London, December 30
Head of the Tata Group Ratan Tata feels that after the successful launch of his dream project — the Rs 1-lakh car — will ideally be the nice time for him to retire from active business life, a media report said here.

"In an ideal world, after the small car has been launched and is successful, that would be a nice time for me to exit," Tata told the 'Financial Times' newspaper.

Tata Motors, the automotive arm of the over Rs 3-trillion market value group, is scheduled to unveil the vehicle, touted as the world's cheapest mass-produced car, on January 10 at Auto Expo in New Delhi.

Rival car makers are, however, not convinced about the safety and emission standards of the car, coming as it is at that price level.

Reacting to this, Tata told the British newspaper that "we are producing a car that will be no more polluting than a motorcycle." Tata told the 'Financial Times', which has named him among the three entrepreneurs making their presence felt around the world, "as we are not going to produce millions and millions of them, inundating the country, we will not be adding to the carbon footprint on a per-passenger basis."

The report said there was a big gap between the cost of the average two-wheeler and entry-level cars such as the Maruti 800, which retails for about $5,000, and Tata plans to fill it.

"The only reason we did not make the Rs 1-lakh car a hybrid, for example, is that it could not have been priced at Rs 1 lakh," said Tata, who celebrated his 70th birthday on December 28.

The 'Financial Times' said Tata would be one of the most visible faces of the new India in 2008.

When asked whether he has "the fire in his belly for a further five years," Tata told the daily, "Not really." The other two named in the list of "Faces of Enterprises" include Marc Simoncini and Elon Musk.

Simoncini, 44, has founded, invested in and managed a succession of software and internet companies during his colourful business career and runs Meetic, Europe's largest online dating agency, it said.

"Musk is CEO, majority owner, and head rocket designer at SpaceX, an aerospace start-up in El Segundo, California, that by 2011 plans to be hauling astronauts to and from the International Space Station," Financial Times said. — PTI