The world may soon be profoundly changed by a single object, one which the typical American could buy using a credit card. In June, India’s Tata Motors began production of the world’s most affordable car: the Tata Nano. Selling for a mere $2,500, the Nano is financially within reach for 500 million Indians. And with 250,000 produced in 2010, this car is the equivalent to the second coming of Ford’s Model T. The Nano is poised to socially, physically, and environmentally revolutionize India — the world’s largest democracy, a nuclear power, and a place of vast and underused resources — and could spark monumental change that ripples across the globe.