What Detroit can learn from the dirt-cheap Nano car

Would you believe that there is an automotive company today with a hit on its hands? Well there is, India-based Tata Motors (TTM), maker of the Nano -- not the uber-hip MP3 player, but the dirt-cheap, no-frills car. Despite production delays that caused the Nano to only be on sale from April 9 to April 25, the company raked in an impressive $512.6 million in the car's first month.

More impressive is the fact that these sales were made in a country that sold just 1.5 million passenger cars last fiscal year. What is also interesting is that a majority of those purchasing the Nano went for the "luxury edition," which comes complete with air conditioning and power windows. Just 20 percent of the customers purchased the cheapest version of the car (which runs $2,050) and the final 30 percent chose the mid-range model.