Tata Nano, The $2,500 Car

New Delhi, India

Today Tata introduced in India the $2,500 gas powered automobile, the Tata Nano. The car gets 47 miles per gallon. Last time I wrote about this, over a year ago, I generally criticized the idea. Today I am far less sure that this is an altogether bad idea.

Look at the US auto industry. For years, it has been building and selling big, fat, gas guzzling, polluting cars. These cars were, in two words, terribly made. Some people liked and bought these, I never did. That industry unsurprisingly ran itself into the ground with its stupidity and its inability to make a decent product. We haven't heard the last of this by a long shot.

The India situation seems different. It looks like Tata is offering something that people actually want. Maybe the Indian auto industry and India will thrive because of it. At any rate, the last people in the world who should criticize the Nano are the people who have protected and supported the US auto industry. Those people should look at Tata and learn the lesson of what happens when the product meets popular demand.