'2 countries interested in Nano'

'2 countries interested in Nano'
11 Jan 2008, 0003 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: Rarely do editors drag themselves out of bed on a cold Delhi winter morning for an appointment at 8 am. They are given to working late at night and unfocussed early in the morning. So, if anyone suggests a meeting at 8 am, they usually draw upon their inventiveness to nix the suggestion.

But Thursday morning was different. It was a working breakfast with the man of the moment, Ratan Tata, who was to unveil the 'people's car' later in the day. The room was humming with excitement when Tata walked in 10 minutes late. His day seemed to have started much earlier. ''I'm sorry. I was at our pavilion in Pragati Maidan doing dry runs.'' How does he feel on the dawn of the big day? ''A little tired,'' he said. ''I have not slept more than two and a half hours.'' It was not likely that he would get to sleep through this busy day, said someone. Tata smiled in agreement.

Once seated for breakfast, he turned combative: ''I am amazed at the number of issues some people have raised to stop our car from coming out. Issues of safety have been raised, issues of pollution too. Now, someone is saying that if we bring out our car there will be more petrol consumption, which will lead to higher import of petroleum and a hit on the country's economy. I wonder why none of these issues are raised when other launches take place or when two-wheeler capacity doubles? At first, they said we couldn't make this car (priced at Rs 1 lakh), then they said we should not make this car. Now that we have built it and are ready with its launch, they are saying that it should not come out on the road.''

Obviously, the criticism has been getting under Tata's skin. He admitted towards the end of the hour-long interaction that he felt somewhat ''punchy'' as the launch came closer.

Tata said several countries have shown interest in building the car. ''I can't name these countries now but two of them have shown firm interest,'' he said. There has been speculation about Tata setting up manufacturing facilities for Nano in Thailand. Tata would not confirm this. He said the car could do well in Africa, Latin America and southeast Asia.

Having brought out Indica, the first Indian car, and now the ''people's car'', what is his next big dream? ''I don't know when the next dream will come. What pains me are the disparities in our country. Anything we can do to reduce that gives a person like me a lot of satisfaction. A simple thing like drinking water, for instance. Some of our companies are working on building low cost water purification systems. I hope we can do it.''
Given his dogged determination, he probably will. In any case, good luck to you, Ratan Tata.

And the result of TATAs Nano, now the all-in-one slimming cycle.