Indian Autos Thread

Atri · Post by **Atri** » 21 Apr 2009 13:48

Tata Motor's Air-Car Set To Hit The Streets

Tata Motors is the largest automaker in India and is about to make history once again. A few moths ago Tata debuted it’s Nana car, a small 4 passenger, 2 cylinder car costing a mear $2,500 US, which is scheduled for production this coming October. Then on On June 2, 2008, Tata completed it’s acquisition of Landrover and Jaguar. Now they are set to introduce a car that runs on compressed air.

The MiniCat Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. With India’s large population, zero-emission vehicles will go a long way in helping to reduce air polution and decrease India’s dependency on oil. Tata’s goal is to have 6,000 MiniCat’s on Indian streets by next month. The vehicle will cost around $8,177 US and have a range of around 300 km.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 22 Apr 2009 00:52

Tata India electric to hit Norway

ravit · Post by **ravit** » 23 Apr 2009 01:07

Acharya wrote:
Dileep wrote:Joshvajohn, you never been to India, did you?

Electricity is scarce, unreliable and expensive here. The only scope for EVs are what Reva is doing at Bangalore. that market is very small. Reva itself used it as a launch platform for the wider world market onlee.
Comments keep coming in posts here like a drone and nobody will know if the person really knows the ground situation.
Lot of drone comments are posted pretending to be experts and advisors.

Is this sarcasm?

In rural Andhra and in my village

there is 6-8 hour power cut per day, which gets even worse in summer. There is some 4 hour power cut for industries in *Hyderabad city* recently. I know that in rural Karnataka also there is @6 hour and situation in most of the country should be similar.

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 23 Apr 2009 01:11

ravit

acharyas post was directed at joshvajohns post

Rishirishi · Post by **Rishirishi** » 23 Apr 2009 02:13

Anyone got a chance to try out the Nano? please report.

John Snow · Post by **John Snow** » 23 Apr 2009 02:38

My gosh Josh is very amusing, carry on Josh

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 23 Apr 2009 03:00

nano should do a volt!

amol.p · Post by **amol.p** » 23 Apr 2009 11:45

Companies book Nano in bulk to offer as staff rewards

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Fea ... 437938.cms

Is Nano fever about to be the homegrown antidote to beat recession blues? Well, the wonder car from Tata Motors is already a runaway hit Making of Nano
with India Inc. Companies like Shree Cement, Linc Pen to even leading lights of the country’s financial spectrum are gunning for bulk bookings of Nano, which will be offered to employees as a reward option. Employees in the IT sector too, who’ve been pummelled by the recession, have chosen Nano as their preferred car and are aggressively making a dash for it.

Leading the pack is Shree Cement, which booked a record 1,000 Nanos on Wednesday. Shree Cement managing director HM Bangur told ET: “I decided to book Nano not because it is a cheap car but due to its fuel efficiency. We want to burn minimum fuel. I too intend to leave my golden silver BMW and ride the first Nano which drives into our office. Of the total 1,000 cars booked, we hope to get about 200 cars between July 2009 and June 2010. The balance 800 cars will be allotted to us later.” “The cars will be given to the employees as part of the company’s HR strategy,” Mr Bangur added.

Sridhar K · Post by **Sridhar K** » 23 Apr 2009 13:10

Yesterday the ICICI Bank guys got the Nano to my office. Too bad when I went to take a look, it was gone. The feedback from fellow abduls who had a look at it was very similar to what we had read i.e. Very spacious than even the alto and the other Maruti Suzuki tin cans, the front bonnet cannot hold much stuff. The quality for seats (in the high end version) is bad but considering the price, a good deal. Plus a good choice for people upgrading from 2 wheelers and existing car owners may have second thoughts.

They were very reluctant to turn the engine on.. Have to wait till Friday to take a look as the uber Tamizh patriot has called for a general strike in Chennai today and WFH.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 23 Apr 2009 14:56

DMA is seeing never before kind of traffic blocks. The police is a bit baffled, so am I.

There used to be gridlocks when the roads were bad. But now all the roads are in pretty good shape. The police babu says it is because the number of vehicles increased 30% from the last year.

I don't get it. It is recession time. A shoe shop put up a banner "Sale because of the global recession" and the photu came in the rag. Still, everyone is driving to the city. That too after much of the hype shopping moved away from the city centre. Is it all the gelf returned people?

And I see less traffic in the ITVty region. my commute (which is away from the city, towards the ITVty region) is much easier these days.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 24 Apr 2009 18:23

Folks,

Anyone following the F1 season this year? Pretty impressed with the Mallya so far. He seems to be quite logical in his expectations given the money he is sinking.
Bahrain this week and Force India gets new diffusers!
Fisi has been terrible. He could be replaced mid season if his performance continues.

Two chances to score points . Sutil can be excused but not Fisi!

Raju · Post by **Raju** » 25 Apr 2009 07:59

Re Cochin: It seems there is a lot of movement amongst Gulf expatriates. A lot of them have come back after Dubai collapse, Cochin probably absorbes a huge percent of that crowd.

ashish raval · Post by **ashish raval** » 28 Apr 2009 19:17

Tata nano news.
http://www.theweeklydriver.com/articles ... Page1.html

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 28 Apr 2009 22:06

Rishirishi wrote:Anyone got a chance to try out the Nano? please report.

they brought a red basic model Nano to my office, we all went down to take a look at it. I sat in the driver as well as the rear seat. Very good leg space, am 6'1 and had no issues whatsoever. Sat in the rear too, no luxury but will be comfy for a 30 to 40 minute city ride, did not get a chance to start engine or hear it hum but in terms of space and basic comfort this car does very well....

Anyways the waiting period for this car is too long for me, so I went ahead and booked a Wagon R Duo on Sunday.....

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 29 Apr 2009 07:11

Hyundai shifts i20 production from Sriperumbudur to Europe

When it launched the production of i20, the company had said that the entire i20 needs of the European market would be met through production at the Sriperumpudur facility.

The change in thinking has come about due to a combination of factors ranging from volatility of the rupee, poor power availability, inadequate export incentive and labour problem. All these had made export of i20s from India a costlier exercise, sources said.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 29 Apr 2009 09:42

Wonder what labor problems they are talking about - is non-availability or have the commies taken control of the unions to sabotage the industry to benefit their masters in Beijing?

tchandr · Post by **tchandr** » 29 Apr 2009 10:25

Suppiah wrote:Wonder what labor problems they are talking about - is non-availability or have the commies taken control of the unions to sabotage the industry to benefit their masters in Beijing?

well its related to unions. On April 19th, they announced that they are going on a indefinite strike demanding recognition and various employee related issues. The Sriperumbudur plant is facing this problem for a while.

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 29 Apr 2009 12:16

European labor laws and unions are 1000 times more difficult then Indian. We should not bend to foreign companies and compromise on basic rules. If any company think that it will be better off with European worker...........it is a dream. You pay for 13 months and one month paid holiday. Work hour/week will make them vomit. What about 3 months holiday for father when mother gives birth (who is on holiday). You can not fire worker at will. I have a small family owned company. Most of the times company pay for social security. Ministry for social welfare often hire jobless youth who go to the offices and factories and ask the workers about working condition....... yes you can not work on keyboard for more then 4 hr/day

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 29 Apr 2009 14:29

All of the ills of the European labor market and the costs fade into insignificance, when you count productivity, infrastructure issues and a host of other problems that you face operating in India. Needless harassment by labor inspectors, factory inspectors, boiler inspectors, PF inspectors, Excise, CST, State tax, octroi, services tax etc. etc. each run by different gangs of blood sucking corrupt parasites, multiple unions heavily politicised, competing to 'demand more' to prove their worth, hartals and strikes at drop of hat that disrupt productivity even if your workers are not on strike, endless bribing, having to run a parallel government, doing sewage treatment, bus service, power supply, heavy security protection, even roads sometimes, endless wait for goods to clear ports/customs, enormous bribes and costs in that process..the list is practically endless. Rents that put HK/Tokyo to shame, land prices jacked by land mafia, $300 hotel rooms in third rate hotels that fetch $40 in Bangkok/KL...OMG, you can write an encyclopedia. If despite all this investors come, it is because we have a billion potential customers, not because it is cheap to produce here.

The sad fact is that our laborers and office workers are paying a price for all this indirectly. The difference is the wage difference between here and Europe/Far East

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 30 Apr 2009 01:44

That is quite fair assessment. In fact I was ignorant about such issues. On other hand I have few friends with businesses in Desh and they are quite confident about govt and labor issues. My pt is ultimate goal of a company is to bring out goods at minimum cost and sell it for maximum. That is not possible if one switch production line to Europe. I will be not surprised if they take it to Vietnam or China. Still if somebody is doing so ......there has to be some other reason.

Rishirishi · Post by **Rishirishi** » 30 Apr 2009 05:00

SSridhar wrote:Hyundai shifts i20 production from Sriperumbudur to Europe

When it launched the production of i20, the company had said that the entire i20 needs of the European market would be met through production at the Sriperumpudur facility.

The change in thinking has come about due to a combination of factors ranging from volatility of the rupee, poor power availability, inadequate export incentive and labour problem. All these had made export of i20s from India a costlier exercise, sources said.

Labour cost in Eastern Europe is lower. Also it is worth noting that they are unhappy with the volatility of rupee and export incentives. I do not know what type of export insentives they are looking for, but if they mean that Indian government should pay to sell cars, then forget it.
Also note that they company will continue producing small cars for export and the i20 for the domestic market.

Najunamar · Post by **Najunamar** » 30 Apr 2009 05:35

I heard this facility of Hyundai was the model for productivity which visitors from SK came to implement in other mothership plants. This from a relative who used to (and still does) work there - more than 5 years ago. So I am not sure if the situation changed suddenly/had other factors.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 30 Apr 2009 07:58

Wage costs are high, yes, but they are to be seen in perspective. If it is spinning banians or assembling barbie dolls and Nike shoes, yes you can't imagine doing it is Europe, eastern or western. But car manufacturing is increasingly high-tech, robot based and decreasing labor involvement, so as % of total cost it is different. Supply disruptions are extremely expensive and quick turnaround saves tons of money.

IMHO other than manufacturing based on locally available raw materials like iron ore, aluminum etc., there is only two things you can manf. in India - one is the garments, banian, leather goods sort, made by small time, small scale outfits below the radar of commie saboteurs, where labor is exploited, enviornment is screwed etc. The other is very very high tech stuff (not mass manufacture) such as assembling ISRO satellites that hardly takes labor. For anything in between, you need lots and lots of patience, ability to take loss, and a firm belief that all these troubles are worth it because, well, India has 1 billion customers.

Hyundai, or for that matter any major Korean manufacturer are well used to militant labor in their own home turf. If they get fed up, you can imagine what they are going through.

I think this is organised sabotage because India has a genuine edge over China in auto industry. While China has numbers and scale, it is building a horrible reputation for outright theft of IP on grand scale and horrible quality. Witness their inability to kill Indian motorcycle manufacturers not only in India, even in other markets like Indonesia, Philipines. Hence the need to make sure India is finished as a manf. base for automobiles.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 30 Apr 2009 08:11

Rishirishi wrote: Labour cost in Eastern Europe is lower. Also it is worth noting that they are unhappy with the volatility of rupee and export incentives. I do not know what type of export insentives they are looking for, but if they mean that Indian government should pay to sell cars, then forget it.
Also note that they company will continue producing small cars for export and the i20 for the domestic market.

IMHO it is wrong to believe that all manufacturing investment necessarily go to low wage countries. The US, one of the costliest locations on earth, even more than Europe because of legal risks and other factors, attracts huge amount of manufacturing investment year after year, simply because of their domestic market. It is so much easier to serve local customers with local stuff than import from thousands of miles away.

The mathematics vary from industry to industry, but if labor cost makes up, say, a 30% difference in cost per car (a high number already, should not be so high for auto sector), that can easily be compensated by state incentives, productivity gains, quicker turnaround, easier exit, lower interest rates, ability to attract good quality critical expat staff with lifestyle etc. etc.

TN was able to attract investment because it allowed co's to bypass a large number of issues associated with manufacturing in India, such as commie unions, work culture, friendly govt. etc. If that changes, Chennai is going to suffer. But I think this is sector specific sabotage for larger strategic goals, not likely to be replicated everywhere.

tchandr · Post by **tchandr** » 30 Apr 2009 10:03

Suppiah sir,
good analysis, hyundai has its share of problem with labor unions in Korea. As far as erratic power supply, usually the industries have separate grid and they have back up options. Corruption is nothing new to them. Case point Daweoo.
Nano went to Gujarat and WB govt invited the Chinese automotive company to build its plant at singur, Ms Banarjee is fine since they are not interested in the 400 acres that was the issue (whatever that means).

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 30 Apr 2009 12:53

It is a good idea for the commies to invite the Chinese to setup an automotive factory - after all Tata or Hyundai or GM can only make their own car models. The Chinese are different, they can make any model, just show them a sample, presto! they will make it in a few months

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 30 Apr 2009 13:06

tchandr wrote:Suppiah sir,
good analysis, hyundai has its share of problem with labor unions in Korea. As far as erratic power supply, usually the industries have separate grid and they have back up options. Corruption is nothing new to them. Case point Daweoo.
Nano went to Gujarat and WB govt invited the Chinese automotive company to build its plant at singur, Ms Banarjee is fine since they are not interested in the 400 acres that was the issue (whatever that means).

Exactly what I mean..they (& others like them) need to have backup power generation because SEBs are corrupt/bankrupt, backup bus services because public transport sucks, backup security because police dont work, co. run guest houses because hotels are too expensive and so on...at some points the costs and headaches add up and they start wondering that the hell they have gotten themselves into. Like the story of the Rishi that adopted a pet cat and found himself becoming a family man soon.

Re. corruption, there is various types of it. The cumbersome rules of US (for example) and multiple authorities like state, local etc., blood sucking lawyers, anti-discrimination laws, Sarbenes Oxley etc., are major barriers to business but then US petty officials are not corrupt and rules are by and large well published and transparent. Then again US is US, they can get away with a lot because of the size of their market. Same goes for Europe with its social security, working hours etc.

Petty corruption is a major issue. If all they have to do is to pay off the Prime Minister / Chief Minister and do business uninterrupted, I am sure they and most others will not object. That is how Indonesia was successfully run. Not so in India. Any stray dog can enter your factory claiming to be some inspector, threaten with prosecution because some vague rule that no knows about has been violated and then collect bribe to avoid trouble. May be they dont all do that with Hyundai because they are scared or paid off, but they will surely do that with parts suppliers, smaller ancilliary units etc. which affects the supply chain.

Anyway I think Hyundai is doing some posturing to strengthen their position at negotiation table. This news of shifting production could be one such clever move. Be that as it may, two things are clear - commies have entered TN unions in strategic sectors with predictable results unless it is dealt with iron hand, there is lot of bad news / publicity that TN does not need at this point.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 02 May 2009 03:08

Yahoo Video:Indian students design motorcycle that runs on air.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 05 May 2009 04:17

Maruti Suzuki plans to launch 660 cc car.

archan · Post by **archan** » 05 May 2009 07:33

Interesting. They don't care (perhaps it is more profitable this way) about removing or at least upgrading their ollllllllld models such as the 800 and Omni (perhaps one of the the unsafest cars on road) and they are looking at new launches. I guess this is a unique market.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 05 May 2009 10:38

Tata Nano gets only 2.03 lakh bookings
That is the number I predicted.

amit · Post by **amit** » 05 May 2009 17:28

Dileep wrote:Tata Nano gets only 2.03 lakh bookings
That is the number I predicted.

It's interesting that the top end model the Nano LX garnered 50 per cent of the bookings and the base model only 20 per cent.

That means that while the Nano was conceived as an upgrade to two-wheeler drivers, in reality it's become an alternative option/choice for folks would have otherwise bought an Alto or Getz - Nano, more space, better looking and cheaper (even the LX version).

If the car has no major issues after hitting the road (and that's the ultimate test) and if the Tatas can ramp up production (no thanks to Mamata) then methinks Nano could be as game changing in the Indian context as was the original Maruti 800.

The added icing on the cake is that the Nano will be exported in large numbers something that the original 800 could never aspire for. And yes icing on the icing Nano carries a MADE IN INDIA tag, something which 800 never did even though it was built here.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 07 May 2009 03:40

Some news floating around: Aid for Tata Land Rover/ Jaguar could be in trouble. The British government apparently wants more stake in the running of the company.

Lets be fair: Anyone pumping in 400 million pounds is bound to ask for something in return.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 07 May 2009 06:28

Worker Strike Hits M&M Plant

http://www.business-standard.com/india/ ... mm/357342/

the union crooks are at it again

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 07 May 2009 09:00

It is very easy to destroy huge amounts of value/capital when political economic tsunami hits. Daimler paid $35 billions for Chrysler, sold for $7 billion to Cerebus who now get zilch for it. The new company will be controlled by union pension fund, treasury and Fiat, leaving 1% for old owners.

Hope GOUK does not make a Cerebus out of Tatas.

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 08 May 2009 02:10

What we are seeing is the **orderly** evacuation from automotive mass-manufacturing by American nation. They dont see any future for hydrocarbon powered cars and their establishment is working according to a plan. period.

We can argue about how Japanese car manufacturers pwned Detroit or how executives were made to catch train to Capitol etc. But in the long run, these carefully orchestrated events of the past two years will allow them to ramp up on alternate transportation technologies with minimal political backlash against US gov. If there are no major American car monoliths to slam against, all the backlash can be channeled towards "foreign manufacturers", especially if Detroit labor gets frisky. We will see a US-led boom in "cooler, hipper automotive technology" (probably mass manufactured in polluted China, but brand/earnings recognized as American). In this, the US will be ably supported by massive media psy-ops (Hollywood movies suddenly latch on to Armageddon scifi p0rn about "gas cars with fangs") and "conscientious legislation" from freshly awakened lawmakers against the still affordable, but foreign made gas-cars. All will be forced to fork out premium moolah for these new tech... etc etc because of "green penalties" imposed on older tech.

What does this mean for India? Extreme Caution. I suspect India will get a big chunk of "old tech" plus some of the "green tech" manufacturing, after they fluff up our mijjiles with "India a center of new-age manufacturing, with more value than China on smarter auto tech" stories. But ultimately we will end up like the chinese people - wheezing in the pollution so Americans can lead a "cost effective and productive life".

These events seems to me like a replay of the exodus to China of US manufacturing during the days of Reagan/Bush Sr. Unfortunately only Tata seems to be able to bat for India at this point. Tata seems to be courted and getting primed up for a task (due to them proving to have high midichlorian count and hence a threat of becoming a rallying point for others in Indian industry). Tata hopefully has a plan to retrofit the Nano label with some "green tech" to ward off these games and the impending protectionism. US establishment is making the changes to milk the next trend in world of industry. Last time they reset their whole industry was in the late 80s - early 90s. Lot of disruptions to the workforce, but they moved on to the next big thing, unlike sitting idle under union banners like in Bangalore, Kerala. Conveniently, the US was in the right spot to milk the dotcom boom after that reset and still maintain a dominant position in the world due to that early restructuring.

amit · Post by **amit** » 08 May 2009 14:09

Neela wrote:Some news floating around: Aid for Tata Land Rover/ Jaguar could be in trouble. The British government apparently wants more stake in the running of the company.

Lets be fair: Anyone pumping in 400 million pounds is bound to ask for something in return.

Spot on, here's the news:

Talks on Jaguar Land Rover bailout set up to fail, says Tata

Lord Mandelson's Department for Business (BERR) knew Tata would not accept its conditions for supporting an £800m emergency refinancing for the Indian firm's British subsidiary, Jaguar Land Rover, according to a source familiar with the government's thinking.

Ian Pearson, the economic and business minister, is understood to have acknowledged this week that he knew the demands were "unrealistic" before they were presented to Tata and that the Indian firm would therefore not agree to them.

Tata is concerned that the Treasury has deliberately made the terms unacceptable to avoid having to provide the badly needed aid to Jaguar Land Rover.

Read the report, it's interesting.

Some more news:

Treasury calls Tata's bluff over JLR guarantees

These are muddy waters, for in many ways Tata has a respectable case. Car makers throughout Europe are getting similar aid from their host governments. Only in Britain does the Government appear so penny-pinching. Tata is looking for government guarantees on £340m of loans from the European Investment Bank and a further £450m from the UK Government-controlled Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland. So far, ministers have been prepared to sanction guarantees of only £175m of the EIB money, and even then only for six months and in return for a 15 per cent facility fee. What's more, to protect the taxpayer interest the Government wants the right to appoint JLR's chairman and to vet most operational decisions.

This looks like an offer which is designed to be rejected, though the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform insists that talks are still ongoing. With thousands of jobs at stake in Labour's political heartlands, not just at JLR but among countless suppliers too, and tens of billions already spent propping up the banks, why is the Government being so tight-fisted?

The simplest explanations are usually the best, and the bottom line is that the public finances are already in such a state that the Treasury won't sanction anything more, however worthy the cause. All over the shop the taps are being turned off. The mandarins are back in control, and ministers are being refused.

Still, it's all a bit rich. There's the Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, banging on about making Britain a centre of excellence for green technologies and manufacturing, but he's not being allowed to guarantee the EIB loan designed to enable JLR to make the transition to cleaner cars.

Tatas press ahead with JLR loan guarantee, recast talks

Most newspapers in the UK quoted a report by broking firm BGC Partners analyst Howard Wheeldon that the government’s efforts to dictate terms in the negotiations amounted to a “backdoor nationalism” of JLR.

Business Standard has this interesting report

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle maker, is in the process of raising Rs 5,000 crore through a bond issue to refinance the remaining $2 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) bridge loan it took to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover.
Sources associated with the fund-raising exercise said State Bank of India (SBI), along with several other banks, was providing a guarantee. SBI Caps, the capital markets division of the bank, is the lead manager.

Neela I don't really agree to your point about asking for something in return. If the Brits wanted management control why didn't they nationalise when Ford wanted to dispose JLR?

I think in true Brit style they let Tatas pick up the huge tab for JLR ($3b) and now, thinking the Tatas are in difficulty they want to get JLR back for cheap.

I really hope the BS report is correct. It's about time the Indian govt via the banks uses Indian's increased financial muscle to help companies like Tatas in their foreign acquisitions.

The thing to remember is the JLR acquisition has been a really huge infusion of technological knowhow into Tata Motors. For example Jaguar's suspension tech is supposed to be industry leading. And Land Rover still makes the best SUVs in the world.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 08 May 2009 16:18

hnair..I hope for the sake of the world this scenario you are painting comes true. Because killing current gen autos in US will kill two birds - pollution of course, and the ability of ME terrorists to hold civilised societies hostage using oil.

There are many other industries where this has played out - PC manufacturing sold off to unsuspecting chinese who eagerly lapped up junk thrown out by IBM, Texas Instr etc. is a recent case in point. Analog TV and consumer electronics abandoned by Thomson, RCA et al was just before that. Videocon picked up some of that scrap but most again went to chinese co's. Interestingly media coverage in each case was that of west getting beaten by the Asians and getting something valuable, perhaps part of a giant conspiracy to inflate the value of scrap

, most of them led to write-offs and losses on the part of acquirers.

I guess anything that the west gets out of not only becomes a low margin commodity business but also leaves the western economies & its labor as well as white collar class no worse off than they were when they were still making them. Actually better off. Perhaps auto making is destined to become another in this series.

Tata can survive and be a leader in this business if they can get over JLR saga with as less damage as possible. In retrospect it does look like they took over something that was not desirable but expensive relic of past. If they transfer the goodwill and brand image to themselves and scrap these gas guzzling conspicious consumption monsters that are going out of fashion, I guess they will come out ahead. Or perhaps one day come out with Tesla equivalent on a Jag body.

The risk is that chinese are way ahead in battery tech., electric vehicles etc

There has been many oil shocks and economic crises and the world essentially went back to business as usual after that. Somehow this particular cycle seems different. Because critical tech. like revolutionary battery (such as EEStor), solar at grid parity (with or without breakthroughs such as Nanosolar) and many such technologies are looking quite within grasp.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 12 May 2009 07:57

nice tatas

and the car's not bad either

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 12 May 2009 08:14

Here's actually a fairly rigorous review:

Bear in mind that one of the guys is 6'5" so anything will feel tight to him