Yes, Virginia There is a $2,500 Car – Yup $2,500
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Tata motors of India has revealed their plans to produce a $2,500 care, that well, us Americans can’t have. Actually we may not want it.
To make this car $2,500 they pretty much tossed out anything that isn’t absolutely required to operate. The outside of India will probably fail emission and safety standards on any other countries roads.
Driving the cost-cutting were Tata’s engineers, who in an earlier project questioned whether their trucks really needed all four brake pads or could make do with three. As they built Tata’s new car, for about half the price of the next-cheapest Indian alternative, their guiding philosophy was: Do we really need that? [...]
The model appearing on Thursday has no radio, no power steering, no power windows, no air-conditioning and one windshield wiper instead of two, according to suppliers and Tata’s own statements. Bucking prevailing habits, the car lacks a tachometer and uses an analog rather than digital speedometer [...]
To save $10, Tata engineers redesigned the suspension to eliminate actuators in the headlights, the levelers that adjust the angle of the beam depending on how the car is loaded, according to Mr. Chaturvedi of Lumax. In lieu of the solid steel beam that typically connects steering wheels to axles, one supplier, Sona Koyo Steering Systems, used a hollow tube
Although this sounds like a horrific disaster on the horizon, this car is designed to get the Indian population off of motor scooters and into cars – which would be safer.
What’s hilarious is that this is the same company that will probably buy Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.
Now if I could only get a $2,500 XJ220….but minus the quality cuts….
“…this car is designed to get the Indian population off of motor scooters and into cars – which would be safer.”
You MUST be joking. On a scooter you can at least be thrown clear of the accident – in that car you’ll be crushed.
…. will it blend?
(sorry… I had to)
Seriously. As least on a scooter you can get away. It sounds like this thing could collapse into a coffin at any moment.
Maybe that’s the point. “The car that’s also your coffin! Why waste money on two things when you can economize with one!”
there is absolutely nothing wrong with this car. You don’t need a radio, one wiper – mercs have one wiper as well.
It is an excellent exercise in practicality.
Just as long as the frame and construction of the body are built to protect the occupant in an accident.
*Pictures one of those commercials in the first episode of Six Feet Under*
“The new, ultra-economic Tata motor car has been carefully designed to protect and encapsulate the body of the occupant in the event of a collision”
that company is gonna buy jaguar and another brand from Ford soon
Tata is a company to take serious though, not only are they possible buyers of Jaguar/Rover, but they will also start producing a zero-emission car, with an engine running on compressed air, designed by former F1 engineer Guy Negre. The car will weigh just over 700 lbs and cost around $5000…