Want a new car, but can’t afford one… check this out!

On Monday March 23, India’s Tata Motors rolled out the most inexpensive automobile, the Nano, presently available in Mumbai. The base model will sell for around 2,000$ US and the more expensive versions have the bells and whistles available.

 

The car is just 3.1 metres in length, with a width of 1.5 metres and height of 1.6 metres, the Tata Nano has the smallest exterior footprint for a car in India but is 21% more spacious than the smallest car available today.

 

It is equipped with one windshield wiper, and a 623cc rear mounted engine that can move the car along to a top speed of 105 kilometers per hour or 65 mph if you prefer, and claims to sit four adults comfortably. The first deliveries of the Nano will begin to take place in early July.

 

Ratan N. Tata said "The present economic situation makes it somewhat... more attractive to the buying public."

 

The bare bones Nano comes equipped with a manual transmission, no air conditioning, or electric windows.  However the European model will be equipped with air bags and leather trim. Of course this will increase the price of the automobile. This model will be ready for distribution in 2011. For the US version, it is still on the drawing board, as it needs to meet US safety standards.

 

The Nano will be available in three versions:

Tata Nano Standard (BSII* and BSIII*): The standard version, in three colour options, single-tone seats, and fold-down rear seat; 

Tata Nano CX (BSII* and BSIII*): In five colour options, with heating and air-conditioning (HVAC), two-tone seats, parcel shelf, booster-assisted brakes, fold-down rear seat with nap rest;

Tata Nano LX: (BSIII*) With the features of CX plus complete fabric seats, central locking,  front power windows, body coloured exteriors in three premium colours, fog lamps, electronic trip meter, cup holder in front console, mobile charger point, and rear spoiler. Many of these features are not available on current entry-level small cars in the country.

 

Fuel efficiency of these little newcomers is 23.6 km/litre, certified by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) under mandated test conditions. And of course safety is always a key feature in automobile shopping, and this Nano’s safety performance exceeds current regulatory requirements - it passed the roll-over test the offset impact tests, both of which are not regulated in India. It has an all sheet-metal body, reinforced passenger compartment, crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, besides mandatory seat belts and complies fully with existing Indian safety standards. Tubeless tires, and by the way the rear ones are wider endowing extra stability and enhance safety.

The warranty however is short lived at 18 months or 24,000 km, whichever is earlier.

 

Taking a look at Tata Motors, they are no underdog in the automotive industry; it purchased Jaguar and Land Rover last year for 2.3 billion dollars. Founded in 1868 as Tata Sons and established by Jamsetji Tata ; the Tata umbrella of businesses can be associated with information systems and communications, engineering, materials, services, energy, chemicals and consumer products and has a total of 350,000 employees in spread across 80 countries.

 

Here is a short list of just a few of the Tata products I located:

Tata Tea: The world's largest integrated tea company

TCS: Asia’s largest software exporter

Titan: The world's fifth largest watch manufacturer

Tata Steel: India’s largest private sector steel producer and the world’s 6th

Taj group: Largest 5-star chain of luxury hotels in India

Tata Chemicals: India’s largest, and world’s third largest manufacturer of soda ash

Tata Power: India’s largest private sector power utility

 

And some other accomplishments of this organization : Tata has pioneered India’s steel industry; Introduced labour welfare benefits long before they were enacted by law (provident fund, gratuity, maternity benefits); Started the first power plant in India; Pioneered civil aviation in India; Brought insurance to India; Started India’s first chain of luxury hotels; Led commercial vehicle production; Led India’s software development efforts; and manufactured India’s first indigenous passenger car, the Indica.

 

Tata Motors is India's largest automobile company. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has operations in theUK, South Korea, Thailand and Spain, besides India. And they have an industrial joint venture with Fiat in India.

 

With over 4 million Tata vehicles on the road in India, Tata Motors is the country’s market leader in commercial vehicles and among the top three in passenger vehicles. It is also the world's fourth largest truck manufacturer and the second largest bus manufacturer. Tata cars, buses and trucks are being marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asiaand South America.

 

The Tata Nano, a small vehicle with lots of potential will make its North American debut in the near future.

Obama’s Chrysler 300C sold, not sold, sold, not sold - Barrett-Jackson, here it comes….

So just how much did that Obama Chrysler 300C sell for on eBay?  In January, Tim O’Boyle, an Illinois restaurant manager originally listed the car as a buy-it-now item with a price tag of one million dollars. Shortly after, he re-listed the car on eBay with a mention that all bidders had to be pre-approved thru a credit check.

 

One-hundred and thirty-one bids later, and O’Boyle sold the wheels or did he? Here is the twist to the story.

 

According to one report, the car was previously listed on eBay in December 2008.  There was a bidding war, and with about three days left, the top bid was a little above $ 125,000.  However, the owner cancelled the auction due to short term capital gain tax issues.

 

And O’Boyle’s tax adviser explained he should wait for the new year to sell the car (for tax purposes). So he cancelled the sale in December. O’Boyle said, “I cancelled because my accountant advised me to own the car for a year for income reasons. The auction was at $125,000 with 5 days to go.”

 

 Then came the second auction on eBay,

O’Boyle said “The second auction began January 10th because I wanted to have it end on Jan 20th right in the middle of the inauguration activities and everyone feeling great about our new President. The Associated Press got wind of this story and all of the media attention ruined this auction. I feel I had $1,000,000 real money with 5 days to go.”

 

In one day alone, the eBay auction page had been viewed by close to 150,000 people. But of course the media played a lot in this as it was reported on just about every newscast in the nation. And the only proof the buyer has that this was previously owned by the new US president is his name on the title.

 

“Jerks ran the auction up to $99,999,999 - ebay cancelled the auction, made us start over from zero!

 

The shortest auction available was 5 days which had it ending at 2:15 am eastern time, basically in the middle of the night. eBay advised me to do a pre-approved auction which means the potential bidder e-mails me, asks to be pre-approved. The way you pre-approve them is to check their eBay history of transactions—how many and the feedback of positive or negative. There’s no credit score or qualification of any kind,” said O’Boyle.

 

O’Boyle continued, “Because of the worldwide TV, radio and newspaper coverage eBay recommended that you interview potential bidders. They claim that if someone takes the time out they will probably be sincere. I had four zero eBay history bidders I interviewed and they all seemed legitimate.

 

The auction was going well at $273,000 with seven hours to go. In most auctions the last few minutes is when all the money is usually bid up. I had one zero history bidder who was biding only $100 higher in the auction when some of the other ebay bidders e-mailed me claiming the zero bidder was a shill and I was a crook and they were not bidding anymore.

 

I had over 277,000 hits in the final days of the auction, over 13,800 people watching this auction, and not one single bid during the final seven hours even though there were 40,000 hits the final hours and people were asking to be pre-approved until the final minute of the auction.”

 

Then bidders were contacting O’Boyle advising him of a potential virus on his eBay page and that they were not bidding anymore on the Obama car.

 

“Well, I contacted the zero bidder with seven hours left and informed him that I was cancelling his bid and blocking zero bidders from bidding.

 

The other bidders accused me of letting him remove his bid when in fact I had made him remove his bid. The auction ended with the winning bid of $271,000. The winning bidder backed out claiming all the shill crap. I was glad she backed out because I know the car is worth much more.”

 

Then came more headaches….

 

“She (the buyer) had the nerve to give me negative feedback - my only negative feedback ever - even though I gave her no pressure to buy the car. I re-listed it again, this time a “silent auction best offer” or “buy it now” for $1,000,000. I received an offer of $800,000 on Feb 10th, accepted it and thought it was sold.”

 

Copy of feedback:

Negative Feedback  -  Breach of ebay laws on Bid Retraction & potential shill bidding. $ not reliable – this was posted by potential buyer zasszz – posted on January 27.

 

The sellers reply: the bid retracted was that of a member with 0 feedback

 

The price for this transaction would have brought O’Boyle 271,300$ US.

 

Then this…

 “I sold it for $800,000 on Feb 10, 2009 to a bidder with almost 1,500 transactions and who had great feedback, the winning bidder basically claims identity theft, so I can’t go after his feedback score.”

 

“Winning bidder claims of unauthorized identity theft. I'm back to square one. It will probably end up at Barrett-Jackson's auction,” said O’Boyle. 

 

The car was listed as item number: 330307591732 and has been taken off the eBay auction site once again; and after going thu the bidding list of the entire 126 bids of this last listing  – every bid had been declined.

 

Kelly Blue Book listed this car to be valued at 14,000$ US.

 

Note to Tim O’Boyle - Greed is not always a good thing.

 

By the way, when Obama turned in the leased Chrysler 300C – it was replaced by a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid, an environmentally friendly sport-utility vehicle.