What can it learn? A lot.
The lessons start with the vision of Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors' parent, Tata Group, to create an ultralow-cost car for a new category of Indian consumer: someone who couldn't afford the $5,000 sticker price of what was then the cheapest car on the market and instead drove his family around on a $1,000 motorcycle.
"Just in India there are 50 million to 100 million people caught in that automotive chasm," says vice-president Vikas Sehgal, a principal at Booz & Co.
And yet none of the automakers in India were focused on that segment. In that respect, the Nano is a great example of the so-called blue ocean strategy.
Roads to greatness
"Great companies are built on creating new markets, not increasing market share in existing ones," says Vijay Govindarajan, a professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and chief innovation consultant at General Electric, who quickly runs off 10 lessons for Detroit.
Image: A family of four rides on a scooter. | Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters
Also see: India: Battleground for super-premium cars
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