Cars and popular aspiration

The current discussion of the Tata Nano, India’s “people’s car”, reminds me of the brilliant “sculptor” advert by Peugeot a few years ago for its 206. Whoever made the commercial, with a catchy backing track by Bhangra Knights, caught the popular aspiration for a better life in a clever and witty way. Only as an advert it was geared towards selling a particular product rather than making a more general point.

I was also struck to read recently that first production model of the Ford Model T, the car that popularised motoring in America, was assembled in October 1908. In other words India is about a century behind America in that respect. Henry Ford had many faults but he fulfilled his promise to “build a motor car for the multitude”.