Cashless Carnival

The pictures are posted in the order in which I navigated through the entire show on the 14th of January. I focussed only on cars and stayed away from the ones that are already there in our showrooms.

[Click on the first picture of the series and use the Next and the Previous links to move forward and backward]

Mercedes and Audi Pavillion

I was surprised not to see BMW in the German stall and felt they had not made it to the Auto Expo this year. But a few stalls later, I spotted the angel eyes.

FIAT and TATA Pavillion

For me, this was the best part of the show. In my opinion, both TATA’s and FIAT put up a fabulous show and 2008 belongs to them.

The German contingent - Part 2

Volkswagen

They had all their models out there from the Beetle to the Touareg, but there was just no space in the stall to venture around.

Skoda

I was hoping to see the Fabia RS, but it wasn’t out there.

BMW

It was such a pleasure to see the angel eyes.

DC Design

With his stunning Ambierod..

Hyundai

The ones who’d put up the lousiest show. I missed getting the picture of the shoddy alloy wheel on the Accent displayed in the stall, else you’d have instantly realised what I am talking about. Nevertheless, here’s the Hyundai series:

Honda

Let me know what you think about the new Accord.

Chevrolet

The usuals..looked like a GM showroom to me. The only surprises were the Captiva, a few concepts and the Hummer H3. I could not get the picture of the Hummer H3 since there were people all over it.

I just fail to understand why GM is not advertising or showcasing the Magnum SRV at all. The Optra Magnum did a decent job of denting the Ocatvia sales and the SRV can also sell numbers, but not many know that the Magnum engine has gotten on to the SRV as well.

M & M

The last, but my no means the least..

Maruti

I did not get to any of the bikes pavillion, but as I was just passing by the Yamaha’s I noticed this gorgeous sweetheart standing right near the gate and she was in such an excellent condition. It had been ages since I had seen such a stunning one.

The concept of the TATA’s One Lakh car was displayed as Zing during Auto Expo 1998, but not many had noticed it then since the spotlight was on the TATA Indica.

Ten years later, in Auto Expo 2008, TATA’s unveiled the much touted One Lakh Car - Nano.

TATA’s have done a fabulous job with the car and an equally great job building the suspense around it making Nano the most hyped and awaited vehicle of the year which, I think, will go a long way in building the initial line-up of customers for its commercial launch towards the second half of 2008.

PS: Exterior and Interior Images of the Nano can be found here

Images Source: 1,2,3

1. The penetration of cars in India today is 8 per 1000 people.
2. In the last financial year, there were 1 million cars sold in India and 7 million two wheelers.

If there is any phenomenon that can alter these figures it will be the new chunnu munnu de pappa di gaddi to be launched on 10th January at the Auto Expo 2008.

Maruti is currently offering discounts upto Rs. 50,000 on the Esteem since the stocks are being cleared to make way for its replacement. The production of the 14 year old model finally stopped on the 24th of December 2007.

Esteem’s successor, Dezire, will be on the Swift platform and looks like a Swift with a boot. I will reserve my comments about its looks since I am not too convinced about it. Looks apart, the Dezire has all the characteristics of a winner. Powered by a 1.3L Petrol and a 1.3L Diesel engine [that’s on the Swift], the car boasts of a lot of goodies like twin Airbags, Automatic climate control, Alloy wheels, Integrated DIN Stereo. With its length under 4 meters, the Dezire is expected to be priced between 4.7 and 6 Lakhs.

Hold on to your desires, the Dezire’s just round the corner.

 Image Source: Autocar

FIAT’s lacklustre sales in India today is attributable to multiple factors. To start with, they willfully accepted to be shoved on over a misbranded legacy foundation to build their future over. I believe that even today a vast majority of our population feels that the notorious Premier Padmini we had was a FIAT offering.  Their pathetic after sales service further went on to tarnish the image. Today, with Palio being their only car in the market, it looks like FIAT does not have its story line right. The Palio for the masses - 1.1 is a machine below par. Neither is it economical, nor has it any any kind of power and it is not cheap. The 1.6 is a brilliant car but is not for everyone. It is for the enthusiasts and only they can understand and appreciate the fact that the Palio 1.6 is today the second quickest car on Indian Roads after the Skoda Octavia RS [in segments A - D].

With the TATA’s coalition, that gave them access to 65 dealerships, it was obvious that FIAT was interested in getting its act together and wanted to push up numbers. But the two year old relation has done little to improve the story. In the last financial year FIAT sold 2,208 cars all over the country - a number equal to what Maruti sells every working day. The relation is definitely not to be blamed, but the only thing that can correct the situation and erase off the battered perception of the brand is a brilliant line-up of products, and that is exactly what FIAT has in mind for 2008.
 
FIAT will be launching the Grande Punto, Linea, Palio 1.3 Diesel, Bravo and Cinquecento. The first three will be manufactured in India. With the 1.2, 1.4 Petrol variants and the 1.3 L Diesel engine [the one on the Swift] that will be economical and powerful delivering up to 155 bhp, these machines will impress the “value for money” buyers and the enthusiasts equally.

The Bravo and the Cinquecento aka 500 will be limited edition imports expected to provide the much needed boost to FIAT’s image in India due to their high exclusivity quotient. The Cinquecento, though of the size of the swift or even smaller, will be a style statement. With funky interiors, endlessly customizable options, several picks for exterior colors, safety features like seven airbags, the Cinquecento, with 120% import duty, could cost up to 15 Lakhs. The Bravo, with the 1.4L Petrol and 1.9L Diesel options that can generate up to 148 and 118 bhp and can attain top speeds of over 200 kmph, will be the hottest hatchback. The Bravo could cost around 20 Lakhs. 

It is in Bravo and Cinquecento’s capacity to do the much needed image transformation especially if FIAT manages to make these models popular in Bollywood that it intends to. I am confident that the Punto, Linea and Palio 1.3L D will appease the masses with their sensitivity towards mileage and their generosity with power. In all, 2008 could turn out to be the year of resurgence for FIAT in India and it could finally get to be the Belle of the Ball, something it has not ever been close to being all this while.

 Image Source: Autocar