The 14th edition of India’s biggest automotive event at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, where automakers unwrapped their brainchildren with lots of glamour, glitz and grandeur, turned out to be a relatively smaller show in size, but fairly illustrious in terms of stock extravaganza and sneak peek into future mobility. This year the event seemed far mellower since the beginning. That was partially expected, as the list of non-participants exceeded the exhibitors, therefore less number of stalls and ensuing crowd. Yet, I still hoped that the show would pick up gradually like a diesel engine to its peak torque. But it seemed not getting any better.​​​​​​
With the press conferences and unveiling of new vehicles passing by, that’s when I realized that it isn’t a diesel engine I’m dealing with. It’s sheer ‘electric’ – there was no grinding or rumbling noise while cranking, nor any revs, but yes, the expo was hitting the aspired torque output as the previous shows. In spite of the limited number of participants, there was no dearth of electric vehicles on display.
Almost every manufacturer across motorcycles, cars and heavy-vehicle categories showcased their recipe of EV technology that is way close to, if now absolutely ready to go catapult the automotive industry. I firmly believe that Auto Expo 2018 will possibly go down as a significant cusp in the Indian automotive history as automakers are starting to truly embrace electromobility.
Megatrends and takeaways
This year’s Auto Expo witnessed over 500 exhibits from 119 exhibitors, including 53 automakers, of which 14 were new brands. Together, there were over 81 premieres of all-new products, 22 market launches, and 18 concept vehicle revelations, including 25 electric vehicles across all segments. The show was again one of the best attended yet, with 605,175 footfall and positive feedback from all quarters of the industry, according to Mr. Sugato Sen, Deputy Director, SIAM.
This story is from the March 2018 edition of MOTORINDIA.
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This story is from the March 2018 edition of MOTORINDIA.
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