Green’s the new black as 16th Auto Expo gets off the block

As many as 75 vehicles will be launched and unveiled – five of these global debuts – at India’s marque automotive show, scheduled to be held in the National Capital Region (NCR) starting Wednesday after a gap of three years. On an average over 600,000 visited the show in the last three editions in 2020, 2018 and 2016. Legacy players like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Tata Motors and Kia India will showcase a range of electric vehicles, both concepts and production models, reflecting the increased push from governments world over to transition to zero emission vehicles.

The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki – which has been working on expanding its portfolio in the SUV segment – will take the covers off an Electric Concept SUV at the show. On display will also be two all new SUVs from Maruti Suzuki, which along with the all new Brezza and Grand Vitara, have been designed to take on rival’s best-sellers from Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Rival Hyundai is slated to launch the all-electric SUV Ioniq 5, which will be positioned at the premium end of the market. The Korean auto major will also exhibit electric sedan Ioniq 6, fuel cell vehicle Nexo and robot Spot at the show. Kia India will have on display a total of 10 vehicles, which includes a Concept Electric SUV EV9 and Recreational Vehicle KA4.

“The spread of power train options is much wider compared to the previous editions”, said Vinod Aggarwal, President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), adding, “Automakers are working on multiple sustainable mobility solutions ranging from biofuels like ethanol, gaseous fuels like CNG, LNG, electrification technologies including EV and hybrid and hydrogen. These will be on display at the motor show.” About 70 vehicles were unveiled and launched at the auto expo in its previous edition in 2020, though the number of global launches was higher at 8.