India's Tata Motors developing uber-cheap plastic automobile
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 20th 2007 9:42AM
posted Aug 20th 2007 9:42AM
[Via Fark, image courtesy of TIME]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
Yeah, but I'd trust the Indians a lot quicker than I'd trust the Chinese.
Yeah, but you'd better think that again...
Actually Chinese aren't all that bad, especially when the things are being exported.
yeah, wouldn't trust chinese with a barge pole... well where paint jobs are concerned :P haha
India, eh? Every time it rains 64,567,432 people die. One train wreck there causes the death of enough people to create a small city here. I guess they might as well create a car that will make California pile-ups look like silly little fender benders. One blowout and half a billion drivers and passengers will die. It's population control; India style.
Another Indian racist.
Hmm... I don't think that word means what you think it means.
"And you thought driving around in a $30,000 sedan made entirely in China would be frightening."
Though not as frightening as driving round in a 2 tonne American made SUV which rolls over at the slightest hint of uneven ground.
Oh, come on, now, don't believe everything Dateline throws at you. Aside from a few notoriously bad designs (one of the worst being, if I recall, the Mitsubishi Montero), SUV's don't "roll over at the slightest hint of uneven ground."
As a devout liberal, I hate that liberals fall into the same knee-jerk, toe-the-party-line thinking that conservatives do. People with bald tires talking about how dangerous SUV's are. People with old V-8 Fords with faulty exhaust ragging on people with SUV's. My mother bought a Hummer H2 because she simply liked it. She had come to America from Korea 40 years ago, worked her butt off, and got to where she could afford a nice house and buy a vehicle she liked. It's three years old and has around 12,000 miles on it. She buries all her organic kitchen waste, tries to save electricity, and is a good person. But liberal friends sneer at the fact she owns a Hummer, because that's the easy target they've been told symbolizes All That Is Bad In America. It's been keyed, and had stickers put on saying she's destroying the planet.
Liberal, conservative, Apple, Microsoft... shouldn't we be encouraging people to do what makes them happy, as long as they're responsible about it? Shouldn't we be encouraging people not to be mindless jerks to each other? (not that you were being a jerk, Fred, but come on, that comment is problematic in so many ways...)
Plastic car? Hmmm... sounds like either a. a great idea or b. a disaster waiting to happen.
Can't wait to see which this turns out to be.
The $3000 car and the air car is the same deal. The OneCat model of MDI, the French company Tata is partnering with, is expected to be priced around 3500 Euro ($4700) in Europe. Make it in India and the price drops to $3000.
http://www.theaircar.com/onecatsEN.html
No they are not the same.. because it was reported that a petrol(gasoline) version would be released first followed by a diesel variant in the 'Business world' Magazine featuring the 'TATA Rs. 1 Lakh Car' as the coverstory (13th August 07 issue) and this car is expected to be in the market by 3rd quarter of 2008. The car is designed by IDEA.
But would it survive the collision with a trash can?
Great! An all plastic, easily breakable, highly disposable car is just what India needs. India is already so dirty and polluted as it is.
It may be dirty, but there is not tonnes of nuclear waste buried under posh cities like here, people not so humoungously fat as here, no people gobbling up foodstamps ( from your tax money ), There's more trash buried under your back yard than the whole size of INdia.
After 10 years you will be looking for a job in India. I promise you that.
The US is giving substantial assistance to India for nuclear power. India has much less regulations for any kind of waste or pollution. I don't even want to think about comparisons in safety laws with India using nuclear power.
India's has over 300 people per sq km to the US 30 per sq km...and the country still has an excessive birth rate.
But you're right, people on average aren't as fat and aren't on foodstamps here. I pass a very long line of poor Indian men, women and children in line for free food everyday. I have one more month left in India and can't wait to get back to the states. Partly, I can't stand to see how poorly this country is managed and maintained, but I also really miss having a good steak to masticate on.
Oh, and there is a great many overweight Indians among the upper and (growing) middle class. Even spotting Americans among Europeans has become pretty tough in the last 10 years.
Hey! There's Calculon!
The main problem with such a cheap car existing in India is going to be congestion - having been to India every couple of years I can see how the roads are becoming more and more clogged and polluted - as the economy grows and the wealth filters down the middle classes, people who before would not own a vehicle will now own motorbikes and those who used to own motorbikes will now own cars. Introducing a cheap car will make all those motorbike buyers want to trade up to a car as a status symbol, but there is just not enough space on the roads to cope. Journey times across cities like Bangalore are horrendous now, and this will make things worse...
For me it sounds like a good way to guarantee your death if you get into an accident.
But I digress, considering we can make super hard plastic, I wouldn't doubt that there is a plastic that is harder than steel or whatever we use.
I doubt they'll use a patented super-strong plastic that costs 4 times more than regular steel to manufacture. They'll use recycled plastic soda bottles.
Ever seen a motorcycle accident? We still sell motorcycle and no one is in here bitching about how exposed those drivers are.
On average, what is the ratio of plastic:metal currently in the US auto industry?
What you have to realize is that in most major Indian cities, traffic does not go faster than 40 mph, thus obviating the need for stringent traffic safety requirements. The interstate highways are still in its infancy and most motorists would prefer the uber-cheap (and super fast and comfortable) railway system or the incredibly cheap (sometimes < 10$) flights. The mindset of personal driving vehicles has always seen the American paradigm. In India, things are different.
Cant wait for it. Being an Indian, I know that this vehicle is going to be an super economy version of Maruti 800 sold here. Going by track record and reputation of Tata it should be robust and safe vehicle altough not a luxury vehicle.
I would like to lay my hand on one ASAP.
http://tinyurl.com/ywwakr
Your mileage may vary.
if all cars are made of plastic, then collision wouldnt be bad right???
Doesn't Saturn already make plastic cars?
I previously owned a Fiero GT that had all plastic body panels. Never heard of any problems with those in accidents.
*Used to.
Please, the Aura wasn't the North American car of the year for any reason.
Just because the bumpers of a car aren't painted (sometimes that was an option, by the way) doesn't mean it's entirely made or plastic. That was like, a freaking trend from 99 to 03 (They all did it and pretended it was Euro-styling, which to a certain extent was true back then, I mean, look at all the old Euroboxes).
The Smart, as far as I know, is probably the most plasticky automobile you can get today.
But, they are not selling it for $4500!
I seem to recall seeing a video showing two cars made from styrofoam. The cars were so light that they basically bounced off each other... bounced around a bit and then came to rest unscathed (as were the belted in occupants).
I can imagine that with a flexible plastic body and the right shock absorbing materials behind it, it could be a really cool rollover :-)
TA-TAs made of plastic.. we've been doing that for YEARS in america.. just look at the pr0n industry..
Hee hee! You beat me to it. Plastic Ta-tas... =)
To be fair, you almost never get to drive over 20mph in any city in India.
They don't really need cars that are 'safe' in the first-world sense.
They just need something that's basically a motorcycle you can pack your family into.
@Manu Sharma
haha another victim of the engadget comment system.. jk
thanks for the info I didnt know that.. i think TM is closly guarding this info from indian media ??
and one more thing i have to say as a TATA Motors customer myself (i own an Indigo) their service sucks !! They will sell the car for cheap and recover the costs by the way of service and spares... the cost of maintanence of TATA cars are very high compared to hyundai/honda and others here in India.
LOL!!! i have ESP
@Jagannath: Yes, they ARE same.
The air car is a bi-fuel car which means it runs on both compressed air as well as petrol / diesel. And it is expected to launch in August 2008 - i.e., third quarter.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/09/autoblog-qanda-miguel-celades-sales-manager-of-mdi-they-make-th/
GM has been putting plastic bodied cars on the road for a while now. Saturn L-series? Yup. Late model Trans-Am? Yessir! Actually, Corvettes have been made out of plastic since the 60s.
Body panels are easier to replace than sheet metal ones, but of course, not as durable, especially if it's extremely cold and the car takes a hit. Instead of a dent, you get a shattered body panel. Ooops.
I was in South Africa and these TaTas are all over the place. Great cars with nice design (the trucks look a lot like Land Rovers). I am very excited about the prospect of purchasing a light-weight car... I'm just not sure I would let my son ride in it with me!
For those who have seen the typical metro cities (maybe excluding the big four), this car may be very well fit to the market there. Most families typically ride on a small 100cc motorbike (husband, wife and two kids) and at speeds usually around 30kmph (15-20mph). You simply cannot ride faster due to traffic conditions/congestion.
In this scenario, this new car would work best. As compared to a motorbike, it will protect the family from the basic weather elements - sun and rain. So relatively it would be a safer ride. Unfortunately, some owners can get a false sense of security assuming better crash protection just because you are sitting inside a vehicle (car) rather than riding over some vehicle (motorbike). So that is a potential for problems. Hope the buyers realize this and use the vehicle wisely. The consumers did realize that when smaller 800cc engine cars were introduced a couple of decade back.
It is difficult to imagine the Indian market if you have never lived there for a substantial period of time. Same is true for an Indian who wants to understand a developer country's market.
Will it come with one of those oval "Made in China" stickers?
You dont need a car to be made out of metal, in Formula 1 they use plastics that brake into a million pieces upon impact on purpose.
It spreads the shock of the impact and takes momentum out of the crash.
Will this 3000 euro car be using sophisticated techniques to pass the energy from an impact around the plastic shell? i doubt it, But i also doubt any of these cars will see motorway speed traffic.
plastic in F1... aeh.. somehow I don't think so.
I am sure you meant Carbon Fibre, right ;)
No, I mean plastic, Sure some may be reinforced with carbon fiber, but even that is still plastic.
Like concrete reinforced with steal, is still concrete.
But like i said, i doubt for 3000 euro any of these techniques could be used.
But will it blend?!
I am pretty sure it will ;)
and, I skipped some points in my comment - it's not about being liberal or conservative. i shouldn't have come at it that way. it's just about people being rational and using some common sense and not just parroting the current popular propaganda.
and, I skipped some points in my comment - it's not about being liberal or conservative. i shouldn't have come at it that way. it's just about people being rational and using some common sense and not just parroting the current popular propaganda.
They already make these - its called a Chevy Aveo.
If a plastic car is insecure then a SUV must be a very safe vehicle.
Statistics say otherwise, the causes of fatalities are not just a strong structure and a airbags but also the power of the vehicle himself, for example many SUV allow "thousand of horsepower" while a little citycar just bring "a few ponies powers".
America already did this.... it is called "SATURN" (by GM). Welcome to the world of everything disposable.
But, it's not sold anywhere near $4500
"many SUV allow "thousand of horsepower" while a little citycar just bring "a few ponies powers"."
I assume this is an exaggeration, as I know of not one production SUV with 1000+HP, let alone "many".
India and China should join hands. They will rule this world.
it's probably safer than my hyundai accent...
(yes, yes, i know. whoever comments after this, please don't make fun of me. i know it's really gay.)
$3,000 MSRP Automobile from a third world manufactuer must of us have never heard of seems fair., Unless you're the cheap type that want to negotiate an even lower price; A Plasticar for two cows and a single daughter. You've got a deal Apu!
Base price: $3,000
Manually roll down windows: Standard
AM/FM cassette radio Non-Stereo: Standard
The extras on a cheapo car.
A/C (A Must!): $50.00
ABS Power Brakes (you'll need them, trust me!): $100.00
Pimp Package (includes the Chrome package and a Horn): $1,000
Seeing yourself in one Tata: Priceless.