Auto Expo to help revival: Industry

Last year was a very tough year for the auto industry because of slowdown in the economy and rising fuel costs

The Indian automobile industry Thursday said it expects next week's Auto Expo to help revive the sector.

"With 26 global unveilings and a host of other events we expect the auto expo to generate a lot of interest and revive industry growth," said Vikram Kirloskar, president, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

"Last year was a very tough year for the auto industry on the whole with factors such as slowdown in the economy, rising fuel costs, and less disposable income negatively affecting sales."

Last year, the annual passenger car sales declined for the first time in last 11 years, falling by 9.59 percent at 1,807,011 units sold from an off-take of 1,998,703 units in 2012.

Last month, domestic car sales declined by 4.52 percent at 132,561 units from 138,835 units in the corresponding month of 2012. Total vehicles sales across categories fell by 1.21 percent to 1,431,632 units in December 2013 from 1,449,203 units off-take in the corresponding month of 2012.

According to SIAM, as many as 70 new vehicles will be unveiled at the event, including 26 global unveilings of which 15 will be that of cars.

The 12th edition of the Auto Expo will also host 55 exhibitors this time, up from from 45 exhibitors at the last show. However, the participation at the component show has come down from 1,500 exhibitors to 1,100.

The expo will have two separate events -- one for the auto show that will take place Feb 7-11 at Greater Noida and the other being a components show which will take place Feb 6-9 at Pragati Maidan.

The organisers said the decision to hold to separate events was due to space constraints.

"This is the first time that the show has been split into two - components and motor show - as the growth in the magnitude of the show warranted it," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the co-organiser.

The organisers expect around one lakh visitors per day at the auto show and about 10,000 footfalls per day in the components show.