“I have nothing against two-wheelers, but statistics show that they have twice the number of fatalities than those (driving) in cars,” said Tata, hours before he formally unveiled the Tata Nano at Delhi’s Auto Expo. “What is the safety of a scooter? A crash helmet?”
“If we do have competition, and it looks like we will have, I think it is a vindication of what we set out to do,” said Tata, who had grown increasingly testy ahead of the launch because of the barrage of criticism involving safety, emissions, fossil fuel and gridlock questions that were being asked of the car.
“I would like to hope that any battle is in the marketplace in an open manner and the best product wins. The market will decide...If that happens, and if we succeed, we will have broken new ground for India.”
Far away from the euphoria, investors drove shares of Tata Motors down by 2.78% to Rs749 a share on the Bombay Stock Exchange on what was a bearish day in the markets. Tata Motors shares are trading well above their 52-week low of Rs616.15 a share set in late August.
Pranav Verma contributed to this story.
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