How green is my low-cost car? India revs up debate
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shweta Kumari is waiting impatiently for Tata Motors' new Nano to hit Mumbai's car showrooms later this year.
With a price tag of about $2,500, the Nano will cost about half the price of the cheapest car currently on the market, easily affordable for Kumari, who works as a software developer. "I can drop my kid at school, go to work and go shopping more comfortably," said Kumari, who now shares a car with her husband.
But some environmentalists are dreading the prospect of hundreds of thousands of low-cost cars hitting polluted and over-crowded roads around the world in the next few years.
"In the current policy and regulatory framework, the low-cost cars will be disastrous," said Anumita Roychowdhury, associate director of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi.
Car makers, warily eyeing sliding sales in developed markets such as the United States and Europe, disagree.
They argue the small, fuel-efficient vehicles are a greener option than gas-guzzling SUVs and larger cars as oil soars above $130 a barrel and as consumers in emerging economies such as China, India and Russia get behind the wheel in ever increasing numbers.
Tata Motors, which unveiled the snub-nosed Nano to a rousing reception in January, says the world's cheapest car meets the strictest environmental criteria, and its lean design delivers high fuel-efficiency of about 20 km/liter of petrol.
The car, with a dealer price of 100,000 rupees ($2,330), will have tailpipe emissions well within Indian requirements. It is less polluting than motorbikes and scooters, Tata Motors says on the Nano's website, here
"The concern is really about the sheer numbers," said Mohit Arora, managing director for India at JD Power Asia Pacific.
"They may be more fuel-efficient than bigger cars, but they will still emit carbon and NOx (nitrogen oxide) ... and that's a valid concern."
The numbers are staggering.
Still only 8 in 1,000 people in India own a passenger car. In China, it's about 20 but in Japan and the United States, it's at least 450 cars per 1,000 people.
Every day, about 17,000 private vehicles are being added to China's already congested roads, while Indian passenger vehicle sales are expected to rise by almost 50 percent over the next three years.
Such explosive growth will demand a rethink from auto makers.
"Over the next 5-10 years, technology, moral pressure, regulatory pressure and high oil prices will push even premium car makers into making changes to their engines," said Steve Howard, chief executive of The Climate Group in Britain. Continued...
