Rajesh Aithal echoes the general sentiment of hype and expectations surrounding the Rs. 1 lakh car to be launched soon by the Tatas. [Update here]

The question is what is so special in rupees1 lakh car? Accepted that pricing itself is one big selling point. I think it at this time it is worth while to remember the pioneer of low-cost cars , Henry Ford. People consider him to be a production genius who introduced the assembly line manufacturing system to the world, but marketers believe his true genius was in the fact that he calculated the price which would make a car affordable to most people in the US and working backwards he came up with a manufacturing design which we know as assembly line manufacturing.

However, Atanu Dey warns against the socio-economic impact of that car entering Indian roads.

You cannot just have cars: you need fuel and you need space to use the cars in. It is insane to not do basic arithmetic (“Those who refuse to do arithmetic are doomed to speak nonsense”) and realize that cars are not the solution to India’s predicament regarding transportation within its cities.