nano

The Tata's have launched the nano, the world's most inexpensive car.

There is a lot of hue and cry over the safety and emission standard that such a car would possess at a price of USD 3000. Presuming that such issues have been answered, this has been an ingenious move by the TATA.

This move by the Tata's could be compared to the Edsel by Ford launched in 1958.
Maybe in terms of a product comparison the critics are right.
But interms of a market, India is not the US and there will be takers for the product. Simply becoz there are takers for the Suzuki 800.

A precedent was set by Suzuki, however they didn't improve on it which is very unlike a Japanese company.
Since Suzuki didn't improve on its offering, the TATA's have.
They are vying and competing for the same market.

The icing on this would be if Suzuki thinks of re-launching the 800 in a modern avatar. For the past 3 years, Suzuki has been dithering about withdrawing the 800 completely from the market, but if they reverse this move then it does mean that the TATA's are right.