It seem to me to compare this line to Tata's Nano is misplaced. VW is on the verge of becoming the world's largest
auto maker, with the "UP" product line venturing through out the Volkswagen Empire in various forms and at a profit, GM would be wise to look at the obvious competition.
Following the launch of “Tell Fritz” on www.gmreinvention.com, in which customers can provide feedback to GM’s CEO, GM announced today the launch of “The Lab,” a microsite featuring future projects by GM’s Advanced Design team.
Two future projects being worked on by GM’s design team are the Bare Necessity Car (branded as a Chevrolet) and the Bare Necessity Truck (branded as a GMC).
So what exactly is this? Think of it as a Tata Nano - but with more quality and more features.
The question of making trade-offs is difficult. “Bare necessity” in vehicle terms has a unique meaning to different people. The idea of offering people only what they need and nothing more became an important focus. Ok, but it can’t feel cheap or limiting, it has to be flawlessly executed. As designers, we had to think in terms of designing in the ability to eliminate non-critical features, based on unique customer needs. We were calling this the “Basic Plus Approach.” This approach would help us deal with the conundrum of one man’s crap being another man’s essential.
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