The Delhi Auto Expo kicks off at a time when carmakers will have reasons to feel pleased about their showing in 2022.
The top three — Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors — are participating as also the aggressive trio of Kia, MG Motor and BYD, the most recent entrant which has already set the cat among the pigeons. Toyota and its luxury brand, Lexus, will also be part of the parade at Greater Noida, the venue for the Auto Expo, which begins early next week.
The downside is that most other big brands have chosen to skip the event, a list including Mahindra & Mahindra, Volkswagen, Skoda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Nissan and Honda. Likewise, none of the two-wheeler companies is participating either, which makes for poor optics for the world’s largest motorcycle and scooter market.
Happily, though, on the commercial vehicle side, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, VE Commercial Vehicles and JBM will be showcasing their products which makes up for a reasonable presence overall but definitely not at par with the heady days of the past. There will be a whole lot of start-ups present, which reflects the changing landscape while the message of clean fuels will be the underlying theme across all the pavilions.
The Expo also begins days after the Centre announced its Green Hydrogen mission and it is now crystal clear that the days of the internal combustion engine are in their last lap. Sure, this cycle will last another decade or so but it is now quite evident that fossil fuels have had their innings and the time has come for the next round of energy options to power vehicles of the future.
Electric Momentum In Place
Experts also agree that electric mobility will kick-off faster in the two- and three-wheeler segments and even hardboiled cynics now admit that the momentum is well and truly in place. Those who sneered at the optimistic projections made a couple of years earlier have had to eat their words with sales now on the fast track, thanks in part to the generous subsidies in place.
This Expo is happening after a good three years thanks to the disruptive fallout of the pandemic, which derailed growth in 2020 and a large part of the following year. Calendar 2022 marked a massive resurgence in the market, especially in the SUV space, and here is where the Expo will be a critical reference point for the future even while participation is relatively lacklustre.
The car companies that will be present this year have a new narrative on hand keeping in mind new mobility disruptions, partnerships and the need to look at alternative fuel options in a cleaner emissions era. Maruti Suzuki is today more than just the monarch of the Indian market; it is also the largest exporter and this strategy will only intensify in the coming years.
The global alliance with Toyota will hold Suzuki in good stead when it comes to technologies and accessing new markets. Maruti is expected to showcase its new multipurpose vehicle, which is reportedly a derivative of the recently launched Toyota Innova HyCross. The partners have clearly come a long way since the time they announced their intent to team up globally.
Stronger Alliance
What started as a tame product swap exercise with the Baleno/ Glanza and Vitara Brezza/ Urban Cruiser has now evolved to a deeper alliance with greater focus on a more aggressive global play. There have already been reports of an all-new SUV coming in two years down the line, which will see the best marriage of technologies and costs.
From Toyota’s point of view, this bonding with Maruti will translate into huge economies of scale too. Its Bidadi plant near Bengaluru will also double up as a gateway to exports on the lines of Maruti’s Gujarat facility, which puts in context the recently signed agreement with Kamrajar Port (near Chennai).
In the case of Hyundai, the other key participant at the Expo, it is also getting ready for new frontiers in electrification. The calendar that went by saw it reach an all-new high of over 5.5 lakh vehicles sold in a single year but there could be some degree of anxiety that Tata Motors is not too far behind and will be determined to bridge the gap in 2023.
Hyundai has been Maruti’s closest rival for two decades now and will be keen on holding on to this slot in the coming years too. As in the case of Toyota-Suzuki, it has a global ally in Kia, which made its entry into this market just a little over three years ago but has already emerged as a force to reckon with. As in the case of Hyundai, it has been relentlessly aggressive and the results are there for all to see.
Koreans Vs Japanese
Kia is also present at the Expo and has made ground rapidly at a time when the likes of Ford and General Motors (which were around much longer) just did not have the stomach to hang in there and fight it out. While Kia and Hyundai share synergies at the backend in sourcing and R&D, they are fiercely competitive at the front-end.
This rivalry, however, does not take away the fact that as a combined force within the Hyundai Motor Group, this Korean duo is the best equipped to take on the combined Japanese might of Toyota and Suzuki in India.
Tata Motors has had two memorable Expo years: the first in 1998, when the Indica was the showstopper and a decade later, when the Nano had the world sitting up and taking notice. Neither brand is around now but the Tata Motors of today is a different kettle of fish altogether. It has emerged as a frontrunner in the electric race and has hit the bull’s-eye with brands like the Nexon, Punch and Tiago.
Tata Motors On A Roll
It is now poised to take the green drive forward and the acquisition of Ford’s facility at Sanand in Gujarat will be an important component of this vision. From the position of an Indian car brand, which everyone wanted to see succeed but just could not make the final cut, Tata Motors is now an aggressive, focused machine that is growing from strength to strength.
MG Motor and BYD will have reasons to feel pleased with their India showing thus far where customers are clearly delighted with their offerings and hardly concerned about their Chinese brand connection. However, politics generally prevails over economics and this is where both companies will have their task cut out going forward.
They have the demand and orders in place but will be constrained from making any fresh investments in capacity given the current bad blood between the Indian and Chinese governments. There is no way the Centre will allow either MG (owned by SAIC) or BYD to put money into new plants even while it is more than evident that they will need this extra capacity to cope with growing demand. How these two Chinese-owned brands circumvent this roadblock and look for alternative business models to keep the show going will be their biggest challenge.
Food For Thought
Beyond this, the organisers of the Auto Expo will perhaps have to do a lot of serious introspection on what they can possibly come up with to persuade more companies to participate in the next edition — when it happens in 2025 or ’26. Globally, companies have already made known that these auto shows are way too expensive and the returns are hardly anything to write home about.
In an era of connected cars, smart gadgets and clean fuels, the Delhi Auto Expo should ideally have something on the lines of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) now underway in Las Vegas, Nevada. Some of the biggest automobile brands are present there simply because it is an appropriate platform and gets the right crowds compared to the traditional big ticket events held in Frankfurt, Geneva and Tokyo.
The Delhi Auto Expo should, likewise, take the cue and have the Indian version of CES and perhaps showcase it in a more appropriate location like Bengaluru, which is India’s IT capital, or look at other options such as Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai. Today’s GenNext needs to have a good reason to visit the Auto Expo!
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