Is a new, $2500 car a good idea

[pscot]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/does-world-need-2500-car/story.aspx?guid=%7BE7D8E8FA%2D9F15%2D498E%2DA297%2DEF8800BFDE60%7D

The new vehicle is to be called the Tata, and will be made in India. Most are expected to be sld there.

"The Indian company told the Financial Times this week that the vehicle would sell for around $2,500...

India's gross domestic product per capita is about $3,700, so cheaper vehicles are certainly one key to expanding the market....

... whether putting tens of thousands more vehicles on Indian roads is a good idea remains to be seen..

Is there adequate road infrastructure or even parking in the country's huge, and crowded, cities?...

...A fast-growing automobile market in addition to China's isn't good news for those concerned about climate change and greenhouse gases.

... global energy markets (are) having a hard time meeting demand for gasoline and diesel fuel. Encouraging a population of 1.1 billion to hop into cars to run a few errands can't help that situation."

[liberal N proud]

1. Imagine if some driving a car in India hit a cow?

[mike_c]

2. this is not progress for anyone other than the company's shareholders...

...and the oil companies, I presume. Damn-- we need to be SOLVING transportation issues rather than exacerbating them, and adding tens of millions of new fossil fuel burners to the road is not a solution by any means.

In order to be part of that solution the developed world, like the U.S., should be producing and owning far fewer automobiles. It makes much greater sense to reverse the equation and use the percentage of per capita car ownership in counties like India and China as goals for the U.S., rather than the other way around.

[gravity]

10. It's progress for those who now can drive a car

It's just arrogant for suggests that others around the world shouldn't have the opportunity to own a car.

[GliderGuider]

3. Maybe

This might be just what we need - cheap cars to help burn the oil faster. The sooner we run short of oil and crash the global economy, the better shape the remaining resource base will be for the next cycle of civilization.

[jwirr]

4. You do have a point. Sometimes when I read about what we are

doing to this world and its people I think it would be good to be forced into change. However, I fear the type of change that might come that way.

[LiberalEsto]

5. The Tata company stinks

They are responsible for bringing huge numbers of computer workers here on H1-B visas to replace Americans who were earning decent wages. The "Tatas", as they are called in the computer industry, often live in dormitories to save on rent. They work here for 5 years, then go back to India with the money they have saved up. They can live very well in India on their savings.

I wouldn't give a dime to Tata under any circumstances.

I don't blame the Indian workers -- I blame Tata and most of all the American corporations that screw American citizens out of jobs in order to save money, so they can pay their CEOs obscene salaries.

Meanwhile the American computer professionals can't find new jobs that will cover their mortgages or college loans or tuition for their kids. This has happened to a number of people we know. It's taken some people 3 or more years to find another computer job and the new jobs pay less.

What's wrong here is that many of these U.S. companies get all sorts of tax breaks and government contracts, then turn around and shaft Americans.

Any U.S. company that lays off American workers and replaces them with cheap foreign labor should lose ALL government contracts and tax breaks.

[madrchsod]

6. tata also makes parts for auto sub assemblies-

absolute junk. zero quality control and god only knows the working conditions in his factories. the only reason why any company buys this crap is that it`s cheaper than union labor south korea and minimum wage china.

i would`t count quality control on any tata automobile

[ramapo]

7. Our govt and corporations stink

Tata is awful but I don't blame them per se.

Our government, more precisely our "representatives", have enabled the success of Tata. I've watched the computer profession be decimated by the H1B-visa fiasco.

I agree with your last point about companies losing government contracts and tax breaks. You're talking about the America of olden times before we lived under Corporate rule.

[LiberalEsto]

11. And Hillary C should get a CLUE

She apparently wants to increase the number of H1-Bs allowed into the US so they can cut more Americans from payrolls. I am absolutely disgusted with her.

[Javaman]

8. Nice tata's....

sorry couldn't resist.

:rofl:

[pscot]

9. When I first read this aticle

it reminded me of the Trabant, or Trabi. The Trabi was built in East Germany for about 30 years, until 1990. It was nasty, low-tech piece of shit with a plastic body made of recycled cotton and dye resin and was powered by a 2 cylinder, two-stroke engine that pumped out vast amounts of pollution. Green ones were believed to be lucky. I suspect Indians will want their Tatas in blue.