Introduction of the Tata Nano

The Nano is a small, very cheap car manufactured in India by the Tata corporation. The Nano sells for a price equivalent to about $2,500. That is correct ... a car for under three thousand US dollars. The Nano has good fuel economy. Supposedly it uses 2.00 GPHM (Gallons Per Hundred Miles). It is a small car, only 10 feet long. But it is going to have a big impact on the future of gasoline prices.

The important thing about the Nano is that it represents a new era of cheap cars. Hundreds of millions or even billions more people in the developing world will in the near future be able to afford cars. That means they will need to start buying gasoline and the oil to make it from. Now the oil producers of the world are in fact entering into a stage where they cannot increase production and the world's total oil production per year may even soon start to decline. Combine a constant or declining oil production rate with a billion more car owners and you can see that only one thing can possibly happen - the price of oil must go up.

The video below shows the official introduction announcement of the Tata Nano. I believe it is also the farewell speech to an era of cheap gasoline. The last century or so in the United States has been one of low gasoline prices. Because it has lasted a handful of generations, most people think gasoline will always be cheap. However, that is not so ... eras do come to an end. Introduction of the Tata signals the beginning of the end of the era of "happy motoring" and the beginning of the beginning of a new era that will belong to the hypermilers.