Nano stirs Detroit, but not present there

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The most-talked-about car at the Detroit auto show this year isn't even present: Tata Motors Ltd's Nano.

The vehicle planned by country's largest truckmaker would violate emissions and safety regulations in the US, Europe and Japan, auto executives from those markets said.

The 2,500 dollar Nano wouldn't meet consumer expectations in developed countries for creature comforts such as air conditioning, they said.

Yet they're all wondering how to respond to it. "What we're seeing really is the automotive world is divided into two distinct markets," General Motors, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told reporters at the North American International Auto Show.

"It's akin to the coming of the Ford Model T," Aaron Bragman, an analyst at Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said, and also at Detroit's annual exhibit of the industry's latest models.

With the US market coming off its slowest year in a decade, sales down in Japan and Western Europe stagnating, GM, Toyota Motor. and other automakers are turning to emerging markets such as India and China, where sales are growing more than 10 per cent a year.