ARTICLE: "How to Build a $2,500 Car: To Design a 'People Car," Tata's Engineers Went Back to Basics," by Arnand Giridharadas, New York Times, 8 January 2008, p. C1.ARTICLE: "Ford to Expand Capacity in India," by Eric Bellman, Wall Street Journal, 9 January 2008, p. A3.
How to build a cheap car? Keep it simple, stupid!
Rear-mounted engine. Only 30-35 horsepower. Wheel bearings that support a max speed of 70 mph. No radio or AC. One wiper. Minimal instrument panel. Streamlined continuous variable transmission.
All of it represents a huge drop in capability for your average American driver. But drive around China or India and see all the weird sights: entire families on a motorcycle or a glorified tricycle with a lawnmower-strength engine. It's scary watching them navigate traffic.
Then imagine them in a car that doesn't cost much more than what they're currently paying, and you've got yourself a market demand that's out there waiting to be met.
You can sell more of the same to already saturated markets or you can create markets in low-end situations you've previously ignored, figuring your standard income threshold would simply never be met.
That's why Ford wants to be not just in China but India too.
A race to the bottom of the pyramid will be a fascinating thing to watch. Don't assume we need to raise everyone to our levels of consumption. Assume we need to figure out how to access theirs, with the resulting consumption lying somewhere in between our high and their current low.
And expect we'll learn much in this process, enough to save this planet of ours.
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Comments (9)
Nice headline, given Mardi Gras last night!
Ah, Bourbon Street...Got beads?
Posted by Matthew Garcia | February 6, 2008 8:35 AM
Anybody remember the Fiat 600?
The Italians rebuilt their auto industry by producing a car the masses could afford.. Ditto, original Morris, VW, ect.
Or how about the Model T? as we transistioned to modernity.
Posted by historyguy99 | February 6, 2008 10:03 AM
"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. "
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
To those about to engineer - we salute you!
http://1raindrop.typepad.com/1_raindrop/2008/01/to-those-about.html
Posted by Gunnar | February 6, 2008 11:01 AM
Great post, and a great way of approaching the problem. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why more leading business people, and our better politicians do not emphasize the economic growth that is sure to accompany the transition to a more sustainable way of life? It's the tech revolution times X.
Posted by Morty | February 6, 2008 11:24 AM
I think a better example is the original Volkswagon. Rear engine, rear drive, low power, air cooled, spartan interior, good on unimproved roads, simple to work on. Don't forget who engineered it, the " Germans".
Posted by Hugh | February 6, 2008 12:02 PM
What drove me crazy was the first time I saw this in the news it was pitched in the context of how bad all these extra cars were going to be for the environment!! Talk about not having your eye on the ball!!!
Posted by Steve Knott | February 6, 2008 12:15 PM
A Model T cost less than $500 in 1919 and put Americans on the road. That was before the US Government started designing cars.
Posted by Scott McLennan | February 6, 2008 7:31 PM
No "girls gone wild" here please.
I was referencing an old Rolling Stones album.
Then again, I'm not sure what they meant by "ya-yas" either.
Posted by Tom Barnett | February 7, 2008 12:28 PM
Tom:
Mick knew about ya-yas. And about getting them out as well. That's the problem with his skin nowadays - all the ya-ya's are gone.
Posted by Morty | February 7, 2008 4:20 PM