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Car Guy
Nano Seconds
We may soon have access to affordable new cars once more — if Uncle will allow it.
Tata Motors, a major automaker in India, recently announced plans to bring its Nano mini-car to the United States within three years. The Nano is smaller than a BMW Mini Cooper coupe but being laid out as a four-door — with a short but very tall profile — can realistically accommodate four adults, which cars like the two-door, four seat Mini (and Fiat 500 and Scion iQ) can only do unrealistically — and two seaters like the Smart car can’t do under any circumstances.
The Nano would thus be the first micro-sedan sold in the U.S. And thus, the first potentially family-viable/primary car micro car sold in the U.S.
In India, the Nano sells new for the equivalent of $2,500 U.S. dollars — a fraction of the cost of the least expensive new car you can currently purchase in America, the Nissan Versa 1.6 sedan — which lists for $10,990.
But, there’s a catch.
The Nano as currently constituted for sale in India will never pass muster with Uncle — whose demands that new cars be made “safe” (according to its Rube Goldberg definitions) as well as “emissions-compliant” (even though the emissions output of any car equipped with a catalytic converter and fuel injection system — which means almost every vehicle built since the late 1980s, including the Tata — is negligible) will make it impossible to get the $2,500 Nano here.
Instead, we’ll get a Nano that’s priced closer to the Versa’s $10k MSRP.
If we’re lucky.
Tata’s founder Ratan Tata told Automotive News as much, hinting at a production car MSRP of around $8,000 or so.
Which is probably optimistic given not just Uncle but also inflation. The purchasing power of Fed Funny Money is depreciating at a rate of about 6 percent per annum, if you run the numbers honestly (something neither the Fed nor Uncle ever does). That means in three years’ time, a Nano that might sell for $8,000 in Fed Funny Money today will require at least $1,440 more (that’s not compounded — and assumes inflation remains “stable” at 6 percent annually).
That puts us right close to $10k — before Tata tallies the tab of complying with Uncle’s demands.
The Nano will probably require at least four air bags — and probably six, given it is a very small car and therefore inherently less crashworthy than a larger, more substantial car. (The Scion iQ — reviewed by me here — has no less than 11 air bags.) The car’s body itself will likely have to be changed up in order to comply with the various bumper impact, side impact and roof crush/rollover requirements set forth by Uncle. Plus back-up cameras and probably auto-start, too. All these things will make the U.S.-spec Nano heavier, less efficient and more expensive. It will be nothing less than a miracle if the car can even be made to comply with the sheaves of ukases without Tata having to design and build an entirely new car.
That goes for “emissions,” double-plus good.
I’ve written before about the diminishing returns on that front. Most people outside the car business have no idea how little progress has been made since the late 1980s — because most of the progress was made around that time and since then, the automakers have been chasing literally fractional decreases in tailpipe emissions. When you hear or read about a proposed “10 percent” reduction in the emissions output of new cars, you ought to read the fine print — which of course is never published. The fine print is that the reduction won’t be 10 percent of 100 percent. It will be 10 percent of the 3-5 percent of the exhaust stream that isn’t either carbon dioxide or water vapor. Everything else has already been chemically scrubbed by the catalytic converter. An ideal air-fuel ratio is perpetually maintained by a modern car’s fuel injection system. Genuinely harmful pollutants — the stuff that forms smog — are virtually nil. Have been nil for decades.
But Uncle can’t admit this — because to do that would mean no more justification for new ukases.
So, even if the Nano is — like any modern car fitted with a catalytic converter, 02 sensor, and fuel injection — already 90-95 percent “clean” at the tailpipe, that will not be sufficient. It will have to be 96-98 percent clean, as is required of current (and soon to be here) cars — no matter the cost (to consumers).
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
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John Navratil| 10.24.12 @ 6:48AM
Don't worry, Peters. When the autobahns are all shut down by the safety Nazis, these micro-cars will be the only thing we will be allowed to drive from our mixed-use mid-rises to the local IKEA to refurnish our 32 square foot (oops, 3 square meter) kitchens.
Von Mises Jr| 10.24.12 @ 7:51AM
It will be perfect in our Agenda21 "stack and pack" smart growth, sustainable living urban centers. Government light-rail will get us from our 700 sq/ ft apartment to our crony capitalist factory jobs. If you get permission to travel to our rural areas or National Parks, you will do so on foot.
This is another reason to get rid of Obama. Socialist in New Jersey has been pushing Agenda21 for years. Now Governor Christie is on board with a Development and Redevelopment Plan that is Agenda21.
Perhaps after we get rid of Obama, those that believe in liberty and property rights need to also get the hell out of places like New Jersey.
Maxwell| 10.24.12 @ 8:21AM
Von, I'm trying! Please believe me. Property tax & cost of everything in Jersey is beyond belief.
I never could understand how people fall for the Chris Christie show or as I call him, The Mouth.
As with most RINO's Chris Christie & his views on guns is the same as most Demo-rats, that is, I have my State Police guarding my backside but DON'T even think of protecting yourself.
TLP| 10.24.12 @ 9:40AM
Am I the only one who looks at this "Car" and thinks that: The only "Nano Second that comes to mind, is the one that it takes to be DEAD, when this Piece a Sh*t with an obvious Horrible Center of Gravity, rolls over on the Highway in Front of a Semi?
Look at it!
TLP| 10.24.12 @ 10:19AM
Besides.
The only Tatas I want, are the ones I can hold in my hands.
SUBVET| 10.24.12 @ 10:24AM
Tim.......I've been to India and this is a "limo" compaired to the excuse for a car. Most transportation is bike or 3 wheel motorcycle with a bench.
Anyway after spending 2 weeks there I know why most want to come here.
Occam's Tool| 10.24.12 @ 11:39AM
SUBVET: it's not just India. I went to New Zealand, a supposedly civilized country, where the best clothes dryer I could buy was the ridiculously underpowered machine made by...wait for it...SMEG.
America is the greatest country in the world, and Obama wants to destroy it, that worthless son of a whore.
TLP| 10.24.12 @ 2:41PM
Yeah, but you gotta admit - Those three wheelers are decked out like a Rose Bowl Float.
pogybait| 10.24.12 @ 8:44AM
Von, they are here big time. My neighbor needed a new sewage system, retained a local plumber,excavator, proper permits....but needed the Audubon Society to place microphones in his trees to see if a species of migratory bird might be disturbed before he was allowed to work on HIS own property! What property rights? It seems that the greens, unions government micro-regulators, dependency-spreading social engineers, and crony capitalists simply know how to weave their way through the state and federal level and have created a stranglehold on our entire existence. We need to remove the useless bureaucratic officials as well.
TLP| 10.24.12 @ 9:42AM
Nothing a BB Gun with a Scope can't Rectify.
"What Birds? I never have any Birds in the Yard. I used to. I don't know why they don't come around, anymore."
SUBVET| 10.24.12 @ 10:25AM
You're killing me.....................
TLP| 10.24.12 @ 2:42PM
No.
I'm THINKING about killing you.
There's a difference.
Von Mises Jr| 10.24.12 @ 10:33AM
The answer was simple. Buy a windmill and use it as a bird blender.
It works for eagles. It should work for juncos and nuthatches.
Talk about birds. Where is our bird brain troll today?
Tom Kyba| 10.24.12 @ 11:19AM
There was a time when replies would state "You're making that up". Not any more. Didn't I just read an article about dystopian worlds?
Appleby| 10.24.12 @ 7:28AM
They'll have to change the name of the company before they can sell it here; "Tata" is a slang word for breasts around here.
Besides, such a tiny little car would not make it through a Northern Winter, and indeed would probably be buried by the first pass of a snow plow down an average city street.
John Navratil| 10.24.12 @ 9:21AM
Appleby,
Remember the No-Va?
scubadude| 10.24.12 @ 5:20PM
Yeah, helluva car, just happen to have a 64' and a 63' SS ragtop in my garage!
Tom Kyba| 10.24.12 @ 11:21AM
Thanks for the imagery Appleby. I am now imagining the end of a snow clearing operation on my street, with a stack of crumpled little sardine cans at the end of the block.
PolishKnight| 10.24.12 @ 11:30AM
Appleby, I saw an article on Ice Road Trucking or one of those masculine reality shows that featured a profile of a truck made by TATA. It was essentially made of wood and if it was in an accident, the operator was written off as dead. In the countries TATA sold this truck to, the value of human life was less than that of the truck (even at that price point.)
Here, if someone gets hurt there's a dozen lawyers ready to get a 6 figure settlement. Sure, put your own life in the hands of these death traps but what if YOU were to be involved in an accident with someone driving one of these things and you were found partially responsible? Even without that, your insurance rates would rise dramatically (which I'm sure the insurance companies are ok with)
Occam's Tool| 10.24.12 @ 11:41AM
Indeed, Appleby. I have an Impala which I use as my routine car from April to November, which is when I switch to my Sierra (my wife homeschools, whereas I must go to work and get there, each day). A tiny POS will not survive here in Vikingland. But it would be useful in Florida and California and Texas.
John Navratil| 10.24.12 @ 1:24PM
Occam's Tool,
Not a chance I drive one of those on Houston's freeways.
Drunken Sailor| 10.24.12 @ 4:28PM
Can you imagine a traffic pile up of those things? It would look like a Bocc'e Ball tournament!
Pecos Pete| 10.24.12 @ 7:45AM
Ukase: An edict or order of a Russian czar having the force of law. Now also known in the USA as: (1) A Presidential Executive Order; or (2), a regulation issued by a bureaucrat in a federal agency (including judicial) in violation of legislation passed by Congress.
Ukase: The future if King O is re-elected. In which case all gasoline disbursement facilities will be required to provide fossil fuel to only those with ObamaStickers placed 1/4 inch, exactly, from the bottom of the right rear wool woven bumper as plastics/aluminum/steel have been removed from fossil fuel creation support units.
If you understand the above paragraph you are a candidate for employment by the IRS. Or EPA.
JimH| 10.24.12 @ 8:20AM
I may buy two. One to strap on to each foot.
Drunken Sailor| 10.24.12 @ 4:29PM
Buy one to stick in your trunk instead of a spare tire.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.24.12 @ 8:59AM
Perhaps a more important gauge of the value difference between the 1963 Buick and a Tata (or any contemporary "smart" car) is not only the cost in real or adjusted dollars, but whether in nearly fifty years, any of the new vehicles will still be around and running, and anyone will want you to know they still have it.
Harry the Horrible| 10.24.12 @ 9:15AM
Last time I read about it, the Nano would not able to travel on Interstates (too slow).
And it STILL doesn't make the new mandate fo 50+ MPG...
Petronius| 10.24.12 @ 10:00AM
There's one simple reason for restricting choices in the transportation market. With cars it's sales taxes. $2500 ain't squat and my state wouldn't realize any gain at a rate just under 9%.
pigdog| 10.24.12 @ 10:05AM
What does Ratan Tata know about cars?
As in all other things, Barrak Obama should be our authority in automotive engineering. Barak Obama doubled the fuel efficiency of our vehicles. It is true; Barack Obama himself said so in a debate.
Barrack Obama is a legal authority. He lectured on Constitutional law, you know. He has a nuanced understanding of the laws of thermodynamics, most recently amending the laws governing the conservation of energy.
I am disappointed that Barak Obama stopped at doubling our fuel efficiency. It is hard to believe that Republicans would oppose his efforts to triple, or even quadruple, our fuel efficiency.
Ratan Tata should seek the favor of Barak Obama if he wants to sell cars in America. With Barak Obama's blessing, Tata will be a big success.
SUBVET| 10.24.12 @ 6:38PM
Mr. Ratan........is worth 60B not bad for a indian.
Frank Drackman| 10.24.12 @ 10:19AM
Does it come with a ladder to get out of the potholes??
Seriously, Indian Cars turn me on about as much as Indian Food(Mmmmm Curry)
But hey, at least you have 4 spare tires
FOR YOUR LAWN MOWER...
A few years back I found the perfect economical/safe/performance vehicle for my daughter, who just happens to be a Marine Officer Candidate, future F-35 pilot/Commandant/and perhaps first XX President..
a used Suzuki GSXR,
no wait, that was MY economical sensible vehicle in College.
A 2007 used Crown Vic with a ghostly "Georgia State Patrol" still readable where they had taken the decals off...
$4,500 and nothings broke in 30,000 miles...
Frank
SUBVET| 10.24.12 @ 6:28PM
A....FORD come on............
Citizen Jerry| 10.24.12 @ 10:33AM
If Uncle Sam will allow it? To trot out an old and hackneyed expression -- Good luck with that!
Tom Kyba| 10.24.12 @ 11:22AM
Didn't President Narcissus in the second debate brag about improving transportation with more CAFE standards?
Who Knows?| 10.24.12 @ 11:54AM
Humans need to move themselves and stuff from place to place.
HOW they do that is the question.
Progressing from using the legs, to horses, and to machines, humanity has become wastefully productive. So, these high tech days, we have the luxury of letting lawyers---high priced clerks---telling us what a vehicle MUST have.
A true libertarian society would laugh at America’s auto industry requirements.
Just think how TRULY inexpensive a basic car COULD be, shorn of most of the safety regs! After all, one can still eschew “heavy metal” containers, and ride a motorcycle.
All you actually need are wheels an engine and a transmission, and of course a chassis, etc.
Indeed, as a lifetime bicycle rider, it occurs to me that for most purposes, say tripping around town to shop etc, an inventor could create a bicycle-like vehicle with a small lawn mower type of motor, surround it with minimal sheet plastic, and one could get if for a $1,000 or less. I know---back to the future, like those old flicks of peasants in Vietnam and China with roads mobbed by bicyclists.
The point is that supply-demand always prevails, so whether the Tata or any other low priced vehicle passes muster in the US, people will choose their moving “poison”.
JTO| 10.24.12 @ 1:38PM
My 66 VW bug used to get 32 mpg. paid $400.00 for it in 78, and it lasted until I was 23 years old and out of college, sold it for $500.00 to a friend who then drove it for 3 more years. I just imagine that old bug is still going maybe I will find another before the Agenda 21 cars hit for good.
Ron Ackenberry| 10.26.12 @ 9:34PM
The Tata sounds like a go kart with a shell and windscreen.
Thus, the $25oo price tag sounds high as the car is impractical (not to mention illegal).