Emerging economies have become a hotbed of innovation, as necessity drives people to create, re-use materials, and hack existing products to better suit their environment. This ingenuity from the developing world is called reverse, or trickle up innovation.

Now, a new breed of cars is emerging from India, which may not be super fast, or luxurious, but are perfectly suited to the urban landscape, and the average person's income.

Back in 2009, Indian auto company Tata Motors released a car aimed at the Indian domestic market, called the Nano. Nano was a highly compact, inexpensive city car, capable of carrying four passengers. With a price tag of 100,000 Indian Rupees (£1,300) the Nano was the cheapest car in the world. The Financial Times in 2008, called the Nano a "triumph of homegrown engineering," and said that the design "encapsulates the dream of millions of Indians groping for a shot at urban prosperity."

Although sales of the Tata Nano have been disappointing since its launch, due to bad publicity and a number of technical faults the Tata Nano still embodies a design which is reactive to its social environment.

Now, a new manufacturer has emerged to inhabit the same space, with a vehicle so compact, that it shuns the definition of 'car'. Indian company, Bajaj Auto unveiled its RE60, just before the Delhi Auto Expo. The RE60 is the smallest four-wheeled road vehicle ever produced, Baja Auto's MD Rajiv Bajaj describes his company's latest creation as a "an urban passenger vehicle meant to compete with three-wheelers."

The RE60 boasts unrivalled green credentials also, as it emits just 60 gm per kilometre, the lowest level of emission for a vehicle of its kind in the world. Although the car is said to be super-cheap too, the official price for the vehicle has yet to be published.

This kind of ingenuity will be seen increasingly in emerging economies, as small car manufacturers tailor designs to cater for specific scenarios. In the future, established automakers will have to take note from this small number of innovators.