Auto-Expo 2010- India

What better way to start the New Year for the car enthusiasts than the new wheels coming in at The Auto Expo 2010, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, from 05-11 january. With over 2 million visitors, this Auto Expo was the biggest in terms of  footfalls, and all the hotshots of the automobile industry realizing and perceiving the potential of Indian market. India’s emergence as a major market and a hub for the global auto industry was reinforced at this year’s Auto Expo that concluded on January 11, 2010, saw the launch of an unprecedented 72 vehicles in virtually every segment by domestic and multinational companies.

Autoexpo

“The success of the expo is a testimony to India’s emergence as a global manufacturing hub”, that is what Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of state for Commerce and Industry, had to say on the valedictory function of the 10th Auto Expo.
With automobile giants capitalizing on the idea “Made in India, for the world”, every company seems to be eyeing India for launches across various segments of automobiles.
Be it, hatchbacks, sedans, SUV’s, MUV’s, luxury cars, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, companies want to develop more in all these segments by increasing their market share in all the segments, and what better market can it be than India which is growing at a phenomenal rate.
The first Auto Expo I attended was in 2006, second one in 2008, and I was lucky enough to visit it in 2010 as well ! As it was a record-breaking expo in terms of footfalls, I could sense that in the first 15 minutes I entered the venue. Well I managed to visit almost all the pavilions amidst the heavy rush, and could manage to catch a glimpse of all that was on display.
The first pavilion that I got to visit was of Ashok Leyland, and I admit that the moment I saw one of the trucks I was impressed by their design! They now look much more appealing and updated. And of course the engineering gone into them is as impressive, as these trucks had a carrying capacity of 40-75 tonnes. So Leyland showed off its might with its new range of trucks across various utilities, which they claim are greener as well.
Then next I happened to visit the Mahindra pavilion, and once again what caught my eye was their new range of trucks. Yes Mahindra has entered the heavy vehicle segment as well, and this new venture being called “Navistar”. Even they did their bit of going green by making their smaller utility vehicles go electric or CNG compliant.
Volvo made their presence felt by showcasing their range of buses and trucks, and they also showed their concern about the environment by displaying the intra-city bus that was CNG compliant.
As I moved around the venue for the next few minutes, I saw the customized cars by DC, and also the JCB diesel max, the one that they claim broke the speed record by going beyond 500 kmph, the fastest ever by a diesel run car.
One would expect the world’s biggest carmaker to put up a grand show if they are to launch a new product, and that’s exactly what Toyota had done to launch and promote their new “Etios”. Toyota left no stone unturned in attracting attention of everyone present there with musicians and dancers to match the standards.

Toyota Etios

Other than that there were the mean machines that Toyota boasts about all around the globe, yes, the “Land Cruiser” and all its variants. Also present was the famous “Prius”.
Moving onto Honda, another Japanese engineering marvel, one could see “Jazz” displayed in various designs and graffiti. Then there were the usual “City”, “Civic” as well.
After catching up with entertainment customizations from JBL, I moved on to the pavilion of Royal Enfield where I could see the newly launched single seater models, and I must say the colors available do make them really stylish !
Then came something that made the bike enthusiasts skip a beat, it was the big brother of all the motorcycles, Harley Davidson, and I wont be justifying these huge bikes unless I do call them mean machines. It just suites their huge dimensions and big engines. They surely are a true biker’s delight or should I say a true biker’s dream!

Harley Davidson

Yamaha too made it big with its ravishing sport bikes.
The next crowd puller was Hyundai’s “Genesis” which was acclaimed as 2009’s North American car of the year. Another cynosure from Hyundai was the “I-mode”. Other than these there were “Accent”, “Sonata”, “i20” and a green-tech “i10”.
I also managed to catch a glimpse of a Lamborghini ! It was parked at the pavilion of Autocar India magazine, one of the leading car magazines in India.

Lamborghini

Next thing that caught my eye was something parked out in the open, because it was too big to be parked inside a building. It was one of Tata’s new range of trucks called “Prima”, and I must admit it was a headturner!

Tata Prima

Then next I went onto to the pavilion of world’s third biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, and the attention gatherers there were the “Polo” and “Beetle”. Other than that there were “Toureg”, “Jetta” and “Passat”. One thing different about VW is that at such expo’s they do their bit by giving out freebies like posters, handbags, keychains etc. They do know how to make their presence felt and that too with a smile !

Volkswagen Polo

Skoda managed to pull the crowds with their SUV “Yeti”. Other than that there were “Superb” and “Laura”.
The next pavilion was the Tata’s passenger car stall which had cars’s from Tata as well as the newly acquired Jaguar and Land Rover. The one’s that made the camera’s click were Tata “PrIma”, “Aria”, certain models of Jaguar and the “Range Rover Sport”.

Tata Aria

Fiat made its presence with its small car “500”
Mercedes made the impact with the launch of its new utility vehicle “GL class”
General Motors made their splash by launching the Chevrolet “Beat”.
Well I made my exit after this much, mostly satisfied and contented, but something that needs to improve is not in the infrastructure but in the management of huge numbers of visitors that throng this expo. I feel the movement of visitors inside the venue should be more streamlined, for example the entry and exits, because the number of visitors are going to go on increasing.
To sum it all up and to summarize what I feel is expected to make it big in the time to come is, Etios from Toyota, Polo from VW, Aria from Tata, Prima trucks from Tata, Beat from Chevrolet, small cars from Maruti, Harley Davidson bikes for their debut on Indian roads. Rest we can wait and watch.
Happy & Safe Motoring.