Yeah right. While you’re at it make me a $50.00 motorcycle.

Am I the only one more than a little frightened at a family car for $2K? The Yugo was pretty cheap, but not *that* inexpensive. Heck I would think shipping it here would be spendy, too…

For people that need transportation and can’t afford a car for $5,000, much less $10,000, this is a good answer. Not everyone has money NW_Mike

if you cant afford a $5000 car you shouldnt be allowed to drive

Wow. A car that drops to $100 the moment you drive it off the lot. If it’s that cheap, I wonder how it would fare in crash tests?

We shall have to wait and see – of course, India wouldn’t need safety – you’ve seen the skills they have when driving on LLN anyway a few weeks back :p

Great. More Eastern junk being dumped in the West. Just great.

I find it amazing that every comment was a joke. I believe that the Chinese and Indian cars coming to America in the next few years will have a bigger impact than you think. I’m not saying these are going to be great cars, but the comments about how much saftey can a 2000 dollar car have, are retarted. People seem to be comparing these cars to the cost of producing a vehicle in a developed country. I wouldn’t be suprised that after a few years of release these cars were every bit as safe and built as good as american cars. Except they cost under 6000. Check out the book the world is flat to get an idea of some of the things India and China are doing. Good luck America.

Oh yea, I forgot to say. I will never buy one of these things, but somebody will.

japanese cars started off as junk.

korean cars are slowly getting better.

I would expect Indian cars would follow the same trend.

I’ve actually been in that particular car shown above, the Tata Indica two summers ago when I was in India. It was OK, but the materials and style left much to be desired. Still, if you want ultra basic, no frills transportation, this is the way to go. However, I am worried how a car like this would do in crash tests, as the doors seemed thin and flimsy.

Indian cars aren’t really that bad as far as inexpensive vehicles go you know. Google pictures of the Tata Indigo, Tata Safari and Mahindra Scorpio and you’ll see that they’re quite decent.

I’m just concerned with the safety of these cars. And no bill, thinking about safety isn’t “retarded.” Its a life or death issue.

reminds me of my 86 firefly.

i wouldn’t be so concerned with my safety if other people weren’t driving around in trucks three times as big as it.

Thinking about safety isn’t retarded, but think that a 2000 dollar India built car is automatically unsafe is retarted. Like I said many people think that they build these cars with the same production costs as the developed world, and that is just not the case. We have very strict safety laws and I think they will probably do a good job making these cars as safe as others in america. Since when did BAMF’s become concern with saftey:)

Spelling retarded, retarted, is retarded.

Two things:

“Poor” and “thrifty” people has as just as much right to cheap transportation as everyone here that screams about their right to commute to work in a Suburban.

If the vehicles are not safe, the NHTSA and the insurance companies via the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety will make sure they never see the road in the US.

Um, I don’t think they are developing these cars to sell in the US. Remember, there is a world outside of the US where not everyone can afford a car. It’s very egotistical and selfish to automatically assume that when a company makes a product, it’s going to be sold in the USA

I think Tata needs to come out and say “We’re not going to sell these in the USA.” Of course, all of you who are saying “Oh, I wouldn’t buy that” etc, will say “Well, why won’t they sell that here?”

I am pretty sure they will sell it here. You seem to forget that we are one of the biggest markets in the world, especially cars. Why wouldn’t they sell them here in the US. Also, I think that the chinese company has said that they plan to sell in the USA.

If it comes to the US, the car will not cost $2000.
Safety and emissions regs will push the price up a bit, not to mention setting up distribution channels.
I have no doubt that they could sell a very cheap car in the US, but not for $2000,

there are many exotics that can’t even meet US safety standards, so price has nothing to do with this. Hell, I’d give this a try; why not, so your out 2k?! Two grand, are you serious! Who wouldn’t try it!?

If you don’t think safety regs add to the cost of a vehicle, you are smoking crack. Lots of public info on this, here’s just a bit… But on the low-end, if safety regs cost, say, $900 per vehicle, then TATA would have an $1100 car with $900 in safety equipment. Notgonnahappen.com

Just a bit of info after like 15 seconds on google:
NHTSA’s director of regulatory analysis and evaluations said front seat belts cost $61 to $86 per vehicle.

A recent NHTSA study concluded that air bags cost $328 to $477 per vehicle, depending on manufacturer.

New vehicles come with dozens of other federally required safety features, including collapsible steering columns, padded dashboards and side marker lights, and rules governing seat strength, roof strength and braking capability. NHTSA, for example, calculated that energy-absorbing, collapsible steering columns added $19.30.

NHTSA does not calculate the total cost of safety regulations, which would be difficult given that automakers have leeway to devise their own compliance method for several regulations. Automakers, who know how much they cost, won’t say for competitive reasons and because of antitrust restrictions. The total adds up to several hundred dollars and may run into the thousands.

Those dollar amounts you mentioned are what it costs in a developed country, not India or China. I don’t think it will cost 2000 if it comes here, but I bet you will see sub 6000 dollar cars with the same features as a 12,000 dollar car. Including all the proper saftey features.

Agreed, billl. I totally agree that they could sell a very cheap car here. But not $2000 cheap.

You also have to remember that they can get away paying laborers $2.50 an hour versus Toyota paying $20 per hour for someone to build a $12K Yaris.

Easy reason why it’s cheap Child LAbor is allowed in India Materials are cheaper not that hard prolly as good as a hyundai just dont have to pay a dollar an hour to the kid to make it

The TATAs are utter crap. I’ve been inside one. However, this will change, just like the Koreans, who managed to build good quality cars.

All in good time…

Tata markets tis products under the prestigous ROVER brand in the UK. How come any one say its gonna fail? Sur TATAs are not of good quality at the moment but they are playing catchup fast. They employ famous design houses like IDEA to design their vehicles.

Well the $2000 car will definetely not appeal to most of the Americans but they could market this car at $3000 with perhaps better options than even a SMART. U simply cannot beat the economies of scale the Indian markets are enjoying!!

Indian labor rates get as low as $1.50 a day at most workshops.

it’s a ford pinto in disguise man! with em firestone.

If the labor is so cheap does that mean they can make a luxury vehicle priced much lower than other luxury vehicles?

yep

Hyundai’s Hyundai.

“Tata markets its products under the prestigous ROVER brand in the UK”

Umm… MG-Rover when bankrupt like a year ago. What products? They only thing going between UK’s Rover and India’s Tata was the Tata Indica and the CityRover, the latter being the same as the Indica but with the Rover badge.

Basically, Rover didn’t have the money to create new models, so a desperate joint-venture was formed with Tata to import to European shores an Indian built and developed car. The result: a big mistake.

The CityRover wasn’t cheap, and had the construction quality of a Vietnamese rickshaw. Sales in Europe never took off, and soon Rover would go bust.

enough with this globalization. lets just put up walls all arround US. we can build our own car, ships, electrionic .. anything we need.
May be the stardard of living will go down a bit, but if we don’t check this we are going to be working for 1.50$ per day. :

Mike …. you shouldnt be setting your foot into WalMart. That one company alone contributes to a little more than 10% of US’s total imports from China. Also those countries are not interfering with the economy here. The corporations are the ones that are taking the jobs there. AMERICAN JOBS WERE GIVEN TO THEM ON A PLATTER.