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| Small ‘dream car’ arrives in town | | | Small dreams are often much valued. Over two and half decades after the small dreams got wheels, for them there is a new address in Jammu –the National Garages, Tata Motor’s outlet situated at the busy BC Road. Ever since it was announced that world’s smallest car Nano has arrived in the town, the people of Jammu City are making a beeline to catch a glimpse of their “dream car” –a term usually reserved for the luxury cars. If the Maruti 800, the "people’s car" of the 1980s, changed the face of India’s auto industry and gave more Indians a chance to own a four-wheeler in the last quarter of the 20th century, the Nano might well do the same in this century. For the second time in 25 years, this country’s aam aadmi has been given an opportunity to graduate from riding two-wheelers. In small towns like Jammu the new car will do for the auto industry what mobile phones have done for telecom. The very rich, for instance, might be tempted to buy their drivers cars to ensure that they turn up for work on time. Of course, owning a car and maintaining it are two different things; and much of the Nano’s ultimate popularity and demand will depend on its servicing and maintenance costs, as well as insurance costs. It will face tough competition from Maruti on this score. The birth of the Nano was mired in controversy as West Bengal’s Singur turned out to be its Waterloo thanks to Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. It led to a delay, but Ratan Tata’s grit and determination ensured that the much-heralded world’s cheapest car was finally able to ride triumphantly into Mumbai for its long-awaited launch on Monday. It’s been a hundred years since the world began its romance with the small car: Henry Ford’s iconic $850 Model T was followed by Fiat’s beauties, Volkswagen’s loveable Beetle, the ubiquitous Mini... right up to the Japanese-inspired Maruti. The Nano has arrived at a time when a small fuel-efficient car is more relevant than ever before, given fuel costs and huge traffic bottlenecks, limited roadspace and parking problems. The birth of a new small car is, at the same time, an environmentalist’s nightmare — one can just visualise the situation on the roads if a million more cars are let loose. The Nano has certainly enhanced India’s position as a small car manufacturing hub, and the worldwide interest was reflected in the huge international media presence when the three new models were unveiled in Mumbai along with all outlets in the country including Jammu. A Chinese journalist at a press conference earleir in the day had asked Mr Tata point-blank when the Nano would be available in China. India is already a big exporter of small cars, sending three lakh cars overseas in 2008-09, and these exports have been rising steeply in the last five years. The Nano will definitely spur other small car manufacturers to intensify export efforts. A Crisil research study has established that while lower middle-income countries, including India, have 53 per cent of the world’s population, they account for 34 per cent of car sales worldwide. The low-cost Nano can make a significant difference. The only constraining factor might be production limitations: Sanand, which is scheduled to be Nano’s nerve centre, will come on stream only by the end of this year.
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