VW marketed the Beetle to baby boomers bent on blinging their Bug (or whatever they called it back in the day). MINI and Scion found considerable success with the same concept, aimed at Gen Y. Now Tata Motors want to encourage whatever generation is next (Z? Back to A?) personalize the cheapest car in the world. On the freshly-launched Nano's freshly-launched web site, you can play with your Tata and add all kinds of dress-up gear (sorry, no bra available yet). Want racing stripes, fancy wheels or custom seat covers (sorry, no sacred cow spot patterns available)? They're just a mouse click away. Tata doesn't 't say what all this personalization will cost, but it can't be that much. I mean, who's gonna buy a disposable car then double its price with accessories? The bad part: no matter what colors or toys you add to the Nano, it still looks like a bloated Isetta. And it's probably just about as safe– though a LOT safer than four people on a moped.
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I don’t know why, but when I saw the pictures of the Tata I immediately wanted to pimp it out:
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x204/dolo54/peoples_car.jpg
“VW marketed the Beetle to baby boomers bent on blinging their whip”
I am, sad to say, old enough to be one of the odious “Boomers”, but that also means I remember the VW advertising of the 1950s and 60s. It had a minimalist Bauhaus sensibility such as a photo of the car with a one word logo like: “Cheap”.
I think the word you were looking for is customizing. The best evocation of that era is Tom Wolfe’s book “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby”.
Later in the 60s drug-addled hippies took to painting their bugs with flowers and “psychedelic” colors. However, most of that was house paint, not automotive enamel, and it was intended to cover rust spots.
I personally would like to thank Ratan Tata for significantly relieving my post-holiday depression. Never has there been such an opportunity for this much inane, juvenille humor. “Tweak your Tatas” is a perfect headline….good job, Frank.
For those of you who listen to Bob&Tom, Shirtless Girl will soon be trading in the Hooter Scooter for a pair of these.
With this web site, one could design a pair of Bodacious Tatas…
They need to offer it in Former British Colony Racing Green.
I wonder if they’ve ever cliniced the Tata moniker here in the states. Everytime I read it I’m reminded of the fact that tatas is an old vaudeville expression for breasts.
BabyM: They need to offer it in Former British Colony Racing Green.
They should offer a flesh tone for the exterior paint. I could then get a pair of these and a hot pink Tribeca to match.