Indian industrialist Ratan Tata is one of the most loved businessmen not just in India but across the world. But did you know that Elon Musk, one of the richest man in the world, is also an admirer of Tata?
So we decided to take a small trip down memory lane and bring back an old interview where the 50-year-old had fondly called Tata a ‘gentleman and a scholar’.
The short video clip from Musk’s 2009 interview with Charlie Rose shows the two discussing Tata and his innovative idea, the Nano car, which was launched in a move to provide affordable cars to Indians.
During the interview, Rose mentions Tata Motors and what the company is doing in India, to which Musk quickly adds that he is well-aware about Ratan Tata.
“Take for a moment Ratan Tata, what he’s doing in India — developing a little sedan for $2300. Where do you put that in the whole equation of where the future of cars is?” Rose had asked.
While Musk admired Tata’s idea to provide affordable cars, he had his own doubts about its future.
“I think it’s a good idea to have affordable cars, but I think the problem with something like the Nano … I wouldn’t say problem because I think, by the way, it is probably a great idea and Ratan is a gentleman and scholar,” Musk said, to which the interview agrees.
Musk then continues to explain why Nano could become a problem in the future as the fuel prices rise.
“But where it’s going to become challenging in the future is when price of gasoline rises, the cost of acquiring the car is much less of an issue than the cost of running the car,” he added.
Well, Musk was right as Tata no longer is manufacturing Nano car, which was discontinued in 2019. The rising fuel cost did play a huge role in Nano’s fall as maintaining a car became more affordable than buying one.
In July 2015, Tata had said that his one of the biggest mistakes was branding the Nano car as the cheapest instead of calling it the “most affordable”, which is exactly what the company had aimed for in the first place.
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