New Delhi Auto Expo Recap: A Look Back at India’s Automotive Future
January 26, 2008

By Nick Kurczewski

NEW DELHI, India -- “It’s a great time to be in India,” said Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, managing director and CEO of Daimler India, immediately following Mercedes-Benz’s press conference at the New Delhi Auto Expo.

Dr. Aulbur’s optimism is well founded.  Thanks to continued double-digit growth in India’s automobile sales - not to mention huge investments being poured into the country’s manufacturing capability - India could soon surpass China as being the biggest and brightest automotive star on the horizon.    

But this economic boom has its perils, and at times the New Delhi Auto Expo seemed a microcosm of India itself.

The Pragati Maidan exhibition halls are as confusing and chaotic as attempting to navigate a New Delhi traffic circle.  India’s driving habits have also yet to be refined - much less enforced.  On several occasions, my taxi drivers drove on the sidewalk, gave other vehicles a nudge and, on one occasion, drove the wrong way down a road packed with rush-hour traffic. 

The contrasts between wealth and poverty could also be unsettling and downright shocking.  As suit and tie-wearing journalists sprinted to glitzy press conferences, shoeless children dressed in rags, many no more than 4 or 5 years old, ate out of garbage bins.  Stray dogs roamed the exhibition grounds, and noisy traffic jams within the Auto Expo’s own road network were common.

The show’s organization (if you could call it that) bordered on anarchy.  Thirty minutes before General Motors pulled the covers off its Indian-market Chevrolet Captiva crossover, workers were still outside welding the railings that led to the exhibition hall. 

As crowded and crazy as it was, the overwhelming feeling at the Auto Expo was one of confidence and pride. Nowhere was this more apparent than on the show stand of Tata Motors, following the launch of the company’s $2,500 Nano.

“A promise is a promise,” said Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors.  With the debut of the long-promised “1-Lakh” car, Tata Motors has achieved what many believed impossible. Yet, Ratan Tata made no boasts about the Spartan little Nano changing the automotive world overnight. “I think the first three years we’ll be busy with the needs of this country,” said Tata during a press conference held for foreign journalists. 

Other Indian manufacturers also held their own against industry giants, at least when it came time to stirring up the world’s automotive media.  Bajaj Autos showed its version of a super-cheap small car for the masses – though the company admits that its car would cost $3,000, or more.  Bajaj is presently in negotiations with Renault/Nissan to bring the car to market. Maruti-Suzuki had a true international concept car debut with its handsome Concept A-Star hatchback. With more than 50% of the Indian passenger car market, Maruti is refusing to sit back, rely on old products, and wait for others to carve up its market share. 

Meanwhile, SUV manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra pulled off something of a green car coup. The company showed biodiesel, hybrid, and ‘mild’ hybrid versions of its boxy Scorpio sport-utility.  Dr. Arun Jaura, senior vice president of R&D and Product Development, promises that Mahindra pick-ups and SUVs will be on sale in America by 2009. The hybrid Scorpio should follow within 18 to 24 months.

At Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW, each German luxury make touted record sales, plans for more dealerships and increased production capacity at their Indian factories.  BMW even had something special for India’s well-heeled high performance fans, with news that the M3 and M5 sedans are now available in the Indian market. 

About the only thing likely to accelerate faster than either of these BMW sport sedans is the rate at which the Indian market – and the country itself – continues to change.

Photos by Nick Kurczewski
1 - The latest vehicles from around the globe are displayed inside the New Delhi Auto Expo, while outside transportation can still mean horse carts and rickshaws.
2- A tuk-tuk taxi travels the wrong way in traffic carrying our correspondent.
3- Dirty, shoeless children beg from well-dressed auto executives.
4 - Stray dogs make the grounds of the New Delhi Auto Expo their home.
5- Finishing touches were being applied to the GM exhibit minutes before its press conference.
6 - Crowds packed the Tata Motors' unveiling of the $2,500 Nano.

Nick Kurcewski is a Paris-based correspondent who covered the New Delhi Auto Expo for AutoObserver.

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