Topic: Tata motors to produce world least expensive car

[Brig]

It's sophisticated, understated humor, the type Americans are known for.  You uncouth Canadians wouldn't understand 

Careful, Mitty, or that broomstick will fall out of your butt.   

[UmroAyyar]

ahem...

In Hindi/Urdu slang, it could be morphed a bit to pronounce like a slang word for a male's supporting cast members. Plural of course.

So then, one could quite easily state, "He's driving me nuts" with a straight face? 

Well, sort of like that, the Indian joke translates to something like 'driving the car or ........'

[Sir Osis of Liver]

To be a true pervert, you really do have to be uncouth. Innuendo simply won't do!

Maybe probationary pervert while you work on your skills?

It's sophisticated, understated humor, the type Americans are known for.  You uncouth Canadians wouldn't understand 

Oh take off eh!

[random006]

I immediately thought in terms of the British "goodbye" tata.

I immediately thought of boobies!

And apparently so did Brig



/nice Tatas

Why, thank you!   

I find it hard to believe that you, Random and I are the only ones who thought of hooters.  That just CAN'T be right...  The others are probably too embarrassed to chime in.

Pervs of the board, UNITE!   

Absolutely.

AVT, get your mind INTO the the gutter!  We can't have all this high mindedness going on here, now can we?  What will the neighbours think? 

[avtoller]

  Sorry!! 

[UmroAyyar]

Laugh at this all you want, I did too. But this is coming with major automakers committing to building low cost cars for the developing countries' populations. These won't win beauty, performance contests. Read more at the link about the efforts of Renault, Toyota, Fiat.

Excerpt.

That realization is now dawning on the industry's giants. When Tata made its vow to build a $2,500 car, many Western auto executives ridiculed the project, dubbing it a four-wheel bicycle. They aren't laughing anymore. Tata's model is a real car with four doors, a 33-horsepower engine, and a top speed of around 80 mph. The automaker claims it will even pass a crash test. And while the car probably won't win any beauty contests, it's no ugly duckling either, according to the handful of industry insiders who have been given a glimpse. The rest is top secret, but Tata engineers are already testing a prototype as the clock ticks toward a late 2008 launch. The key is India's low-cost engineers and their prodigious ability to trim needless spending to the bone, a skill developed by years of selling to the bottom of the pyramid. "You have to cut costs on everything—seats, materials, components—the whole package," says Tata Group Chairman Ratan N. Tata.


There's no lack of potential customers: Hundreds of millions of Chinese, Indians, Brazilians, Russians, and others will likely join the middle class in the coming decade, and cars are sure to be at the top of their shopping lists. As a result, the global car market is polarizing: The luxury segment continues to grow, cheap cars boom, and everything else gets squeezed. By 2012, the market for vehicles priced under $10,000 is likely to reach 18 million cars, or a fifth of world auto sales, according to Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. That's up from 12 million today.

So far this year, every major carmaker has announced its own 21st century Model T project. Toyota (TM ), Volkswagen (VLKAY ), Fiat (FIA ), and Peugeot have all vowed to build cut-rate Logan-killers. General Motors Corp. (GM ) intends to use its Korean subsidiary, GM Daewoo, to design a model that will sell for about $7,000. Chrysler (DCX ) is developing low-cost cars with Chinese manufacturer Chery. Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. is making India its global hub for small-car production and expects to double its output to 600,000 cars annually by yearend, many of them destined for Europe. "Automakers will have to live with a trend of lower-cost vehicles. It is difficult but that's where the demand is," says David Nicholas (Nick) Reilly, president of GM Asia Pacific. The average retail price for many compacts will probably sink to $9,000, while minis will go for around $7,000, Reilly predicts. That's about 15% below current model prices.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_17/b4031064.htm?chan=autos_autos+index+page_top+stories

[Snowman]

Meanwhile back in civilization we get green crammed down our throats. I’m sure these lawnmowers will have all the necessary pollution controls in place.