When Tata Nano was conceived and realized, there were many critics. Many were head honchos of the auto industry itself. They and a large section of the domestic and international media claimed that due to its “affordability” more people will end up buying more of it thus increasing pollution and congestion.

So do they mean they are purposely overpricing their own brands to save the world? Are they capping the number of sales per month to prevent congestion?

Let us see this in perspective using figures of the biggest sellers in the India Market who are also global giants. These companies were perhaps not ones to pooh-pooh the Nano rather than the more “knowledgeable” auto majors like Ford, GM, etc who seemed to have a lot to say against it.

1. Maruti Suzuki has K-series of petrol engines that releases 109 grams of CO2 per km. It sold a little over One million units of cars in 2009-10.
2. Hyundai Motors India with it’s Kappa Engines which emits 119 grams of CO2 per kilometre sold over 600,000 units of cars in 2010.
3. Tata Nano has sold around 70,000 units by end of 2010. It emits 101 grams of C02 per kilometre. It gives an approx. mileage of 23.6 kmpl while the industry averages vary between 15-18 kmpl.

The average emission rate of cars in India is 140-150 grams per kilometre. The interesting part is not all cars in the Suzuki or Hyundai stable use the premium K-series or Kappa engines which have the lower emission rates respectively. Nor are the critics worried about the emission rates by the other vehicles that Tata Motors, Tata JLR or Tata Daewoo releases…it is the Nano that irks them because it is the only thorn in their ‘back’-sides that they can’t deal with yet.

It is amazing how even today the Goliaths hate the Davids…a small car named the ‘nano’ shook the world in a way even the Hummer’s could not.  Oh! by the way, out of utter concern towards the environment, GM, Nissan, Ford for starters are planning to launch their own ‘Nano’ cars very soon.

For those interested in knowing a bit more about the CO2 emissions per km you can visit a post on whatcar which lists more manufacturers.