Is the age of auto electronics dead?
24 March 2009
No - this is not directly about falling demand, but instead about a new option at the bottom end of the car market.
This week saw the launch of the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano. Initially it will be sold in the Indian market for 100,000 Rupees (about £1400) although I seem to remember when Tata announced this project at the beginning of last year it was targeting a price of £1000. This could be more to do with fluctuating exchange rates rather than missing targets and it in no way diminishes what is an astonishing accomplishment. To sell a car for little more than an executive would pay to have metallic paintwork on his gas-guzzler tells a story – I’m not sure if the story it tells is of over-priced paintwork in European cars or how cheaply a car can be manufactured for, but it does represent a completely different option for the first time car buyer.
However, it is not surprising that the Tata Nano lacks some of the panache of more expensive cars. The 624cc engine provides a top speed of only 43 mph, and I can’t help thinking that if the driver was someone like me, with a weakness for creamy pasta dishes and Mars Bars, it might slow the machine still further. With respect to our industry, the Nano is a huge step backwards, and this is for perfectly understandable reasons. The modern legend is that there are more electronics in the BMW 7 series than in the Apollo 11 that first took man to the moon. The provision for driver comfort, safety, performance and ‘infotainment’ has resulted in auto electronics being one of the key drivers in the whole electronics industry.
The new car will have no such sophistication – the electronics that has provided so much of the value-add in modern cars is simply not required in the Nano. If we look at the standard model, there are few of the creature comforts that we would generally accept as basic requirements on an entry-level car. Certainly no electric windows or radio, air conditioning or even heating. Barely the basic electrics, let alone electronics, although many such items are not available on many of the entry-level cars in India. The upgraded versions will have options for more luxury and there will be a slightly larger European version (Nano Europa) in two years’ time.
But could this be the future of motoring in our cities? Congested traffic doesn’t move any faster than 43 mph, entertainment can be plugged straight from the MP3 into your ear and a hands free kit can provide all the communications you need. The most magnificent piece of electronically controlled automotive engineering only travels at the same speed as an old banger in a traffic jam. With this in mind, maybe people whose journeys don’t take them beyond the urban environment might be inclined to retreat from the electronic age of automotives and look to something more basic. I think in the UK we would at least need a heater though!
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