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Tesla And Tata Could Dominate The Future ... If They Get There au

Tesla and Tata, which are the opposite poles of a mobile future that could look utterly unlike what we have today, could wind up defining our choices for everyday transportation, Matthew DeBord writes. If they survive the next two years.

Silicon Valley's Tesla represents green luxury -- an all-electric sedan whose first model will, after tax credits, sell for just under $50,000. India's Tata stands for semigreen basic transportation, with its Nano "People's Car" that retails for $2,000. But both companies are grappling with significant business issues, with Tesla's immediate need for operating cash more significant.

Whoever survives, what's potentially happening is a new kind of market segmentation as sustainable destiny, according to DeBord. "Electric vehicles will eventually become the iPhones of the developed world's personal-mobility consumers; just as buyers did with the Prius, they'll pay extra to do the right thing for Planet Earth," he writes. "In regions where personal mobility doesn't involve an enclosed experience, the Nano is a game-changer."

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