Thursday, March 03, 2011

Tata Pixel Unveiled at Geneva Auto Show

After aborting its Nano Europa foray, Tata is re-booting it as the Tata Pixel concept, with higher-end components and styling, along with a "glass cockpit" touchscreen dashboard.



Makes sense for small European and Asian roads, including even small Indian city byways.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

tata nano also made a lot of sense, but fell flat. my theory is no one wants to be seen in the cheapest car. That could also explain why Maruti 800 was phased out recently. One the one hand we argue that a car is an extension of manhood, and on the other, we offer him a cheap car, both concepts wont work simultaneously

sansk said...

this one those marketing theories which are used (without logic) to justify, post facto, why consumers did what they did.

If this were true, cheap cars would not sell, except for use by ladies.

Cost to performance ration, running cost, safety, and status value etc all play a role when someone buys a car. To say that no man wants to be associated with a cheap car is an oversimplification of situation.

jamnalal said...

similarly, throwing around big words like Cost to performance ration, running cost, safety, and status value is often used to hide the shame of an utter failure in predicting consumer behavior, now that the results are out, atleast something can be learnt from them, rather than continue being a nut and make the same blunder again and again

Unknown said...

this is not a marketing theory, this is a commonsense explanation to explain a lemon

cheap cars sell, but wont sell if you go around the town shouting it is the cheapest car, and now even poor people can afford it, see the point? even poor people have self respect, a point which mr tata missed completely, and his other cheerleaders

some other things are also done ipso facto, like throwing around big words like Cost to performance ration, running cost, safety, and status value to hide the embarrassment to having failed miserably to read the market. they are worse than theories, they are fig leafs

san said...

I personally like value for the money, but perhaps people heard about the incidents of Nanos bursting into flames, and also decided that taking a risk on a new and unproven design wasn't worth it. People will often make such purchases on the recommendation of others, who will undoubtedly endorse proven models known to them. Nano is the new kid on the block, and it will take time to prove itself. I'd prefer to see them look quickly towards the export market anyway, since that is higher-margin and will earn valuable foreign exchange.

san said...

Regarding this latest Pixel concept, I think that the gull doors look nice and offer a practical way to open a door in a congested area without hitting others, but I really doubt you'd be able to close those doors while seated in the vehicle.

The zero-turn drive sounds like the star feature, offering a tight turning radius, and the idea of using a tablet as a dashboard is clever. I just hope you won't be inconvenienced if you accidentally leave your tablet at home.