August 19, 2010 Small car could spell big trouble for SA road users

Small car could spell big trouble for SA

road users
By Larushkan Soobiah
University of Johannesburg

Tata the manufacturers of the ‘Nano’, the

world’s smallest and cheapest car, could
be engineering its move to South African
shores.
Tata Nano: A not so ‘Nano’ affair

The tiny R17000, four door four seater, single wing-mirror Nano is a mere 3.1m long, 1.5m wide
and 1.6m tall. It is powered by a rear mounted 33bhp, 623cc two-cylinder engine capable of
propelling the Nano to a maximum speed of 106 km/h which, with four full grown adults
crammed into its anything but spacious interior, should be closer to 70 km/h. The 0 – 80 km/h
time is approximately 18 seconds, but could extend indefinitely with any loading additional to
the driver. Safety is also poor, with no airbags and plastic adhesive replacing some of the
welding.

The Tata Nano was obviously not designed with performance, comfort or safety in mind, but as a
means to provide the luxury of personal motorised transport to the masses.

According to the department of transport; in 1996 2.6 million people could afford a car but chose
to make use of public transport, this figure is projected to grow by 39% in 2020 to 3.6 million.
These so called ‘selective customers’ would make up the bulk of the Nano’s target market. The
number of ‘Stubborn customers’ (those who will only use private transport) is projected to grow
by 88% from the 3 million in 1996 to 5.6 million in 2020, a large proportion of whom may see
the Nano as a low cost low risk investment. South Africa currently has over 6 million registered
light vehicles (South African Cities Network: 2006) on the road, and with the car fleet forecast to
increase by 64% in 2020, the Nano could spell nationwide traffic pandemonium.

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August 19, 2010 Small car could spell big trouble for SA road users

Tata’s incredibly low asking price of around

R17000 would surely send the forecasted
fleet increase through the roof, further
impacting the already heavily congested
South African roads.

According to a study conducted by a market

research company in 2006, 96% of the
Traffic nightmare: Typical onramp congestion
which north bound commuters face on a daily basis interviewed sample drivers are in agreement
that the reason for traffic congestion lies in
the fact that there are too many cars or not enough roads1. The actual reason lies somewhere
between the two; South Africa has too many cars ‘and’ not enough roads.

A swarm of a few hundred thousand of these cars would only add to the current anguish faced by
South African road users on a daily basis, causing the further clogging of intersections, and
backing up of traffic with their excessively slow open road speed.

The Nano was designed for small congested urban environments such as those encountered in
India and China, and not the low density wide spread South African style of urban settlement.
The Nano would not be able to cope on the large fast paced South African roads, just as the large
fast paced South African roads (and road users) would not be able to cope with an epidemic of
thousands of sub 80 km/h plastic safety hazards.

Without a viable means of public transportation, not involving the use of roads, South Africa
may be heading for a future of congestion charge, increased vehicle taxing and untold logistical
transportation problems. Let’s hope the Nano doesn’t arrive to herald that reality sooner rather
than later.

1
Synovate Market Research.27 November 2006. Gauteng traffic: braving the rush hour. [web:] http://www.biz-
community.com/Article/196/19/12632.html [Date of access: 17 August 2010]

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August 19, 2010 Small car could spell big trouble for SA road users

References

Department of Transport. 1999. Moving South Africa – the action agenda. [Web:] http://
www.transport.gov.za /projects/msa/action-agenda-may99/contents.html [Date of access: 10 July
2009]

South African Cities Network. 2006. State of the Cities Report 2006. Johannesburg: South
African Cities Network.

Synovate Market Research. 27 November 2006. Gauteng traffic: braving the rush hour. [Web:]
http://www.biz-community.com/Article/196/19/12632.html [Date of access: 17 August 2010]

Bibliography

Kanak Bhandari. 12 January 2008. Costly Firefox bicycles to compete with World’s Cheapest
Car. [Web:] http://www.tecfre.com/tata-nano-vs-costly-firefox-bikes [Date of access: 18 August
2010]

Tata Motors. 23 March 2009. The Tata Nano Arrives. [Web:] http://www.tatamotors.
com/our_world/ press_releases.php?ID=431&action=Pull [Date of access: 17 August 2010]

Unknown. 25 September 2009. Tata Nano. [Web:] http://polyvector.com/autos/cars

/200909258/tata-nano.html [Date of access: 17 August 2010]