The Toyota Prius v the Tata Nano
The world's most important vehicle?Most Americans are interested in hybrid cars according to multiple polls. Half of Americans are even interested in plug-in vehicles.
Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of those interested in such vehicles are only willing to pay 10 percent more, or less, for such vehicles. In fact, a significant percent of those interested in such vehicles don't want to pay any extra costs for such hybrids compared to conventional vehicles.
And yet, those polls were taken in American and England.
What about in places like India, where the couple thousand dollar Tata Nano is a huge hit? Can the middle classes in such emerging markets catch up to American demand for hybrids and electric cars?
Today, Ford announced the Figo, expected to cost between $6,000 to $10,000, for the Indian market to help "offset tough global conditions". Yet, analysts are skeptical.
If emerging markets are the key to future profitability for automakers, which car is more important, the Toyota Prius or the Tata Nano?
Labels: Hybrid Vehicles, toyota prius
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:45 AM
7 Comments:
remember when Toyota's were referred to as cheapo rice burners?
You think GM might go belly-up?
how about Toyota ?
..upended by the Nano and whatever little gems come out of China and Korea?
A Nano Hybrid for 10K - a 100K "Kia" warranty?
so ...while we're crying in our beer over the loss of GM, we're gonna have to keep that beer away from the Toyota cry babies also..
Now this would be truly an ironic turn of events.
We finally make some headway on foreign oil dependence.. and then we find we are dependent on foreign autos..
oy vey!
Indigo Incarnates
The last time I checked, the Tata Nano had a 18 month, 18,000-mile warranty. That's not a confidence-inspiring figure.
what do you expect for $2000?
i don't think emerging economies are ever going to embrace the auto the way the US did. we were an aberration that i doubt will be repeated.
in my opinion very small, light vehicles will dominate the emerging markets. they might be hybrid or plug-in, but they'll, ultimately, be far different than we what we have in america.
then again, china is buick crazy, but i wonder, will the middle classes really be able to afford and want such vehicles once congestion, etc. begin to rear their ugly heads?
better place, with its electric cars, envisions very cheap cars powered by an energy plan much like how someone would purchase a phone plan, but again, the cars would be cheap, even nano cheap, in emerging markets.
i really do believe that the future might be much cheaper autos and much different than anything that will ever sell in america.
WHO in the world thought up that headline ???? Ha there is not a smidgen of relatedness between a Prius and a Nano!
Thats like a headline that reads..."Republicans demand more funds to help poor and unemployed"! Ha its not compatible :(
anon-
it's not a comparison of the vehicles themselves, just their place in the world market.
US automakers, for instance, have a hard time finding profits selling their vehicles in the US.
Foreign markets, on the other hand, have provided nice profits for US automakers. Moreover, most automotive analysts believe that Asia is going to be the driver of the world's auton industry.
So, which kind of car is going to resonate better in emerging markets, the Prius or the Nano?
Likewise, a sub-$10,000 Nano hybrid is reported to be in the works.
Nonetheless, in terms of emerging market importance, isn't the Tata a far more important vehicle and harbinger of future demand?
At least Toyota has much more experience in the ultra cheap, ultra small subcompact market, but America does not.
And, I think Larry makes a good point about 'rice burners'. I fully remember my father, upon seeing a Honda for the first time wondering who would ever buy such a vehicle, yet that Honda fundamentally affected the auto industry.
I'd wager the Nano will do the same.
I agree. The Nano will be a game-changer especially in developing markets.
100K "kia"... remember when the Kia's first came out and had a
b-a-d reputation ..or was that Hyundai or Honda or Toyota?
Nano's are simple cars. They may well be the modern-day equivalent of the original Volkswagen Beetle.
Simple cars don't have near as many things to break and if the motor and drive chain are reasonably good.. the company may well use the 100K warranty as a "sweetner" for the hard-to-convince.
What I get out of this.. is that we may be going to see an entire class of sub 10K cars soon - good for college types...good for daily-grind commuters...
bad.. for beltway accidents though....
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