The Nano Car. An Environmental Nightmare !!

Last January India's Tata Motors unveiled its much anticipated USD $2,500 car which is equivalent to only SGD $ 3,200 an ultra-cheap price tag that brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people. The NANO car is the answer to allowing every Indians into owing its own car, but critics worry the car could overwhelm the country's roads which is notoriously known to be congested and already chocked and create an environmental nightmare.

The NANO ultracheap price tag revolutionise our mentality and long standing perception of car ownership and overnight suddenly brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people across the world instantly. Dubbed "the people's car", the Nano is projected to be the cheapest such vehicle in the world - Its makers promise it will revolutionize the way cars are bought, sold, and driven.

With a snub nose and a sloping roof, the world's cheapest car can fit five people if they squeeze. And the basic version is sparse: there's no radio, no passenger-side mirror and only one windshield wiper. It does not have any air conditioning to cope with the brutal summers temperature. While the price has created a buzz, critics say the Nano could lead to possibly millions more automobiles hitting the roads, adding to mounting air and noise pollution problems in many countries that already have poor environmental condition such as India, Indonesian abd Brazil. Another faction of critics said that that NANO sacrifice quality and safety standards to meet the target price.

Tato, the manufacture of the car however insists that the car meet safety standards and pollute even less than motorcycles, passing domestic and European emission standards and averaging about 50 miles per gallon (20 kilometers per liter).

Nevermind the cheap price and say we take it whole sale that the NANO meets the European Pollution standards, can you imagine the magnitude of problems that the car will caused if thousands and millions of people decides to abandon their bicycles to the seemingly affordable car. Tens of thousand and millions of cars will soon flood the streets that used to be occupied with less cars and hundreds of manually driven mode of transportation. No matter what the industry expert may say that the car is environmentally less polluted, pollution it will still cause, start doing your maths and multiple the number of pollution by ten or twenty folds.

It is no surprise that India is making their own version of cheap markets to rival that of Chinese made Geely which cost USD $ 4000.00. In a few more years to come, we will see the developments of cheaper car which will soon reach into the hands of every people. Governments should start thinking of looking at their road infrastructure to support the increasing number of cars on the road and the amount of CO2 emission that these cars will be emitting. One thing for certain whatever headway that we have gained thus far in reducing the CO2 emission and curbing global warming will be reversed and worsened.

To all of us, we better start saying goodbyes to the ice poles and caps and prepared to embrace for warmer days ahead.