The Indian automotive industry is gearing up to stamp its authority on the international arena with the Auto Expo that will witness four global launches of new cars, including the much-touted Tata's Rs 100,000-car.
With around 2,000 participants and 1,20,000 square feet of display area, the 9th Auto Expo would be next only to the Shanghai Motor Show in terms of space occupied and is expected to host over 12 lakh visitors during January 10-17.
"This time around not only our display area has doubled but the participation has also increased considerably. There will be four global launches of cars out of a total of 25 new launches during the expo, which is inclusive of components," CII Deputy Director General Gurpal Singh told PTI.
In terms of business, he said, this year's expo is likely to generate double the amount from the last one. The 8th Auto Expo two years ago did a business of over Rs 10 crore (100 million).
He said of the 2,000 exhibitors, as many as 60 per cent are domestic while the remaining are global players. Adding a feather to its cap is the fact that the Auto Expo has received accreditation from OICA (Organisation Internatinale Des Constructeurs D'automobiles) of France.
Organised jointly by Confederation of Indian Industry, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers and Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India, the 9th Auto Expo would be open for general public from January 10-17 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Entry tickets have been priced at Rs 500 for business and Rs 150 for general public.
"Considering the growing importance of Indian automotive industry on the global platform, various automotive giants and automotive delegations from as many as 25 countries, including France, Brazil, Japan and Korea, will also be visiting," Singh said.
The exposition would see one of the biggest global participation with automobile manufacturers and ancilliaries from the US, Japan, China, Germany, France and Italy among others exhibiting their products. The organisers have set up special pavillions like diesel city, infotronics, design pavillion and auto enterprise to make it an interesting event.
India's biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd would unveil its A-Star hatchback concept car with a launch slated later in the year. The company would also showcase its 1.1 litre Splash which would be produced in India for the entire European market.
General Motors India, a unit of the world's biggest carmaker, would launch its bestselling SUV Captiva in India. GM's two biggest rivals globaly -- Ford and Toyota -- have, however, decided not to participate in the expo this time.
Japan's Honda Motor would showcase its technologically advanced fuel cell car FCX and hybrid Civic, besides a Jazz prototype, which would be launched in India in 2009. But the spotlight will be on Tata Motors' much-awaited Rs 100,000-car. India's biggest automobile firm would also showcase refreshed variants of Indica and Indigo.
"The objective is not only to promote the already established names in the auto industry but also to provide a platform to smaller ancilliaries," Singh said.