Radio Australia Today Editorial

Tata’s Nano. The teeny Model-T Ford

24 March 2009

So it’s been unveiled. After years of promises, we’ve finally had a glimpse of the world’s cheapest car.

Tata, the Indian manufacturing monolith has shown us the car that it will be selling for 2000 U.S. dollars. It’s called the Nano, and it’s a surprisingly pretty and up-to-date looker. Of course if you want little luxuries like power steering and air-conditioning, you’ll have to pay for it. But the last time I was in India, air-conditioning was an open window, and power steering was a bicep.

I don’t think we should underestimate the potential power of the Nano. 2000 bucks will not put it within the reach of everyone, but it will allow a lot of people to get off their bikes.

More of us in the west are moving away from  four-wheeled transport. Bicycles are the new cool in Australia, and a good thing too. I grew up in a car househoold. Everyone had a car. We salivated over the latest new model of what history has proved to be pretty crappy cars. Hell, we were even known to drive to the corner store to get the loaf of bread.

It was some years before I discovered the joys of bike riding, the feeling of flight, the  breeze through the hair, the speed, the feeling of personal power. Not to mention the fitness and the buzz that stays with you after you’ve dismounted.

Of course safe, fuel-efficient cars will be a good thing for the many people across Asia who load up their motorbikes with goods, families and livestock. For them the Nano will be a blessing.

It’s just that I hope that cars will not become even more of a status symbol than they already, undeservedly, have become.

                                                                                   – Phil