Straits Times 14 Jan 08;
Friends who doubted billionaire's dream to make $3,700 car kept him at arm's length
LIKE a marathon runner, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, 70, had to press on for the long haul in making the Nano, the car that costs 100,000 Indian rupees ($3,700).
14 January 2008
LIKE a marathon runner, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, 70, had to press on for the long haul in making the Nano, the car that costs 100,000 Indian rupees ($3,700).
In an interview with the Times of India last week, Mr Tata spoke about the lonely four-year journey that has resulted in the most eagerly-awaited launch in the history of India's car industry.
He said: 'Right now, I am in a very lonely phase. It's attracting a lot of attention, positive and negative. Everybody is taking potshots at this (car).'
'There was a fair amount of ridicule when the project started. People said that it can't be done.
'As one went along and it became clear that something was happening and that we were going forward, suddenly, sadly, everybody is against the small car (saying) it's going to pollute, it is going to congest, it is going to impair safety,' said Mr Tata.
'But we decided to make a car that will not compromise. We designed a car that would meet all international norms on safety.
'We have a very fuel-efficient engine. It is also going to pollute less.'
Nano meets the environmental criteria that many of the other small cars or micro cars in Europe do not, something Mr Tata is 'quite pleased' about.
FOLLOWING EXAMPLE
Now, there are people following his idea. Renault, for example, wants to make a car for under US$3,000 ($4,300).
Mr Tata said Renault chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn was the only person in the automotive industry who, from day one, did not scoff at the idea of an uber-cheap car.
The idea first came about because Mr Tata felt it was dangerous for families to zip around on scooters.
'There were three, four family members on a scooter with a kid standing in the front, the guy driving and his wife sitting side saddle holding a little kid.
When you are driving a car, you say to yourself to be careful, you know they may slip and fall.
'Add to that slippery roads and night time riding and you have a reasonably dangerous form of transport. That does not mean scooters should not exist - it's an evolution of bicycles and it's the path to prosperity. But, scooters as family transport seemed dangerous,' said Mr Tata.
So he set about thinking if a four-wheel vehicle could be made from scooter parts. Later, it was found that using scooter parts was a real limitation.
'So we changed tack. We decided to look at everything from scratch.
'That led us to configure a small car which would be a full-fledged car. We started again in an evolutionary way.
'It started with a concept of being a four-wheeled rural car. Do we have roll up plastic curtains instead of windows?
'Do we have openings like autorickshaws have instead of doors, but have a safety bar?
'We had many such early concepts and we finally decided that the market did not want a half car.
'If we wanted to build a people's car it should be a car and not something that people would say, 'That is a scooter with four wheels or an autorickshaw on four wheels'.
'And so we decided to do a car and really pare the cost.'
Costs were cut by packaging the car tightly and using less steel.
'We just made the car smaller outside, yet big inside.'
Now that the Tata Nano is a reality, the next step is to try different fuels, possibly make an electric or hybrid version of the car.
He hopes Nano will become a platform for a new set of personal transport needs.
'One thing we have established is that we have created an affordable personal transport that will take four or five people under all weather conditions, running on regular fuel and not on some exotic stuff,' said MrTata.
CONGESTION
But will the car choke already congested roads?
'We produce about 7 million two-wheelers a year. Today we must have 60-70 million two-and three-wheelers in the country.
'Last year, we produced about 1.4million cars and at some point we will exceed two million.
'Well, nobody says anything about that. It is only this car that is being targeted.'
Mr Tata said critics wrongly assume that the small car will not replace a bigger car.
' We will cannibalise some of the existing low-end cars and two-wheelers, and even some of our own cars.
'The Indica (Tata's earlier hatchback car) too is going to feel the effects. So it will not be that it will be on top of everything.'
Mr Tata added that it is the top major cities that are congested, but in second- and third-tier cities, affordable family transport is needed.
'Is it their lot not to have a vehicle? The huge potential lies when India gets connected in the rural areas,' said MrTata.
Other buyers of Nano could also come from the US or Europe where people want to have a fun extra car.
Those who need utilitarian transport and who are not looking for a lot of creature comforts, or those who already own small cars, would also be potential buyers.
Mr Tata's not concerned if other car makers also start making cheap micro cars.
' If (other manufacturers) produce other small cars, there will be three or four brands for people to choose from. I don't believe Tata Motors can fulfil the entire demand.'
RETIRING?
Seeing as Nano is probably the biggest thing Mr Tata has ever done, there was been talk that he may be considering retiring.
But he denied this.
'No, no. All I said was that in everybody's life, there are certain moments of satisfaction; you feel that after that has been achieved, it is a nice time to step away - to change gears.
'In an ideal world, an occasion like this would be a good time to step away. I didn't say that this was what I could do.
'(But) you don't want ever to have a situation when somebody sort of whispers, when is he going to leave?'
Recently, Mr Tata met retired Formula One racer Michael Schumacher several times.
'I asked him, are you sorry you retired? He said, 'No. I am very pleased... I retired at the peak of my career. How much more could I have done? I may have gone down. I am now test driver for Ferrari. I am enjoying what I am doing, I am enjoying my new life, I am really enjoying myself.'
Commented Mr Tata: 'I think there is a lot to be said for that. You don't want to fade away by hanging in there too long. You would love to go on the back of something that is exciting or a great achievement. It is so selfish also,' said Mr Tata with a smile.
He said he needed more time to find a successor, although he does have several people in mind.
'A bunch of entrepreneurs could establish an assembly operation and Tata Motors would train their people, would oversee their quality assurance and they would become satellite assembly operations for us.
'So we would create entrepreneurs across the country that would produce the car. We would produce the mass items and ship it to them as kits. That is my idea of dispersing wealth.
'It would be satisfying if the small car created 10-15 satellite groups of young engineers who could get together and do a business.
'They would never be able to get normally into assembly of cars.
'I think it will be a very satisfying thing for me to see them succeed.'
