Grassroots invention - Can the auto industry get back to basics?

Some of the inventions shortlisted for an award in Singapore this week are very impressive indeed as they are touting simple and practical design in a society beset with modernization.
Amphibious bicycle that has floats which allow it to run on water, natural airing ventilator that requires no wind and consumes no power, machine that digs for groundnuts and separates them from the soil and modified pulley for wells which has a locking mechanism to stop the rope from slipping into wells. Surprisingly, many of these practical innovations come from ordinary people with limited schooling.

What struck my mind was how simple such inventions are yet the impact they created to the society is tremendous particularly those poor people who have no access to modern technology. Can the automotive industry replicate the same thing? Coming up with practival, cheap, simple yet useable technology that could make ultramodern cars more affordable to people living in the 3rd world nations. This would definitely promote motorization and thus enhance their standard of living.

Is there any chance that cars can be improved upon other than hoarding them with electronic gizmos that leave vehicle reliability in question. How about a truncated version of the mini electric fan in car to replace the air conditioning system that sucks up petrol? It is good for the environment and best of all it makes car ownership affordable.