Green Reva is red rag for some Americans

The rubber hasn’t met the road yet but sparks are already flying.India's electric car
Reva is receiving a torrid welcome in US after an an announcement last week that it would be manufactured in upstate New York by an American collaborator.

''So our economy is so bad that India is outsourcing to America?'' one New Yorker snippily asked in the local press, after Bannon Automotive, a Long Island electric car
firm of uncertain provenance, said it would build Reva's electric cars at a yet to be determined site near Syracuse at an event attended by the governor David Patterson.

Bannon is yet to get its financing
together and Reva's full board is yet to approve the project, but the fur is already flying over the plan, partly due to what locals see as the states munificence to dodgy entrepreneurs.

Paterson has said New York State will provide $6.76 million in incentives, including a $3 million grant and $3.76 million in wage and tax credits, In addition, the federal government is expected to provide $52 million in loans and loan guarantees to Bannon. In return, Bannon will be required to invest at least $26.6 million into the plant over the next three years.
Bannon has said that for now production would begin with about 100 employees and increase to 250 when full annual production of 15,000 to 20,000 cars is reached. The first cars will roll out towards the end of 2010.

An entry-level, two-seat version of the Reva, which will have a top speed of 50-55 mph and can go 50 miles on a charge, will be priced at about $17,000, Bannon executives said. A higher-end, three-door hatchback version with four seats will be priced at $20,000 to $25,000. Depending on the model, it would have a top speed of 100 mph and could travel up to 120 miles on a single charge.

But many New Yorkers, and Americans, are sceptical both about the car and the companies involved, not to speak of their obvious difficulty is accepting a niche Indian company making tracks in the United States. ''Sorry, but if I'm buying a mini car, I'd rather spend my cash
on a Smart Coupe. For $13,000 I can get nearly 60mpg, highway speeds, and I don't have to worry about recharging it if I want to go more than 50 miles from home,'' one local wrote in the Syracuse Post-Standard.

Not everyone was cynical. Some welcomed the ''foreign'' infusion into a bleeding US economy, speculating where the new plant would be located and whether laid-off local workers could find jobs there, and marvelling at the fact that an Indian company was pitching into the US market.

''Seriously. We have to undo a network of extravaganza that has brought us to our knees. Detroit kept us supplied with our drugs. Reach out to these energy efficient cars and America will stand tall again,'' wrote one New Yorker.