After the much publicized Delhi Auto-Expo in 2008, its version of twenty10 was to be a mega affair. And it was.Some glimpses and awards given by SpeakingPictures –
click on pictures for enlarged view
1) Mercedes -
I have a special liking towards this luxury, so a slight bias towards it is inevitable. Merc SLS (one with wings) had words like ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’ personified in it. Anybody who is a maniac for “hot wheels” will love it. Merc also had its merchandize stall inside its pavilion with prices comparable to their cars.
Mercedes wins the ‘leave-your-hot-chick-for-me’ award for its SLS.2) Audi
Audi is the third biggest luxury cars brand after BMW and Merc in India. And it seems they are aggressive about being the numero uno. Their pavilion was situated within the main hall facing the BMW (largest luxury car seller in 2009). Audi showcased their normal white-beauties with attitude living attendants (who were busy flirting within themselves, God bless them). Audi wanted more popularity than its competition and were easily successful in doing so. By bringing vintage Audi 225 Roadster, they celebrated 100 years of Audi. But what stole the show was R8 4.2 Quattro. Flamboyantly displayed in melting shiny orange, it was the face of Audi in 2010 Delhi Auto-Expo. Consequently, Audi got the maximum attendance in 2010 Delhi Auto-Expo.
Audi wins ‘mujhe-na-chhuna-pari-hoon-main’ award for their attendants’ effort in preventing crowd from touching that sexy seducer R8 4.2.3) Tata Motors
In 2008, these people stole the show. ‘Nano’, the 1L people’s car made India shine on the map of world car market. As a matter of fact, they deserve the credit for the popularity of Indian cars in the outside world. Also, Tata has inorganically expanded its empire in automobiles by acquiring Land Rover and Jaguar. These too were showcased in 2010 Delhi Auto-Expo and I really liked them (except the pricing, why will anyone buy Jaguar for 1.03 crore when it’s just a Jaguar and not a Merc/BMW/Audi). Nano was displayed in different colours (and even though I am not a liker of pink, I have to say pink Nano was very cute).
Rest from Tata was boring including its never ending array of indigenous products comprising of various variants of Indica/Vista/Manza/Indigo/etc.In addition to the above, Tata aggressively showcased their new brand of trucks ‘Prima’. Seeing their marketing for this brand, they might just successfully create a different segment within trucks category – ‘Prima’, the premium movers.
Tata wins the ‘hum-nahi-sudhrenge’ award for their chota haathi- Iris (leftmost in pic). It symbolizes their attempt and effort to create every car nano-sized.4) Chevrolet (Chevy)
GM may be bankrupt in US but they are reeaallly trying to break into Hyundai and Maruti’s market share through Ritz’s looking Chevy Beat (shockingly priced at 3.34 L, it's a steal). Unfortunately, GM disappointed with their merchandize instore. Unlike Merc, which had merchandize of world level, GM had localized ones; No convertible transformer (Camaro->Bumblebee) – a big disappointment.
Chevy wins ‘I-really-really-want-that-Indian-guy’ award as they are the only ones who have contacted me for a test-drive post Auto-Expo.Chevy Indian cars lacks flamboyance. Hence they brought Camaro from Transformers ‘Bumblebee’ fame. It’s huge yet subtle, it’s not fancy yet an eye-candy.
Chevy Camaro ‘Bumblebee’ wins the ‘lovable’ award.5) Volkswagen (VW)
VW really need to revise their marketing basics. At exhibitions of this size, apart from publicizing your country specific models, you also need to show fancy flamboyance stuff which gets you attention especially when you are a new player. Sadly, VW played a contrary game with displaying there B+ segment car Polo 4 times. The cartoonist instincts saw Polo as a mini Lancer from some angles. There was Beetle, Jetta and others (seen earlier in VW ad). VW’s Sports Polo was cool, Beetle was girlie; rest just ok.
Given the fact that VW had one of the biggest pavilions in 2010 Expo, they were a disappointment. VW had non-Indian highly technical attendants (makes any sense??); some were frustrated to see Indians using exit door for entry and knew they were in a crowded market with zero localized knowledge. Another incident happened at reception, where I was filling my test-drive form; Indian girls at reception gossiping and teaching their foreign saheliyas about words like toota, etc (professionalism anybody!!).
VW wins the ‘i-mean-business’ award.
6) BMW
Wow, another luxury brand. BMW surprisingly overtook Merc in 2009 as the largest luxury car seller as they sold some 3600+ cars. But surprisingly, their 2010 Expo pavilion had none of their flamboyance and being in front of Audi, they were easily outshined. There new entrant ‘BMW Gran Turismo’ in pale blue was devoid of any lustre and hence is awarded the ‘sleeping-dodo’ award.
7) Yamaha
Anybody who loves speed loves sports bikes. And Yamaha was the best when considering sports bike in 2010 Expo. Also, Rossi was here and so was his bike (comparatively sober than its earlier version). Harley Davidson also made its debut but frankly, at the price at which they sell, it is difficult to choose a HD over a speedstar, that too when you are just 23.
They easily wins the 'vroom-dhoom-aur-ghoom' awardDrive safely…incase you need any full pic, leave your email in comments
