New Delhi Auto Expo 2012

[IndoCarib]

Global automakers make beeline for India show


New Delhi - More than 1,500 carmakers from 24 countries are to participate in India's bi-annual auto show, due to open this week with a focus on fuel-efficient technologies, organizers said Tuesday.

The week-long Auto Expo 2012 in New Delhi, to kick off Thursday, is to see the launches of 10 new models of cars, two-wheelers and trucks as manufacturers vie for a share of the Indian market, where over 15 million vehicles are sold each year.

Companies from Germany, China, France, Japan, Italy and Britain have confirmed their participation, expo chairman Rajive Kaul said.

The country's main auto show expects to attract half a million visitors and boasts a display area of 115,000 square metres, he said.

Despite a slowing of economic growth to 7 per cent this year, the Indian auto market has grown at 13 per cent.

International attention was also focusing on the Indian market because developed markets were stagnant or declining, said S Sandilya, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

'India is one of the few markets in the world which is growing and also has a vast growth potential in the years to come. Therefore, the world is looking at India to drive future global growth in the auto sector.'

'The show will position India as a champion of green mobility, with a focus on alternative fuels, electric and hybrid mobility, that is a national as well as a global imperative today,' Sandilya said.

The show is also to see US commercial vehicle manufacturer Paccar Inc and British company Triumph Motorcycles Ltd make their debuts in India.


http://www.monstersandcritics.com/n...Global-automakers-make-beeline-for-India-show

 

[IndoCarib]

Global carmakers to go greener, bigger at India auto show | Reuters

* Fuel-efficient cars and SUVs to lead model debuts

* Small-car segment hit hardest by sales slump

* India remains growth market for global carmakers

By Henry Foy

MUMBAI, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Fuel-efficient cars and a slew of new SUV models will be unveiled at India's Auto Expo later this week as global carmakers continue to rev up their activity in one of the world's few growth engines despite a recent slowdown in sales.

Around 50 new models will be presented to hundreds of delegates and half a million visitors as carmakers look to move on from a year of sluggish sales due to high interest rates and rising costs and fuel prices in Asia's third-largest economy.

The debut of South Korea's Ssangyong, owned by India's Mahindra & Mahindra, and product launches from Toyota Motor Corp and Renault SA will underline the country's importance to the world's biggest carmakers.

"The overwhelming feeling is that this current sales slowdown is a temporary phenomenon and global carmakers are certainly betting on India to bounce back. There's no slackening of interest here," R.C. Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki , India's biggest carmaker, told Reuters.

"Everybody is working on hybrid, fuel-efficient and green technology vehicles. There's an exciting race to find a small, cheap hybrid car for India, which will certainly be a winner."

Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India's Tata Motors, will skip the overlapping North American International Auto Show in Detroit to focus on the India event, while Ford Motor Co said it will make a world-first announcement in New Delhi.

Car sales in India grew 30 percent in the fiscal year to end-March 2011, cheering global carmakers as economic turmoil hit sales in developed markets. Since then, interest rate hikes by India's central bank and rising input costs that pushed up prices have dented demand as economic growth cools.

India's small-car segment, made famous by Tata's ultra-cheap Nano and targeted by firms such as General Motors Co and Fiat SpA's Chrysler, has suffered most as first-time buyers balk at the increased cost of credit or stick with a motorcycle, considered a family vehicle in India.

Still, the Indian economy is likely to grow at around 7 percent this fiscal year and rising salaries and a rapidly-growing middle class mean it remains one of the world's most exciting markets for automakers.

GREEN VS GAS-GUZZLERS

Led by the launch of Mahindra's first-ever electric cars following its 2010 acquisition of Reva and the first glimpse of a hybrid model of Maruti's popular Swift hatchback, the expo will see a slew of fuel-efficient and green technology launches.

After crowds swamped the show two years ago, police have asked organisers to cap daily attendance at this year's six-day event at 100,000, local media reported.

Carmakers are also set to muscle in on India's popular SUV segment, which fared better than smaller cars last year, with an offering from Maruti, a widely-anticipated four-wheel debut from motorcycle experts Bajaj Auto, and a multi-utility model launch from South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co.

Luxury carmakers, riding 40 percent annual sales growth in India, will use the expo to increase their product lines, with Daimler AG's Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen AG's Audi rolling out new SUV and sports car models.

BMW AG, market leader in the luxury segment, will unveil its Mini brands in India for the first time.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers will also announce its new growth outlook for the industry at the expo, a month after it said sales would likely show no growth in the 12 months to end-March.

Maruti, 54.2 percent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp , produced every other car sold in India last January. But labour strikes that cost $500 million in lost production and a pronounced slowdown in sales of small cars and petrol models -- its forte -- have hit the company hard.

Tata, Mahindra and Hyundai sales have jumped as Maruti's factories slowly ground back into action, while diesel sales have soared in recent quarters thanks to government subsidies that make the fuel about $0.40 per litre cheaper than petrol

 

[IndoCarib]

Auto Expo: DC Design to unveil indigenous supercar

India’s own automotive design house, DC Design, is all set to unveil a supercar at the forthcoming 2012 Auto Expo to be held in Delhi. Billed as India’s own supercar, the automobile is expected to be unveiled by film star Amitabh Bachchan at the show.

Designed and built ground-up by DC Design, the car will be a low-volume product that will be put together at the firm’s facility in Pune. Deliveries of the car are scheduled to begin by end-2013, once it goes through the requisite homologation process.

“With this car, we are making the transformation from a design house to a production house,” said Dilip Chhabria, the promoter of DC Design. “It will offer the looks, feel, dimensions, quality and fit and finish comparable to supercars from Lamborghini and Ferrari, minus the horsepower.”

Like the European supercars, the one from DC Design will be mid-engined, where the engine will be positioned behind the driver, between the two axles. Though further details of the car are awaited, it is expected to be powered by a V6 petrol engine sourced from Honda, but turbocharged in this application, with output in excess of 400 bhp. The kerb weight of the supercar, at 1,560 kg, is comparable to those from Europe and in terms of dimensions, will have a footprint close to a Lamborghini Murcielago or Aventador.

The firm plans to produce 300 units in the first full year and scale it up to 3,000 units subsequently. “It will come at an attractive price point. We are looking at a price of under Rs 30 lakh on-road,” said Chhabria. “We were planning to call it the Buddh, after India’s Formula One Circuit, but the response for the name has not been encouraging, so we are thinking up a new one now'.

Auto Expo: DC Design to unveil indigenous supercar

 

[joekrish]

Looking forwoord need to change the ford.

 

[IndoCarib]

Auto Expo 2012 starts with a bang

some snapshots from the expo

The new Tata Indica Vista sport

The new Tata safari Merlin

 

[IndoCarib]

Maruti's new SUV

 

[GURU DUTT]

Auto Expo 2012 starts with a bang

some snapshots from the expo

The new Tata Indica Vista sport

The new Tata safari Merlin

seems like TATA has not learned any lessons from Aira fiasco , WTF i thought Merlin would be much better product tha safari but it seems like a modified safary...Idiots .

 

[Roybot]

Jeez whats with that spoiler

 

[Dalai Lama]

The DC Designs super-car

 

[SQ8]

seems like TATA has not learned any lessons from Aira fiasco , WTF i thought Merlin would be much better product tha safari but it seems like a modified safary...Idiots .

Especially since the new jaguar line up (owned by TATA) is soo Good.
Surprised none of that panache has been borrowed by the local division??
No love for your own countrymen then eh TATA?

 

[A1Kaid]

The TATA Indica interestingly enough has the look of a Japanese made car. It reminds me of the Honda Fit.

 

[Roybot]

Fuarrrrk I want this!

 

[luckych]

Auto Expo 2012 Video Preview

 

[praveen007]

D.C. Concept of sport car.
.

[][]

 

[IndoCarib]

Especially since the new jaguar line up (owned by TATA) is soo Good.
Surprised none of that panache has been borrowed by the local division??
No love for your own countrymen then eh TATA?

Looks like the headlamp cluster of Safari is borrowed from Land Rover

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