Hooray for Freedom Before and...

The newly unveiled marvel of affordable industrial production is the $2500 automobile coming out of India!

TATA, the new economy car for the masses, is going to accomplish a few things. First, it will undoubtedly create a foothold (okay, may be a toehold!) for India's decades old auto industry wgich is yet to gain respect and recognition abroad!

With a price tag of around US $2,500, it is sure to revolutionize the auto market in developing countries by graduating countless millions of peasants from riding scooters and bicycles upto owning their own "automobiles".

TATA is in fact not the only car in this new entry level class. There is a trend! China, along with some European carmakers, such as Daimler Benz of Germany, are also trying to secure their shares in this new emerging market. For example, China is putting the finishing touches on a manufacturing plant in Tehran, Iran, that is going to build an entry level, affordable car named "Cherry". Reportedly, the Chinese-Iranian Cherry will debut around Summer of 2008 and will be sold in the neighborhood of US $6,000!

But environmentalists warn that, as evident by the last decade's increase in global fuel consumption, due to people in India and China being able to afford motorcycles, the Cherry and TATA are nothing but Kaka (or Keke, as Isfahanis would say!)

The global impact of TATA is going to be an even more accelerated increase of fossil fuel consumption, air pollution and the problems that come with it!

At the very least, all the emmission reduction advances that had been made globally in the past 20 years are most likely to be lost!

P.S.

Those of you who have criticized my issue with TATA and other "affordable" kase vajebis! Please note that this is NOT a fuel economy issue. TRUE, these cars will improve the overall fuel economy, BUT they will increase the total number of car ownership per capita in the entire world! The goal is to REDUCE private car ownership and INCREASE the use of PUBLIC transportation!  The issue is the total amount of FEUL that will be consumed globally and the amount of lead and other poisons that will be injected into our atmosphere! The issue is what this will do to Oil markets and the price of commodities! Think bigger and longer term! 

I'm very sure TATA is more economic and friendlier to the environment than "American gas gozzlers". But what about 30 million of these little TATAs running around in a few years?!!!!

And what the hell deos gooz have to do with shaghigheh?!!! What does it matter where the owner of this company is from? or what his heritage is?