Most Affordable Cars Available Today - The Nano Car

The most affordable cars available today begin with the Nano car. This car was developed in India and holds an interesting story.

It began with a thought to offer a "peoples car" to the India population, most of which are fortunate enough to make $1,000 American dollars per year. In India, most transportation is provided by scooters and quad-bikes. Ratan Tata wanted to offer the people of his country more than this standard transportation.

The chairman of Tata Motors, Mr. Tata challenged a 32 year old engineer, Girish Wagh to develop a car with three requirements: must comply with regulatory stipulations, must be low-cost, and yield performance goals of acceleration capacity and fuel efficiency.

The proto-type was 4 wheels supporting bars with plastic flaps instead of doors to protect the driver from the rain. This looks more like a quadra-cycle than a car but this mistake led to the design team to build an actual car design.

Mr. Tata decided he needed the help of suppliers that could bring him the materials to build a proper car. Most suppliers he approached were skeptical to say the least. Let's face it, Tata wanted to build the cheapest car in the world and keep the price tag at $2,500.00 American dollars.

Imagine the faces of these suppliers when he presented this "crazy" idea to them.

Tata appealed to them that they would make world history as well as develop their own businesses and slowly some of the suppliers jumped aboard with the idea. The rack and pinion steering was produced by Rane Group. The major goal was to reduce the weight and a steering rod replaced the typical steel tube that makes up the steering mechanism.

GKN Driveline India provided the technology for the drive shaft. This attempt failed 32 times before they got it right! And, the balance of the suppliers who were challenged with providing quality parts at low prices can tell similar stories.

Eventually, Wagh's team included over 500 engineers working on the Nano car. The designing of this car was a feat unmatched, but has paid off. The Nano provides a status symbol to the country-men of India.

Today, the Nano is just 5 feet wide and a little over 10 feet long. The car will travel 65 mph and holds a 33 horsepower engine. To provide smooth handling the 4 tires sit directly on each corner of the vehicle. The Nano weighs in at 1,300 pounds with no need for power steering to turn such little weight.

Other cost saving features that are missing include:
*No airbags
*No air conditioning on standard models
*No stereo systems on standard models
*Only one windshield wiper rather than the standard 2
*One wing mirror

It's amazing when you consider the ingenuity to design this car by saving costs and not offering so many features that we take for granted, such as a car stereo.

Mr. Tata has accomplished his goal by providing a "peoples car" at a low cost.

This is an amazing story behind the most affordable car available in the entire world. Our hats are off to Mr. Tata and his team who are continually improving on the Nano Car.

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Concept of Toyota's Car Design

Toyota car design is striking and impressive making a strong presence on road. The cars designed are incredibly stylish to entice car buyers across the stretches. The car manufacturer adopts the philosophy of safety, environment, and social values when designing a car. With an aim to convey social considerations, background concept, and originalities through the design process, Toyota lays focus on its valuable philosophy.

The essentials of Toyota's design process are as follows:

J-Factor

J-factor is known to be the DNA of Toyota design that synergizes various conflicting elements in harmony and give dimensions to new values. It is the element that defines the Japanese design structure, aesthetics and values that blend seamlessly with the global standards. One very good example of synergizing the contradictory element is the combination of engine power and electric motor to create hybrid vehicles. Likewise, many other elements of a car are well harmonized to give a completely new look and feel to every car. The j-factor is the trademark of Toyota's car design and it delivers an extremely striking and magnificent appeal.

Miniaturization

Miniaturization is another good philosophy of Toyota's car design process. In this is embedded the intense art of Japanese craftsmanship that gives a deep insight to the complete universe in a small container. This means that even the smallest car by Toyota beholds a number of excellent features, technologies, and design concepts to keep the excitement alive on every drive. All the premium features along with ultra-high efficiency package of engine and transmission offers a sense of infinity. This concept is accepted and acclaimed worldwide as Japanese sensitivity.

Nature's Beauty

Nature's beauty is one most appreciating aspect of Toyota's design philosophy. The car manufacturer always moves in line with the nature's beauty and love. Japan follows the trend of infusing nature in craftsmanship and likewise the car manufacturer also adopts the same trend. Through unique way of conception, Toyota has been incorporating the beauty and love they behold for nature in their artistry method of car designing. A very good example of nature's love reflected through Toyota's car is the dashboard of the highly acclaimed car Pirus. The dashboard is much similar to the design or pattern found in the veins of a leaf and the resulting design is outstanding with a fresh and eternal feel. The energy of the nature is beautifully blended with the science of designing to give an eternally beautiful car design structure.

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The Design Of Hatchbacks

There are a lot of different cars on the market. Each one has a slightly different shape to all the rest. Each shape has been designed specifically for that car. The idea is to make the car as attractive and aerodynamic as possible, especially your sports cars. Let us take a look at the purpose of the design of hatchbacks.

When you mention the term "hatchback" most people automatically think of cars that look like a sedan with the back cut off. This is not actually what makes a hatchback a hatchback. It actually refers to the internal design of the vehicle.

The design used by hatchbacks is a two box design. This means that the pillars of the car divide the interior into two main areas which are rectangular in shape. There is the engine compartment and there is the passenger and cargo compartment. Most of your sedans make use of a three box design in which the passenger and cargo compartments are separated into two different rectangles. In a three box design the main pillars of the vehicle are the ones that form the frame of the front and rear windscreens. They attach the roof to the base of the car. In a two box car the main pillar is the one that forms the frame of the front windshield. The two box is not less stable or more stable than the three box design, it is just different. You do not need to be concerned that hatchbacks are less safe to drive or have an accident in than sedans are. There are still the same number of pillars in the car to give it structural integrity, they are just placed differently.

You can get hatchbacks in one of two styles. There is the three door and the five door. The difference is the presence or lack of rear passenger doors. The lid of the boot is considered a door. The option you choose will depend on you and how easily you would like to be able to get gain access to the rear passenger seat.

The design of hatchbacks is meant to give an impression of space when in fact, there is no more space in a hatchback than there is in a sedan. It just feels larger because of the two box design. The cars tend to b a lot lighter than most sedans which means that they tend to be more economical than a sedan with similar specifications. This is the main attraction for a lot of people since saving money is quite a priority at this point in time.

The hatchback has been carefully designed to maximise the impression of space inside the vehicle. This was done by making use of the two box design. Hatchbacks are still just as safe to drive as they have the same number of support pillars for the roof as a sedan would, the pillars are just placed in a way that allows the passenger and cargo areas to be within a single rectangular section.

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Tips for Designing Good Car Window Decals

Using car window decals can be the perfect way to advertise your business to customers at a fraction of the price of other forms of advertising. Designing a good car window decal can be a challenging task, but if you follow the useful tips below you are sure to have a good-looking design window decal in no time.

Always Design to the Shape of the Window

Many people run the assumption that their cars windows are perfectly rectangular but this is almost never the case. When you are designing the window decals make sure you take accurate measurements of the surface you are going to apply it to. It is all too common for prints to be made that don't fit the window perfectly and this can look very unprofessional.

Never Put Text Near the Edge

Even if you have measured your window perfectly there is always the chance that some of it might get clipped off in the installation. This is okay if it is just a small amount of the background color, but if it is the phone number then the whole reason for getting car window decals is lost. It is also a good idea to make sure that your logo is centrally placed so that none of it is clipped off.

Don't Clutter the Decals

One of the most common problems people experience when designing car window decals is that they include too much information. There is quite a lot of space to cover on a car window so people feel the need to fill it all. Most passing motorists don't have the opportunity to read all the information so they will just want what is necessary, if it's not needed don't include it.

Make the Purpose Clear

When you have car window decals, some of your customers are going to be seeing the car when it's parked and they will have plenty of time to read it. Most of the time though your car will be in motion and will be being seen by other drivers. Your decals should have clear text describing what you do and how to get in touch with you, for one this will give drivers enough time to read it and secondly it will mean you are being responsible by not distracting other drivers.

Go to a Professional

It doesn't matter how much time you spend designing a great car decal if you go with a poor quality printer. Cheaper printers might not be able to get the colors exactly as you want them and their application of the window decal might not be perfect. There is nothing that looks more professional than a slanting phone number across the back of your car. You also run the risk that the ink from cheaper printers will start fading from sun exposure.

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How to Compete With a Computer in Designing New Car Models

Well, it's already starting to happen folks are using artificial intelligence coupled with the latest CADCAM software to design our future vehicles. Although many of these new designs look quite futuristic, and intriguing, there is a problem with all of this. They are all starting to look like giant teardrops, and the body lines are looking more and more familiar regardless of which model you buy. Yes, they say that humans love to imitate, and imitation is the highest form of flattery, but what about when the computers are doing it too?

Now then, I'd like to talk about this if I might because I think it's apropos to discuss where human beings will fit in, in the future of designing our automobiles.

Today, when one automobile manufacturer tries to copy another manufacture's body style, there are often lawsuits and patent wars in the courtroom. This is because if you are BMW, Mercedes, or some other manufacture you want to hold those patents and designs as unique to your brand, as it will help you sell more cars, especially when you stumble upon a certain body style that people like, and it sells well, you want to get all you can and sell as many vehicles as possible, hopefully millions, if not 10s of millions.

Of course, if your competition is copying what you are making, this cuts into the market share, and the number of people who are interested in buying that design or style of car. One of the issues with computers designing the perfect automobile for efficiency and fuel mileage is that there are only a few body styles which are ultimately the most efficient. With the new Federal CAFE mileage standards manufacturers are forced to keep their cars ultra efficient, however in doing so they are limited in that types of body styles they can use.

As these auto manufacturers go out of their way to file patents on these designs, it limits the consumer's choices. The good thing about all this is that it opens the doors for high mileage hybrids and electric cars that might not be the most efficient, but are designed by a human for human taste in style. This gives the advantage to the human being designing the car rather than an artificial intelligent CAD CAM software program which has been programmed to design the most efficient car first, and then secondly, one which fits the preference of the auto buyer.

Indeed I'd like you to please consider this from a philosophical standpoint, as I believe this topic and this discussion might help you design the very best future cars.

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Designing the Cars of the Future One Question at a Time

Well, this may come as no surprise to you if you have ever done any collaborative work and brainstorming. The other day, we learned something very interesting in our think tank, at one of our regular local meetings at a local coffee shop. As a warm-up we had a quick brainstorm on the designing of cars for our future. Specifically we've been concerned that the Chevy Volt seems to have crashed (not literally, but production has been halted), the car costs too much, there are too few buyers, and it's just not pulling for all those 100s of millions of dollars invested in R&D and retooling. Okay so, let's talk about this, and let me explain what we learned through trial and error during our brainstorming session.

We first started with the typical concept of someone taking notes, and others just blurting out whatever came to their mind on new auto designs and ways to build our future cars. After 4 or 5 people spoke out in rapid succession one person asked; why does it have to have wheels?

Well, that completely sent all the other comments back to the drawing board, and we made a quick right turn if you will. Next folks were talking about hovercrafts, low pressure area, and the types of blowers that would be needed. Others began discussing how they would prevent all the noise from blowing out the driver's ear drums, and taking that noise and vibrational energy to power up all the other systems in the vehicle - noise recapture.

Then they started discussing the types of motors such as gasoline and diesel. And the same person who asked the question before asked; why does it have to run on liquid fuel?

Then we started talking about electricity, batteries, and gas type fuels like hydrogen. We decided that electric batteries were too heavy, but that the weight doesn't matter as much in a hovercraft, many of the hovercrafts are quite heavy. However, others still wanted to reduce the weight, and they started talking about how to redesign the batteries to be more efficient, lighter, and not use materials which were hard to get, or very costly.

As we began talking about body design styles, and braking systems because this vehicle would not have wheels, the same individual asked; why can't the body of the vehicle also help in the braking? One of the folks in the group was a former aerospace person, and we started talking about air brakes, spoilers, wing flaps, and things of this nature. Interestingly enough, just in our little brainstorming session we totally redesigned the future of human cars.

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