Tata made a splash earlier in the year when they rolled out a prototype for the Nano, an ultra-compact car, with a price tag of just over $2,200, aimed at India's growing middle class. They planned to build a huge new factory in the Marxist-controlled state of West Bengal, but the people there apparently object to "the people's car".
Local activists are angry that the state allowed Tata to seize 1,000 acres from local farmers for the factory. They contend the factory only needs 600 acres and want the rest of the land returned to its owners. And while protests have been going on for two years around the site, they have gotten larger and more tense in recent days, finally prompting Tata to give up on the nearly-finished plant (which has cost over $350 million to build) over fears that the workers there would not be safe.
Tata is now looking at other Indian states to host the Nano's assembly plant.
The whole Nano project has not been without its critics. Environmentalists are worried that putting thousands of Nanos on the road will only worsen India’s air pollution. Part of the reason the car is so cheap is that it does not include any modern pollution-reduction devices. If fact, Tata will only be able to build the Nano for a few years until tighter air quality laws are expected to go into effect in India. Others wonder what effect adding thousands of cars will have on India's already over-crowded urban streets.
Venu Srinivasan, chairman of India's leading manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters TVS-Suzuki, in an interview with AFP also worried that Tata's decision to relocate the almost finished plant could scare foreign investors away from India's manufacturing sector.
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