The Auto village proposal: India may soon have a permanent mini expo

You may no longer have to wait for the biennial Auto Expo to explore automobiles of all brands at one location. Haryana is working on the proposal from a private company that wants to set up an Auto Village over more than hundred acres of land.

Auto Village proposes to have about 80 vehicle showrooms and workshops of all automobile brands across industry segments (cars, two wheelers, three wheelers, commercial vehicles and tractors, etc) at one location, an RTO, recycling units, test tracks, new vehicle launch zone, financing institutions, component shops, petrol pumps, hotels and an amusement park. In addition to this facility, another land parcel of over hundred acres will be used to develop a residential project targeting thousands of people who will be employed in the Auto Village.  

Himanshu Narayan, the director of Auto Village, said he has received offers for land parcels from a few private owners but the facility could also come up on a land purchased from the state government. “All I can say is the first facility will come in the national capital region in the state of Haryana and not more than hundred kilometres away from Delhi”, he said.  

Auto Village, which is in talks with the state, has sought waiver of VAT and vehicle registration charges from the Haryana government to make prices attractive and pull buyers from city-based showrooms. “This will give a new direction to the automobile industry in the country. Buyers will have the advantage of comparing and test driving different brands at one location, securing finance and then driving out with a registered vehicle. It will be a one day affair”, he said.

The project will need an investment of Rs 900 crore, of which about Rs 500 crore will be in the facility and rest will be the cost of land. “Funding will not be an issue,” said Narayan, who runs a privately-owned hotel business and has constructed certain residential projects. The Haryana government has assured Narayan that the project will get all administrative clearances in a month’s time.

Auto Village’s construction of the commercial facility is likely to start in the second half of this calendar year and is likely to be operational by the end of 2019 with the help of prefabricated structures. Narayan said that Auto Village will offer space for showrooms, workshops and other facilities on a long term lease. The concept seeks to cash in on the problem of limited land availability in cities and its skyrocketing prices.  

Auto Village, which claims to have copyrighted the concept, said it has received interest from other states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Goa for an Auto Village. It plans to use Haryana as a model to take the concept to every state.
 

Narayan said there is an urgent need to bring the buyer and automobile manufacturers to a common platform the way it happens in large malls so that the buyer gets to evaluate and compare various products at one place and avoids the pain of visiting several automobile dealers before reaching a decision.