BIG AUTO'S EXPO WOES

As footfalls decline at Auto Expos globally, what is the way forward?

- SUMANT BANERJI

Rajesh Menon, Director General, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), one of the main organisers of India’s biggest auto show, Auto Expo, heaved a sigh of relief on Sunday evening as the gates shut for the day. The weekend had passed off without a glitch with more than two lakh people visiting the show on the two days. The show could now be called a success. He had not taken it for granted, though.

“I can breathe a bit easy now,” Menon said on Monday morning. “The weekend has gone off well. We got the crowd we expected. It is all good.”

The intense slowdown in the domestic automobile industry – sales dropped 14 per cent in 2019 – the steepest ever annually in more than two decades, led to a number of dropouts this year.

Regulars such as Honda Cars, Toyota and Nissan and luxury carmakers BMW, Audi, Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan decided to miss the expo. They were joined by commercial vehicle makers – Ashok Leyland, Volvo Eicher – and almost the entire two-wheeler industry, including Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India, TVS, Bajaj and Yamaha. The organisers feared this may land a telling blow to the show and footfalls may drop.

The New Delhi Auto Expo is not an isolated case. Globally, major automobile exhibitions are facing an existential crisis as new-age customers, mostly millennials, prefer to stay away from the traditional exhibition format. The axing of the Frankfurt Motor Show – among the biggest shows globally – from the schedule for next year is a case in point.