It was the year of 2003. Ratan Tata was returning home from his corporate office. A drizzle was on. Suddenly from his car window he saw a middle class family of a man, wife and two children loaded on a scooter driving by. They were wet and the human pile up was precariously balanced while their scooter negotiated the slippery road. Ratan Tata stared at the scene. His mind suddenly echoed with an idea—’Indian middle class family needs a small car in which it can travel in safety and with dignity. The price must be affordable within middle income reach.’
For one year Ratan Tata pondered and mulled over the issue thinking of possibilities. The scooter could provide balance if its rear end had two wheels instead of one but it won’t provide protection from rain and sun. Then, he learnt that BMW had produced a three wheel scooter but it did not prove a success and its production was shut down. So, a small car was the solution that could carry a middle class family of 4 or 5 members. Was it possible to provide a small car in the price of a scooter? It should give safety and dignity to middle class. Ratan Tata decided to try as it would be addressing a social concern. Once determined Ratan Tata announced that he would provide a one lac-rupee small car to the people. Some said it was some sort of gimmick. Automobile experts of the world declared that a car at that low price could not be produced.
Undeterred by the prophecies Ratan Tata got down to design and engineer the prototype with a team of engineers at his Poona facility. As work progressed the impossible began to appear possible. With a surging confidence Ratan Tata negotiated with W. Bengal government for the land for the factory. W. Bengal Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya invited him to set up the facility at Singur. The land was aquired.
More information on Singur controversy is given in a separate chapter.
In Automobile Expo-2008 of New Delhi on 10th January) Ratan Tata himself drove the prototype of One-lac Rupee small car chistened ‘Nano’. The car caught the imagination of all car lovers. It stole the show and Nano became star attraction. So popular it became that everyone wanted to have a close peek at the elegant small wonder. The police had to use force at times to control the surging crowds . The foreign manufacturers were stunned at the achievement of Ratan Tata who had become newly famous as Nano-man.
Nano drew crowds at European show as well. The public response was so great that other car manufacturers also got down to design small cars.
Presenting his ‘Nano’ at the Expo-2008 to the public view Ratan Tata said, ‘The people said it was just impossible to produce a small car at such low price. So, we did it to prove them wrong. For India it is the moment of pride. It is the proof of technological and industrial capacity of our country. It will shift our people from two wheels to four wheels’.
