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Tata Emo Electric Concept: Is It Really that Depressing?

 
1,507 views Jan 6, 2012
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Tata Emo Electric Concept

Tata Emo Electric Concept

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If you’re of a certain age, the word Emo evokes images of sulking, depressed teenagers with jet-black hair metaphorically drowning in a world of sorrow, complex poetry and dark, emotional music.

So you can understand our amusement when Indian automaker Tata decided to name its latest electric mobility concept vehicle the Tata Emo.

Yes, the curse of electric-car-names-that-also-mean-something-completely-different has struck again. 

Due to be officially unveiled next week at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, the Emo is almost the antithesis to the group of depressed teens that share its name. 

Looking a little like a slightly larger, more futuristic version of Tata’s popular Nano microcar, the Emo was built to pass tough federal safety requirements. 

With a tall but narrow stance, all-glass roof, seating for four and suicide rear doors that resemble those found on the Mazda RX-8, the Emo even looks better than the Tata Nano.

Despite similarities in appearance and size however, Tata is keen to point out that there’s no mechanical relationship between the Emo and the Nano. 

When it comes to interior appointment however, the two cars are more alike than you might hope.

There’s no leather seats, dual-zone climate controls or fancy entertainment systems. Like some kind of perverted race car, every luxury has been scarified in the pursuit of weight saving. 

But racing isn’t something you’ll ever see the Tata Emo do. An unspecified battery pack and electric motor gives the Emo a range of around 100 miles, while top speed is limited to just 65 mph.

Tata Emo Electric Concept

Tata Emo Electric Concept

Enlarge Photo

The weight saving continues into the Emo’s body panels. While the chassis is made of a traditional steel structure, the outer body panels are made of a molded polymer that do not require painting. Naturally, these also weigh less than traditional metal panels. 

Ultimately, these weight savings lead to financial savings too, and while Tata has no plans to release the Emo as a production car it points out the Emo could be sold for less than $20,000. 

We love the idea of an electric city car that’s fun, lightweight and saves you money, but the Tata Emo isn’t it. 

Sacrificing a working rear hatch for structural strength, and forcing drivers to use the rear seats as a cargo area, the Emo’s mediocre and compromised stance just leaves us feeling a little... depressed. 

On further thought, perhaps Emo is the perfect name after all. 

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Comments (8)

  1. GustoGuy avatar Mark Stang Posted: 1/6/2012 11:32am PST

    The Tata Emo will not sell in the USA or Europe or even Asian countries because it is an inferior vehicle that will only reinforce stereotypes that EV's are inferior to gasoline powered vehicles. Tata is made in India were people simply do not have the money to buy European or Japanese or American vehicles. They are meant as a low cost solution to the relatively expensive vehicles that are made in other countries. They are basicaly a non issue unless they raise their quality standards tremendously and try to compete with other manufactures but then they would most likely price themselves out of their own market which they do not want to do. They are a way for a relatively poor Indian family to own a vehicle without paying lots of money.
     
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  2. fb_531617291 avatar Jay Temkar Posted: 1/6/2012 8:40pm PST

    Mark I think you are wrong. As I am from India I know the ground realities well. In Last 2 years all the major brands of world launched their vehicles in India, Including Super Cars, SUVs and Luxary Sedans. Clearly there is very big market for those international cars in India.
    Only middle class and Lower middle class in India opt for small cars. But again they are international vehicles which are alrady launched in Japan and Europe. In India they launch Standard and Trimmed version as well. Although there are some special vehicles like Tata Nano Nano which are targeted at Lower Middle class, which also have Standard and Trimmed version available. So companies leaves the choice to people.
     
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  3. GustoGuy avatar Mark Stang Posted: 1/8/2012 4:43pm PST

    "The Tata Emo will not sell in the USA or Europe or even Asian countries because it is an inferior vehicle that will only reinforce stereotypes that EV's are inferior to gasoline powered vehicles"
    I said that the car is not going to sell outside of India. Sure wealthy people in India will be buying Lexus and Mercedes, and BMW's and other high end automobiles. If you are wealthy why would you want an inferior car? I for one would not. Tata is trying to market the base model Nano as a low cost or entry model for the masses. They do have nicer cars in their line up than the Nano and Emo for sale. Also poor road quality is mentioned by you as a reason to own a small fuel efficient car as well as expensive gasoline.
     
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  4. fb_531617291 avatar Jay Temkar Posted: 1/6/2012 8:51pm PST

    Indians also prefer small cars because they dont travel too far in car. Very few prople travels more than 300 Km in Cars. Also there is too much traffic in India and relatively roads in India are small/thin due to which people cant drive too Fast as well. So I can say that India can be frustating for any person who have Ferarri and wants it to drive on higher speed. Also Fuel price is very high in India than other countries and US. So generally peolpe tends to buy small/Medium cars so save running cost and they also dont complain if that vehicle is not fast enough because they know that they cannot drive very fast in India.
     
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  5. GustoGuy avatar Mark Stang Posted: 1/8/2012 4:27pm PST

    Tata, Does not yet make world class cars at all. They are not exported in any large numbers outside of India like Japanese and European cars are and to a lesser extent even American cars. How ever Tata is striving to make much better cars that should soon rival or aproximate quaility standards of cars in other countries. The Nano was built to be the lowest cost production car. It was developed primarly for the Indian market and not for international sales. I have nothing personally against Tata but they are not yet a competitor to Japanese or European or even American cars. However they are making much better quality product now than they were just a few years ago and Tata motors is striving to have sales in international markets.
     
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  6. fb_531617291 avatar Jay Temkar Posted: 1/6/2012 8:29pm PST

    "while Tata has no plans to release the Emo as a production car it points out the Emo could be sold for less than $20,000": - I think the sentence is contradicting..If emo is not going to be production car then it is only for POC purpose. Then how it can be sold to people. As per my understanding only production cars are sold to people.
     
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  7. Chris O avatar Chris O Posted: 1/7/2012 1:10am PST

    Usually compact EV's cost about double their ICE equivalent, but although $20K sounds not too bad for an EV this is actually 7X the price of it's ICE equivalent (the Tata Nano), so the economics don't really seem to work here. Would explain why Tata isn't even considering bringing this to the market.
     
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  8. fb_1208977880 avatar Danny Santiago Posted: 3/13/2012 6:29am PDT

    I disagree with the premise that Nano or Emo will not sell in the USA. If my wallet was running a little thin and I had the choice between purchasing a small inexpensive vehicle for a little over $2000 vs. a scooter, guess what I would buy? That's a no-brainer. Unfortunately, we don't seem to have a consumer-based 'free' market. Our market is dictated by the large oil and auto industries, making sure their market is not infringed upon and profits continue rolling in. I believe change is inevitable, but the corporate foot dragging will not allow us consumers to purchase products we want sooner, rather than later.
     
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