Comes The Juggernaut II
Looks as though the world's "service centre" is moving beyond service toward manufacture in a serious way. Not that India and its vast demographic of skilled artisans and entrepreneurs were ever truly mired in servicing. Despite its reputation as the world's call centre, with its newly-diagnosed deleterious effects on all those bright young people looking to make a few dollars suffering mental trauma as a result of caller-abuse.
Seems people requiring assistance ("service") take umbrage at their calls being taken by someone with a distinctly East Indian accented English, who could not possibly be trusted to understand the difficulties being encountered by computer illiterates. And who, as a result, despite the bright young dark-skinned experts' sound advice, suffer the indignity of verbal abuse from irate Western callers.
But that's another story; this one is about India moving its emerging middle class from traditional conveyances like bicycles and scooters into motor vehicles. Think gross population size - over three times that of the United States. All of whose aspirations rise toward achieving the same quality of life as that casually on offer to citizens of wealthy post-industrial countries. That's one whole lot of motorcars wending their way through India's populous cities.
Wait: we're talking an itty-bitty toot-toot vehicle here. Conventional only in its energy-source. A newly unveiled motor car to seat four at a pinch (try five), a fraction the size of North American models, engine in back, space for one suitcase in front, selling for the grand total of US$2,500 - or, more correctly one hundred thousand rupees. Still a funding stretch for a lot of Indians, but getting there, a nice trickle-down affordability.
India's automotive industry realizes sales of US$34-billion, representing 5% of GDP, employing a relatively mere handful of its population through 13 million direct and indirectly-related jobs in the automotive industry. The minuscule Nano, built by Tata Motors to sell domestically and through export to Africa, Asia and Latin America is impressive.
The least expensive car on the world market - when it goes into full production - it has a 632 cc engine and can achieve speeds up to 100 respectable km/h. Tata Motors anticipates sales of up to a million Nanos annually in short order. This is elemental motoring, a nice bit of stripped-down engineering, a reflection of ingenuity in Indian industry.
Perhaps such vehicles mightn't be considered safe alternate options in countries like those in western Europe and North America, Korea or Japan, but in a country graduating from bicycles and small motorcycles into automobiles? Good planning and gung-ho.
Who knows, eventually the developed world, facing the squeeze of fuel scarcity and the bedevilment of carbon dioxide emissions fuelling environmental degradation may begin junking all its behemoths and opt for the environmental perspective of adopting a Nano engineered for alternative energy sources - battery-driven by solar energy at some remote future horizon.
Seems people requiring assistance ("service") take umbrage at their calls being taken by someone with a distinctly East Indian accented English, who could not possibly be trusted to understand the difficulties being encountered by computer illiterates. And who, as a result, despite the bright young dark-skinned experts' sound advice, suffer the indignity of verbal abuse from irate Western callers.
But that's another story; this one is about India moving its emerging middle class from traditional conveyances like bicycles and scooters into motor vehicles. Think gross population size - over three times that of the United States. All of whose aspirations rise toward achieving the same quality of life as that casually on offer to citizens of wealthy post-industrial countries. That's one whole lot of motorcars wending their way through India's populous cities.
Wait: we're talking an itty-bitty toot-toot vehicle here. Conventional only in its energy-source. A newly unveiled motor car to seat four at a pinch (try five), a fraction the size of North American models, engine in back, space for one suitcase in front, selling for the grand total of US$2,500 - or, more correctly one hundred thousand rupees. Still a funding stretch for a lot of Indians, but getting there, a nice trickle-down affordability.
India's automotive industry realizes sales of US$34-billion, representing 5% of GDP, employing a relatively mere handful of its population through 13 million direct and indirectly-related jobs in the automotive industry. The minuscule Nano, built by Tata Motors to sell domestically and through export to Africa, Asia and Latin America is impressive.
The least expensive car on the world market - when it goes into full production - it has a 632 cc engine and can achieve speeds up to 100 respectable km/h. Tata Motors anticipates sales of up to a million Nanos annually in short order. This is elemental motoring, a nice bit of stripped-down engineering, a reflection of ingenuity in Indian industry.
Perhaps such vehicles mightn't be considered safe alternate options in countries like those in western Europe and North America, Korea or Japan, but in a country graduating from bicycles and small motorcycles into automobiles? Good planning and gung-ho.
Who knows, eventually the developed world, facing the squeeze of fuel scarcity and the bedevilment of carbon dioxide emissions fuelling environmental degradation may begin junking all its behemoths and opt for the environmental perspective of adopting a Nano engineered for alternative energy sources - battery-driven by solar energy at some remote future horizon.
Labels: Environment, Realities, Technology
posted by Pieface | 5:26 PM
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