Tata Nano Cab's to hit roads soon..

India currently has just under 1.2 billion residents. Moreover, its population is set to overtake China any monsoon now. As India's economy continues to grow (currently the world's 12th largest) all those people now have places to go. We've all seen crazy pictures of fantastically overloaded Indian trains and buses with people hanging out of windows, but not only is that very dangerous, if you have a business meeting the last thing you want to do is sit on a dirty old roof with three dozen of your closest friends. Indians need taxis. Trouble is, cabs (and cars in general) are expensive to buy and poverty is still rampant. Enter the Tata Nano.

That's right, the world's cheapest new car is being eyeballed and ordered by many Indian entrepreneurs looking to start their very own cab company. Yes, Nanos are small and would make very lousy cabs in NYC or London. But to a person that's never owned a car before, it's (sorta) Versailles on wheels. And as the Nano is a no-frills, few features product, there's very little to break, so what does get broke will be cheap and easy to fix. In the biz, that's called "win-win." Besides all that, we're thinking that hundreds of thousands of Nanos darting all over Mumbai would be cute. Sort of like Rome in the 1950s.


According to the Indian man I spoke to, a considerable amount of orders for the Tata Nano were from people who will use it as a taxi to start up their own business with.This was quite an interesting point and one I certainly hadn’t thought of before. With its four seats and no-frills, hard-wearing interior, the Nano is just right to be used as a taxi and repairs and servicing costs are also likely to remain low on what is a relatively simple (albeit very clever) piece of engineering.

Despite it costing less than £2000, this is still quite a sum for many people so the chances to recoup some of that cost and use the Nano as an investment instead of a luxury item could make the initial outlay seem insignificant in the long run. Of course it’s early days and this is only a theory, but it’s one that makes sense to me and with something as revolutionary as the Nano, it is always going to be memorable for more than one reason. The beauty of something as accessible as the Tata Nano is that everyone will find their own use for it and its show-stopping price will appeal just as much to people in the UK as it does to people in India.

Maybe one day, there may be more Tata Nanos on the road in India than there are Rickshaws, Tuk Tuks and scooters. It could even become as iconic in India as a taxi as yellow cabs are in New York and Hackney Carriages are in London.