian and other emerging markets. Its success is not predicated on North American or European sales, but on Indian, Vietnamese, or Ethiopian consumers offering themselves an enhanced degree of comfort.
About one billion of the Earth's population lives in the developed world. Tata is targeting the other five billion potential customers.

The US economy is sliding into recession, with its construction sector reeling as housing supply outstrips demand. US consumer demand may focus even more on low-cost Chinese imports, but the number of contractors buying F-150s is bound to shrivel.

If rising demand for modern products across the world's five billion less well-off consumers becomes the motor of global growth, the Nano will be more industrially significant than the Model T Ford.

Source:The Irish Times, Tuesday, 22 January 2008