Climate of Our Future

Climate Crisis Coalition

India’s Push for Cheap Cars Doesn’t Help Climate.
By Alistair Scutton, Reuters, June 27, 2007.

“It may be an Indian consumer’s dream — cheap cars for $2,500-$3,000 within reach of millions of a swelling middle class. But it could also prove to be a traffic and environmental disaster. Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA announced last week they were studying [the feasibility a mass-producing] a $3,000 car to compete in India against Tata Motors Ltd.’s planned low-cost ‘People’s Car,’ which is targeted at around $2,500 and expected to hit the market next year. For its supporters, cheap cars like these are what the Volkswagen Beetle was to Germany or the Mini to England — the spoils of an economic boom for aspiring middle classes. To its detractors, India will see an explosion in traffic and pollution on its already clogged roads from its more than 1.1 billion inhabitants… India has low car ownership rates — there are 7-8 cars per 1,000 people compared with 300-500 cars per 1,000 people in many Western nations, but annual passenger vehicle sales in India are expected to double to 2 million units by 2010… Air pollution is already at ‘critical levels’ in more than half of India’s main cities, according to the Centre for Science and Environment… Emission limits… are 10 years behind European levels.”