The Hindu : Front Page : I want to retire after Rs. 1-lakh car launch: Tata

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Monday, Dec 31, 2007
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I want to retire after Rs. 1-lakh car launch: Tata

Car to be unveiled on January 10

Ratan Tata

London: Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata would like to retire from active business life after his dream project — the Rs. 1-lakh car — is launched successfully, a media report here said.

“In an ideal world, after the small car has been launched and is successful, that would be a nice time for me to exit,” Mr. Tata told the Financial Times.

Tata Motors is scheduled to unveil the vehicle, touted as the world’s cheapest mass-produced car, on January 10 at an auto expo in New Delhi.

Safety, emission

Rival car makers are, however, not convinced about the car’s safety and emission standards, coming as it is at that price level.

Reacting to this, Mr. Tata told the British newspaper that “we are producing a car that will be no more polluting than a motorcycle.”

Mr. Tata told the newspaper, which has named him among the three entrepreneurs making their presence felt around the world, “as we are not going to produce millions and millions of them, inundating the country, we will not be adding to the carbon footprint on a per-passenger basis.”

The report said that there was a big gap between the cost of the average two-wheeler and entry-level cars such as Maruti 800, which retails for about $ 5,000, and Mr. Tata plans to fill it.

“The only reason we did not make the Rs. 1-lakh car a hybrid, for example, is that it could not have been priced at Rs. 1 lakh,” said Mr. Tata, who celebrated his 70th birthday on December 28.

The Financial Times said Mr. Tata would be one of the most visible faces of the new India in 2008.

Asked whether he had “the fire in his belly for a further five years,” Mr. Tata told the daily, “Not really.”

The other two named in the list of “Faces of Enterprises” were Marc Simoncini and Elon Musk. — PTI

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