Designing for the bottom of the pyramid

My professor of marketing Prof Mithileshwar Jha said this to me today.

Products for the masses at the bottom of the pyramid cannot be built by striping down current designs to strip away cost and hence reach a price point.
They need to be designed by looking at current products being used by the common man and adding value to them.

So a cheap car can be built better not by strippoing down a sedan (Renault Logan?) but more by building up from the common man's transport solution of today. (Either a two wheeler or even the three wheel auto rikshaw.)

A hotel for the bottom end cannot be a stripped down Taj Hotel. It has to be a improved "Udupi restaurant" experience.

I think there is much to mull over here. The man is my view one of the best "mass" marketers I have ever encountered. Thank you, sir.