When Tata Motors unveiled a prototype of its Nano microcar in January 2008, auto execs around the world were aflutter. They hustled teams to India to document the planned $2,000 "people's car." And industry watchers and innovation experts soon reported on the engineering and supply chain breakthroughs behind the car.
But look beyond the Nano halo and it's clear that U.S. Automakers aren't the only ones with problems. Tata Motors has its own, from the $2.3bn in debt it took on to purchase Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford to the sums sunk into the Nano assembly plant in West Bengal that had to be abandoned.
Still, no one disputes that the Nano is innovative on multiple levels--from its engineering to its marketing to its manufacturing. So it's hard to avoid the question: What can a humbled Detroit learn from the Tata Nano?
Source: Business Week