Tata Nano makes a mega entry.....

Not very long into the recent past in India, one man promised to offer the lowest prices in the aviation sector. Not many took it seriously. And they had reasons for their sense of incredulity. With airfares then out of bounds for the budget-conscious traveler, they had to be content with a longing look at the sky each time an airplane surged through the clouds. Or, perhaps, make a calculated harakiri-like economic decision to take a 'flight', when faced with a personal emergency requiring their presence in another city at short notice.

But C. Gopinath, the then one-man army and his Deccan Aviation changed all that! Forever! Though their very first flight ran into a technical snag, he kept his promise. Today, more and more of the surface transport travelers do check the availability of options to fly..... without missing a heartbeat!

About the same time, the pan-Indian industrial conglomerate, Tata Group, made a similar and a seemingly incredible claim. They offered the Indian market a car priced at Rs. 1 lac ($2,500 apprx.)! Again, there was widespread disbelief, with many 'pundits' rubbishing, and debunking the claim.

Finally, when the Tatas announced the date of launch of the world's cheapest car to be the 10th of January, India (and the world) waited with bated breath. True to their word, and to the utter disbelief of all the doom sayers, the Tatas delivered!

Tata Nano, made its grand entry on to the world's automotive panorama, the Auto Expo, with no less than the Tata Group Chairman, Ratan Tata, at the wheel. Every bit a stunner, the car was proudly introduced by Ratan Tata, to a surging crowd comprising curious peer industry representatives, the omnipresent media personnel, and other visitors.

In a brief introductory address, Ratan Tata was pride personified, and went on to explain that though there was a change in the costs scenario between the first time the Rs. 1 lac car was announced, and now, they decided to stick to the price, as "a promise is a promise".

This post goes online long after the launch, and in a way, deliberately so. We waited to gauge the general reaction, and go past the initial euphoria.

The media, in general, has been very generous in their praise of the Nano, and the Tatas' achievement. And people across the broad spectrum of the Indian population too, are ecstatic in their opinions. While the wannabe car-owners eagerly await the announcements for booking the Nano, automotive dealer-hopefuls cannot wait to lay their hands on the honey-dripping business opportunity to sell the Nano!