Tata’s $2,500 Nano car (pictured left) may not have been unveiled at the Detroit auto show, but that didn’t stop it from being the talk of the show.

Auto executives said the car could have far-reaching impact. Ford’s head of Asia Pacific, John Parker, certainly thinks so.

“It is a groundbreaking product,” Parker told reporters. The car will “cause people to think differently about the car. I have a lot of respect for Tata.”

Calyon Securities analyst Mark Warnsman in a research note released during the show pointed out that the Nano took its bow this month in India almost 100 years after Ford revolutionized the global auto industry with the Model T car. 

“Will the Nano revolutionize the global auto industry in the way that the Model T originally did? In brief, our answer is no, but there are a number of aspects of the Nano that we do find interesting,” he said.

“The Nano may not be revolutionary in its technology, but it is state-of-the-art in the way it has tweaked existing technologies to target an as-yet untapped segment of the market,” Warnsman added. “For this, it will be worthy of study, and imitation, by automobile manufacturers everywhere.”

Nissan executive vice president Carlos Tavares was very interested in the Nano’s reception last week. The Japanese automaker, along with partner Renault and India’s Bajaj Auto Ltd, is studying whether it can profitably develop a $3,000 car to rival the Nano 

“We’re very excited to see the reception that the Nano got,” Tavares told Reuters. “It’s very impressive. Hopefully they will deliver on the promise, and of course we will benchmark against the Nano.”

Other executives heard talking about the impact of the Nano, which will be offered in India later this year, included General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz and AutoNation CEO Michael Jackson.

(Photo: Reuters)