In another two decades from now, by 2030, India is poised to become the third largest automotive market in the world, after the United States and China and India’s automotive industry is likely to reach $145 billion. It is in this backdrop, the automobile industry is organising the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi, the largest auto show in Asia.
The auto lovers will have a glimpse of sparkle and glory of the “Power of Wheel” with the eight-day event starting from January 10 in the capital city of Delhi. The once-in-two-years event with the theme of “Mobility for All” will be attended by the Who’s Who of global as well as the Indian auto industry, displaying their machine and technology.

They will feature many firsts of the global auto industry in terms of green and future technologies, concept vehicles, new launches and focus pavilions.

Auto analysts feel that the Auto Expo 2008—organised jointly by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA)—is all poised to be one of the biggest platforms for the Asian auto markets and will be the largest in Asia in terms of space, with a floor area of over 140,000 square meters, up by around 60 per cent over the last Auto Expo held in 2006.

As CII National Trade Fair Committee Chairman Rajiv Kaul says, “India has arrived in the big league of the international automobile markets and this will be evident in the 9th Auto Expo.” This auto expo will witness more than 2,000 participants compared to 1,200 exhibitors in the Eighth Auto Expo in 2006 and expects over one million visitors, organisers claim.

Wide range

For the first time, this auto expo is providing focused sector pavilions such as accessories and car decor, diesel city, garage equipment, robotics and automation and electronics pavilion, says an ACMA official.

“The response is so overwhelming that we have to plead with the International Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) to allow space within permanent state pavilions to accommodate excessive bookings.

Besides, this auto show also has 10 extra hangers to accommodate excessive bookings,” a CII official said. Besides participation from 25 countries, it will also have largest ever overseas participation with country pavilions from Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, Taiwan, UK and USA.

Major bike makers, three-wheeler players, auto parts manufacturers are also betting big on this event.
Besides, big-ticket investment announcements from both domestic and global players, introduction of hybrid and alternative fuel technologies and battery-operated vehicles would be other attractions of the mega event.

Green concept

With the theme ‘Mobility for All’, this auto expo will also focus on advanced environmental and safety technologies, innovative designs, and new forms of fun and comfort for the automobile. Seminars covering the entire gamut of the automobile arena would also be its integral parts to create awareness for industry players in particular.

CII Deputy Director General Gurpal Singh says, “Over the years, auto expo is increasingly proving to be a very effective event for facilitating the coming together of auto majors from around the world in a focused fashion, under one roof.  This edition will be biggest in all ways, with global auto players eyeing India as the future market.”

Significantly the auto expo has already achieved the status of one of the ‘Top International Auto Shows’ by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobile (OICA).

OICA will include the Delhi show in its calendar of international shows and this will also draw in more international companies and overseas business delegations as the organisation will promote the show to its members.

New models

The organisers are also on overdrive because the auto expo is likely to see launch of 30 new vehicle models, including the much-hyped Rs 1 lakh car from Tata Motors, concept car A-Star and Splash of Maruti-Suzuki, sports utility vehicle Touareg of Volkswagen and compact car Jazz from Honda among others, which will be hit the Indian roads in times to come, industry sources say.

Tata Motors has already announced that keeping with the company’s tradition of unveiling its new cars at the auto expo, the company will display its much-talked about “People’s Car” at the forthcoming expo.

The commercial launch of the car is expected to take place in the middle of 2008. Tata Motors will jointly participate with the Fiat India with a pavilion spread over 5,200 square meters, largest in the expo.

Said a Tata Motors official, “We will display a range of new passenger vehicles, while Fiat will display passenger cars from its international range.” Fiat is expected to display Grande Punto at the stall.

From its commercial vehicles business, Tata Motors’ display will include buses from the joint venture with Marcopolo of Brazil, newly developed multi-axle heavy trucks, pickup vehicles, applications of panel vans, and new mini-trucks.

Not to be outdone, country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India has chosen the Auto Expo 2008 to unveil its latest small car concept the A-star and Splash.

Suzuki Chief O Suzuki has already announced that A-star is a car that is designed for the global market and will be produced in India only.

Not to be left behind the other major car maker Hyundai will launch its much-awaited new MUV—Santa Fe—at the forthcoming auto expo. Hyundai is also expected to display its car i20, which will be launched in India after the successful entry of its latest hatch-back—the i10.

Volkswagen is expected to showcase its latest luxury SUV—Touareg—at its pavilion. It will also exhibit its flagship small car model—Passat—which is already on sale in India. Industry sources say Volkswagen will also exhibit its future launch in small car segment Jetta.

The utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra, which made its debut in cars last year with the launch of Logan, is expected to show case a new SUV in the expo.

But one important car company that is staying away from the Auto Expo is Bangalore-based Toyota Kirloskar. The reason, according to industry sources, is that the company has no plans for a new launch in the near future, so it has nothing to showcase. A major reason why India’s auto expo is gaining importance year after year is that this biennial event is offering an excellent platform to the Indian automobile and auto-component industry to display state-of-the-art and the latest developments in the automotive industry to the global audience.

Attractive platform

In fact, the auto expo is increasingly becoming popular among the auto component manufacturers. This is so because virtually world’s major auto makers are sourcing India for wide range of auto components. Exports of auto components from India in the year 2007 is estimated at $2 billion. The success is mainly because Indian auto component manufacturers are providing high-quality products at a reasonable cost.

It is being increasingly observed that most of the trade inquiries received during India’s Auto Expo are those relating to auto component. As per CII data during the last Auto Expo 2006, there were more than 1,30,000 trade enquiries and orders worth Rs 538 crore were booked.

The other primary reason why India’s auto expo will assume greater importance in coming years is that most auto majors at the global level are looking at India as their manufacturing hub.

For example Suzuki, Hyundai and Ford are already using plants in India to export to Europe. Besides, India because of its burgeoning upwardly moving middle class with fat wallet, is emerging as one of the most sought after markets for global car makers.