I’m not a misanthrope. I like people, and I tend to think that, for most people, the better you know them, the harder it is to dislike them. I mean, there’s exceptions, sure, but that’s mostly been my experience. That doesn’t mean there aren’t certain human traits that drive me nuts, because there absolutely are, and I blame one of those traits on why the Tata Nano failed. Human have this weird seemingly constant need to convey status, even when the process or attempt to do that actually makes their lives worse. This is why we get into situations where people who desperately needed a dirt-cheap but usable car refused to buy one because nobody wants to look like someone who needs a dirt-cheap but usable car.
The Tata Nano is one of the cars I admire most. When it launched in 2008, it cost the equivalent of $2500 US dollars. In today’s money, that’s about $3776 today, which is still absolutely shockingly cheap for a car today. A Ford Model T’s price about a century before the Nano would come to $21,000 today. A 1973 Volkswagen Beetle like the one I have would have cost about $1800 to $2000 new, which comes to about $14,600 today. Just take a moment to think how incredible that is!
I firmly believe the Tata Nano is a greater engineering triumph than the Bugatti Veyron or Chiron or whatever. Of course you can create a technological marvel when you don’t have to worry about money. But when you’re trying to design a usable car for the price of a surprising number of designer handbags, that’s where things get tough, and Tata’s engineers pulled it off. And I think the resulting car was genuinely great! I said just that when I reviewed it back in 2018, when I’m pretty sure I was also the first person to drive a Nano to a Waffle House:
There were other journalists who got to drive this lone Nano in America, which was owned by Jeff Lane, of the fantastic Lane Motor Museum, and they often had very different opinions, but I blame that on them being candy-asses.
But this post isn’t a Tata Nano retrospective; I thought about the Nano because we have a story coming up later today about a car that reminded me of the Nano, and when I started thinking about the Nano I remembered that there was once a brief, glorious moment, somewhere around 2010-2012, when there was a real expectation that Tata would bring the Nano to America.
A bunch of outlets wrote about this, and I feel like I recall being excited about the possibility of it at the time. Most of the speculation came because Ratan Tata himself said they were planning on an up-rated Nano with airbags and more power (I guess spoiled Americans think 37 horsepower isn’t enough? Everyone thinks they’re a sultan.) and the hope was to sell it for under $10,000 around 2015, which would have been incredible.
Of course, this did not happen. And when I look back at these headlines suggesting it would happen, it sort of saddens me, because based on how the American car market looks today, the idea of a truly inexpensive car being available for sale feels like a fever dream, a goal as impossible as me deciding I am going to win the Boston Marathon when it happens in a bit over a month from now. Maybe the Nano thing would have less vomiting, but it’s equally improbable.
And then there’s the indisputable fact that the Nano failed in its home market of India because it was simply too cheap for people. People who were using motorbikes for their whole family felt they didn’t want to be seen in the World’s Cheapest Car. There’s something so profoundly sad about this fact, I always felt, like it’s a reminder that there’s something deeply wrong with us.
Why are we like this? A genuinely cheap car would be so helpful to so many people! And they’re cool! I mean, I think they’re cool. And I’m sure some other people do, too. But that’s not enough to push back against the kneejerk equating of expensive with desirable, and I can’t think of any human cultural urge that has bitten us in the ass with its jewel-encrusted, gold-plated teeth more than that.
Well, I think the thermal incident issue would have put the kibosh on any US plans…
I think the buyers’ financial situation plays into the appeal. For the truly impoverished, the car makes clear to everyone it’s all you can afford. It’s only “cool” for people who could afford something nicer but make the choice to buy “the world’s cheapest car” perhaps for the novelty or the statement it makes (“I’m not fooled by the gimmicks of ‘luxury’ cars and don’t feel the need to advertise that I have disposable income.”)
If that’s the Waffle House right up the road from the Lane headed downtown, it’s gone Delivery Only now. How crazy is it we have full Waffle Houses just to provide delivery – half the WH experience is the actual WH. If I wanted to watch a fight at home I’d just make a can of soup…
Whenever I see the blank expanse of nothing on a tesla’s dash it reminds me of the Nano.
Well, actually the nano still had vents you can easily aim, so it’s better than a Tesla
Oh boy Torch set himself up to be f bombed by another disgruntled auto journalist at some future event with this one. He’s on a roll!
If The Autopian reviewed architecture, there’d be an article bemoaning how people are just too uppity for a 250 square foot tin shack with no plumbing or electricity. “Imagine,” they’d write, “how much cheaper housing would be if Americans would accept Tin Shack With No Plumbing Or Electricity. It accomplishes everything a regular house does!”
From their own insulated apartments with running water and central heat, in between stays at large mansions and modern suburban construction, they’d express dismay. “I stayed in Tin Shack With No Plumbing Or Electricity for a night, and frankly, found it charming. Real estate prices could be so much lower than they are if only everyone realized what I do.”