introducing: the TATA NANO

ok. so its small. it has great gas mileage. (it claims to use less gas than a high end motorcycle - id like to see where that statistic came from) it weighs half as much as a honda accord (bucky would be proud)

but is it really a GOOD THING??



...it becomes hard to say

this IS more like AMERICAN CARS OUGHT TO BE. i mean, imagine getting 47 mpg in your non-hybrid car. and i wouldn't be surprised if these things ran great on battery power.
the car runs about $2000 for a very basic model. (a $2000 car!) thats crazy. apparently the TATA himself hopes to get people to switch from mopeds and motorcycles to the nano car.


imagine ALL of those mopeds as CARS. even if really little cars. nobody would be getting anywhere. it seems a conglomeration of pedestrians, bikes, mopeds, and small motorcycles WORKS in a crowded indian city.

and really, its not that different than crowded roads in CHINA:


in ITALY, they split the difference using tricycle-trucks to access areas difficult to reach or maneuver through in a car:

this thing is basically a trike motorcycle with a big box stuck on the back.

will the TATA NANO trend catch on, and will so many more people worldwide buy their very own car? sigh.... probably. its amazing, though, the way TATA's PR makes its new-paradigm push toward company profit seem like humanitarian development. sheesh.

so, we've finally got a car that millions more people worldwide will be able to afford, now how do we get them to decide not to buy one?! we'll see how this one pans out with the world economy in the major slump. and if this really does help combat climate change, ill eat my hat.