Last Thursday, Tata Motors of India released its new line of automobiles. Included in the selection was a $2500 vehicle which bears the name of the "People's Car." The companies goal is to provide a vehicle for the up and coming masses of India. What Ford did for America, Tata Motors hopes to do for India. The environmental outlook of this is bleak. The car, athough meeting India's environmental standards, falls far below the United States standards. Despite India's promise to increase its environmental standards, the outlook appears to bleak. What happens if India becomes a 4-wheel nation? Will other countries be more prone to adopt tougher emission standards to pressure India in to doing the same?

The sight of a family of 5 crowded onto a small, two-stroke motorbike is a familiar one for anybody who has been to India.

The safety of these plastic made super cheap cars is also unknown, bearing on another issue of high importance that has not been addressed and will most likely be the determining factor of expansion in India.

That is a very good point that I didn't mention, safety is of huge concern. Going along with this is the concern over the lack of infrastructure to support such an influx of automobiles. I can hardly begin to imagine what it will be like. Do you think that there is any way to control this, or to plan ahead?

It's really a shame that the car's emissions are dirty... India had a chance to 'leapfrog' the west on this by mobilizing their citizens in clean, fuel efficient cars, the same way many developing countries have jumped ahead in mobile phone technology.

Can they fix it? There is a lot of potential as thousands of Indians are gaining access to the global economy!

Hopefully Tata starts to mass produce the air car sometime soon. A real, zero emission car. But knowing how a corporation works they'll probably sell as many "peoples car" as they can before they even think of selling their first air car.