The 2018 Auto Expo is just few days away. The Asia’s largest Auto Show, the 2018 Auto Expo is scheduled to be held at India Expo Centre, Greater Noida from 9th February 2018 to 14th February 2018. The biennial event is called Delhi Motor Show but is held at Greater Noida, near the capital. It offers a great opportunity to automotive industry to showcase its latest product and technology to the Indian and foreign audience and buyers. The Expo also becomes a natural launch pad for the new automobiles in the country. Many manufacturers and buyers wait for the Auto Expo to have firsthand mutual interactions and get a feel of the Indian auto market. However, it is also a fact emerging that many automakers avoid participating in the event due to mainly financial and other strategic reasons.
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Automakers giving a miss to 2018 Auto Expo
As per the information available, there are 7 car manufacturers, 2 two wheeler manufacturers and 3 truck manufacturers giving the miss to the Auto Expo. The following is the detailed list of the automakers who are not participating in the 2018 Auto Expo.
- Bajaj Auto
- Royal Enfield
- Harley Davidson
- Fiat
- Jeep
- Nissan
- Volvo
- Ford
- Nissan
- Triumph
- Volkswagen
- Audi
- Skoda
- Chevrolet
- General Motors
- Man Trucks
- Scania
The trend of missing the participation in the Auto Expo was started by the likes of Baja Auto and Royal Enfield. Bajaj Auto sighted that the cost of participating in the Expo is exorbitant. They feel that they could showcase their products at other venues at much lesser investment and with greater focus. The basic reason appears to be low return on the investment. The cost of participation in the Auto Expo comes around Rs. 25 to 50 crore depending space for the displays.
The industry is also of the opinion that due to large number of events taking place almost simultaneously during the Auto Expo, the news about latest developments, technologies and launches gets diluted very fast. However, it is their opinion that the individual brand launches at dedicated events do not suffer from this limitation and catches more eyes. And the cost for such individual events is a fraction of what the automakers have to incur for participation in the Auto Expo.
Drawbacks of the Venue
Another drawback the auto industry faces is the far off venue of the Expo. The India Expo Centre at Greater Noida, near Delhi is not well connected with public transport facilities. It also lacks other infrastructure like hotels and other logistics as compared to Delhi. To commute to the Expo from the nearest Indira Gandhi International Airport, it takes around two hours and that too depends on the Delhi traffic. Till 2012, the Auto Expo used to be held in the heart of Delhi at the famous Pragati Maidan which was a more reachable place for everybody. However, that place too lacked on the crowd management.
Looking at the present trend of missing the Auto Expo by the automakers, it is prudent that the industry and the Society of Indian Auto Manufacturers (SIAM) should find ways and means to arrest the discouraging trend in order to keep the Auto Expo a vibrant and all inclusive event.
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