Is Air Asia aping the Tata Nano trick? By projecting themselves as the cheapest airline, Air Asia is unconsciously copying the failed trick of Tata Nano. They should know that this trick is doomed to fail.

Indians surely love a good bargain, but they associate pride to a few things. Owning a car and air travel are matters of pride to Indians, at least to the middle class. If you take the pride away, there won’t be many takers even if you offer them a great bargain.

That’s the reason Tata Nano failed to make inroads into the low-end car market. Most middle class people do not want to go around in what everybody knows as the cheapest car. If there is no pride in owning a car, then what’s the use of owning one? Owning a car is a matter of prestige to the middle class. Its utility comes second.

Both Tata Nano and Air Asia are aimed at the rising middle class. Tata Nano is not aimed at a family that can afford a sedan. It is aimed at the middle class family that wishes to travel as a family, with pride. Buying a car may well be their announcement to their relatives and friends that they have finally achieved financial security and are on the road to success. If that element of pride is taken away, the very reason for owning a car is ruined. The family will just wait for some more time and buy a Maruthi.

The very market segment that the product is aimed at thinks of the product as anathema. Now, the only people who buy a Nano are not the intended lower-to-middle middle class. Upper middle class people who are already assured of their financial status are buying Nano as a second car. The problem is their numbers are low. The strategy, if it was one, is an utter failure.

The same goes for Air Asia. Air Asia painted their small fleet with the phrase “Now Everyone can Fly.” Even though Air Asia intends to put air travel within the reach of all, they should have concealed their intention and should not have made it this obvious.

Yes, it is true that there is a difference between owning a car and travelling for just more than an hour in a flight. People would not come to know which airline you have travelled on, unless you tell them. Even then, the failure of Tata Nano is a lesson to all on how a middle class family thinks and operates. Companies should learn and not repeat the mistake.