BackCar makers hope auto show will help turn around fortunes
Automobile companies will display at least 70 new models, including several small cars, in The 12th Auto Expo that begins on Friday
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Mumbai: Automobile companies will display at least 70 new models, including several small cars, in the auto show that begins in Delhi-satellite Greater Noida on Friday, and are hoping that this will provide a fillip to auto sales that dropped for the first time in 11 years in 2013.
The 12th Auto Expo, billed as the biggest auto show in the country’s history, and in which 47 vehicle manufacturers will display their products, comes in the backdrop of a slowing economy and weak consumer sentiment. Many of them will display new offerings—from small cars to sports utility vehicles, sedans to scooters, and motorcycle to trucks—that will be introduced over the next few years and are hoping this will reverse the trend of low sales.
“We hope the upcoming Auto Expo, which will showcase new products and technology, will provide a trigger in giving a much-needed boost to the auto industry and overall sentiment," Pravin Shah, chief executive, automotive division, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, said in a statement on 1 February. The utility vehicle maker has seen sales slide for 10 straight months.
The show is a big hit with visitors, and industry lobby Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers or Siam is expecting close to 100,000 visitors per day, Vishnu Mathur, director general, said at a press meet in Delhi on 3 February.
Still, the show won’t “fundamentally change anything", said Anil Sharma, senior research analyst at consultant IHS Automotive. “This expo is unique because a slew of products are going to be unveiled during the slowdown. However, we may see only a small uptick immediately after the launch."
Among the launches will be several small cars. Between April and September, sales of these cars accounted for just around 33% of all car sales, according to data from Siam, down from 59.24% in the year ago period. Most buyers of small cars are value-conscious middle-class buyers who have stayed away on account of a slowing economy that has eroded consumer sentiment, persistent high inflation which means less money to spend on purchases such as a car, and high fuel prices that translate into a high cost of ownership.
Among these is Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s Celerio EZ Drive, the company’s first attempt at a semi-automated transmission.
Tata Motors Ltd has a lot riding on its new small car Bolt, and also on its new compact sedan Zest. The maker of Indica and Safari models has been losing market share steadily and is now down to the fifth position from the third. “These will be completely new, performance-oriented models with consumer benefits focused around driving pleasure and connectivity, and the first proof-point to consumers that there is a new Tata Motors in the passenger vehicle business," Ranjit Yadav, president of Tata’s passenger car business unit said in an interview in late November. The company unveiled the new models on 3 February in Delhi.
Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd is launching the Datsun Go, a small car, and also a Datsun sedan, and Honda Cars India Ltd is hoping the new Jazz, its premium small car offering, does better than the old.
Even as they try to revive interest in the segment that accounts for the most sales, though, car makers will also be vying to compete in the sports utility vehicles market— among the most profitable.
Encouraged by the success of the Renault India Pvt. Ltd’s Duster and Ford India Pvt. Ltd’s EcoSport, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Volkswagen India Pvt. Ltd, General Motors India Pvt. Ltd, and others will be taking the wraps off their compact sports utility and multi-purpose vehicles. Many of these are expected to hit the market in the coming months.
Luxury car makers, who have made a beeline for India in recent years, attracted by the rising number of millionaires, will also be unveiling new models at the show. Market leader Audi India Pvt. Ltd will unveil 10 new models, including concepts; Mercedes-Benz India Pvt. Ltd will showcase three new models, and 13 in all; and BMW India Pvt. Ltd will bring the BMWi. Jaguar Land Rover India too will showcase its line-up for India and overseas market.
This year, Siam, and industry lobbies Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Auto Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA), have split the show and the so-called The Motor Show will be held not at its traditional venue, Pragati Maidan but at the Export Mart in Greater Noida, 40 km away.
With criticism growing louder over the apparent mismanagement of the country’s biggest auto show in 2012, the organizers have shifted the venue to the new one that is bigger and boasts of better infrastructure. A separate Components show will go on at the old venue.
Arundhati Ramanathan in Chennai and Amrit Raj in New Delhi contributed to this story.
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