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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/">Behind the Numbers: The PRB blog on population, health, and the environment</a></h1></div> <div class="hr"></div> <div class="hr2"></div> <div class="left"> <h2 class="widgettitle">Authors</h2> <ul> <li class="widget widget_authors"> <ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=4" title="Posts by Bill Butz">Bill Butz</a> (7)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=6" title="Posts by Carl Haub">Carl Haub</a> (5)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=11" title="Posts by Charlie Teller">Charlie Teller</a> (4)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=19" title="Posts by Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs">Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=14" title="Posts by Deborah Mesce">Deborah Mesce</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=10" title="Posts by Eric Zuehlke">Eric Zuehlke</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=20" title="Posts by Farzaneh Roudi">Farzaneh Roudi</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=13" title="Posts by Jason Bremner">Jason Bremner</a> (3)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=16" title="Posts by Jay Gribble">Jay Gribble</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=18" title="Posts by Karin Ringheim">Karin Ringheim</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=17" title="Posts by Marissa Yeakey">Marissa Yeakey</a> (1)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=12" title="Posts by Mark Mather">Mark Mather</a> (3)</li><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?author=15" title="Posts by Victoria Ebin">Victoria Ebin</a> (2)</li></ul> </li> </ul> <ul> <li id="categories-1" class="widget widget_categories"><h2 class="widgettitle">Topics</h2> <ul> <li class="cat-item cat-item-3"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?cat=3" title="Blog on the PRB topic- Education">Education</a> (1) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-4"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?cat=4" title="Blog on the PRB topic of Environment">Environment</a> (5) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-5"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?cat=5" title="Blog on the PRB topic of Gender">Gender</a> (3) </li> <li class="cat-item cat-item-7"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?cat=7" title="Blog on the PRB Topic of 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Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?feed=comments-rss2" title="The latest comments to all posts in RSS">Comments <abbr title="Really Simple Syndication">RSS</abbr></a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://wordpress.org/" title="Powered by WordPress, state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform.">WordPress.org</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="middle"> <div class="post" id="post-64"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?p=64" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: India’s Nano Off to a Slow Start">India’s Nano Off to a Slow Start</a></h2> <p class="postmetadata"><small>June 12th, 2009 Carl Haub </small> Posted in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?cat=8" title="View all posts in Income/Poverty" rel="category">Income/Poverty</a> | </p> <div> <p><em>by Carl Haub, senior demographer</em> </p> <p>Few automobile introductions have attracted more media interest that Tata Motor’s new “one lakh” car, the Nano. That’s one lakh, or 100,000, rupees, roughly equivalent to US$ 2,000. The actual price to the consumer after taxes, dealer markup, etc. starts at about $2,500 for the Standard model. For $3,000, you’ll get the CX model with air conditioning and $3,500 will get you the LX, which adds power windows and electric central locking. So much for the $2,000 car.</p> <p>In a sense, the Nano is an “almost car.” Its rear-mounted 33-horsepower two-cylinder engine is more like a motorbike engine and its tiny trunk area is accessible only by pulling the back seats forward. Despite its concept as a city car, few owners are likely to hesitate to take it on the open road. It is not at all unusual to see families of four travelling from city to city on a two-wheeler. Roof racks will likely be a popular accessory. But its appeal to those who now ride two-wheelers is that it gets one out of the rain.</p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834im_/http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3630/3381605455_f4c8ba2489_m.jpg"/></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em>Photo used under Creative Commons from </em><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaaziel/"><em>Jaaziel</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>The little car got off to a slow start when its planned factory in Singur, West Bengal was protested due to its need to take over agricultural lands. The protesting lasted for several years and Tata finally pulled out, leaving the partially-completed factory abandoned. Enticed by very generous (and controversial) financial incentives from Chief Minister Narendra Modi of the western state of Gujarat – no stranger to controversy himself – Tata is now building a new plant in Sanand in that state. So, full production has been subject to a serious delay.</p> <p>The much-publicized first ordering period was held from April 9th to the 25th of this year when the first buyers could place a deposit or pay in cash in advance. A total of 203,000 vehicles were ordered – not bad at all for a car that promised something of a wait. Or a very long wait: A lottery will soon be held for the first 100,000 lucky buyers who can expect to receive their Nano anytime from this July to the end of next year. Many of those losing out in the lottery will likely have to wait until sometime in 2011 or when the new factory can come up to speed. Cancellations of up to 50 percent among the losers are being predicted although interest is being paid on all deposits.</p> <p>The number of orders in April was considered well below expectations, although that number has never been well defined. And, interestingly, half of the orders were for the pricey LX and only 20 percent for the basic Standard model. It is likely that quite a few were purchased by comparatively wealthy non-resident Indians (NRIs) overseas as gifts, especially as huge numbers of weddings took place this April, an auspicious period.</p> <p>So, the Nano may revolutionize Indian roads, but not right away. But where will most Nanos ply? Even at its low price, the car is well beyond the means of most Indians except some in big cities. It should become almost ubiquitous in Delhi, India’s richest city but, in other states the story is likely to be different. Uttar Pradesh, next door to Delhi with about 180 million population in 2004, boasted a grand total of 391,000 cars in 2004 while Delhi, with 14 million population, had 1.2 million.</p> <p>Who bought Nanos? Given the preference for the LX model, it may just be that fewer owners of two-wheelers actually traded up than were expected. Perhaps the Nano will become India’s favorite second car among the upper middle class. That would be a real revolution while trying to park all those additional cars would be a real adventure.</p> <br/> <p> <small> <span> You can follow any responses to this entry through the</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?feed=rss2&p=64">RSS 2.0</a> <span>feed.</span> <span>You can </span><a href="#respond">leave a response</a>, <span>or</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/wp-trackback.php?p=64" rel="trackback">trackback</a> <span>from your own site.</span> </span></small> </p> </div>  <div class="addthis"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?pub=blogohblog&url=http://prbblog.org/?p=64&title=India’s Nano Off to a Slow Start" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834im_/http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" width="125" height="16" border="0" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button"/></a></div> </div>   <div class="comments"><h3>Leave a Reply</h3></div> <form action="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform"> <p><input type="text" name="author" id="author" value="" size="22" tabindex="1"/> <label for="author"><small>Name (required)</small></label></p> <p><input type="text" name="email" id="email" value="" size="22" tabindex="2"/> <label for="email"><small>Mail (will not be published) (required)</small></label></p> <p><input type="text" name="url" id="url" value="" size="22" tabindex="3"/> <label for="url"><small>Website</small></label></p>  <p><textarea name="comment" id="comment" cols="60%" rows="10" tabindex="4"></textarea></p> <p><input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" tabindex="5" value="Submit Comment"/> <input type="hidden" name="comment_post_ID" value="64"/> </p> </form> <div class="alignleft">« <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090626114834/http://prbblog.org/?p=61">Need a Job? 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