[faithless_1984]

I heard a guy asking one of the girls (foreigner) in the yamaha stall...

Ye Rossi ki bike hai kya ?

[tsk1979]

In the Fiat stall a Guy asks the girl
"Please, can I stand next to you and get my pic clicked".
She says okay
He then promptly puts his arms around her as his friends click away.

I wish they get rids of girls from Auto Expo next time. Atleast we would be able to see cars, and not get caught in stampedes!

[ranc]

Guys

I fanally made it to my first auto expo ever and I still dread doing that, it was like it is better tomatch a cricket match on TV and not in the stadium. You guys specially Steer, Tushky etc had posted more or less everything there was to see (including the girls), I was still stupid enough to go and take a peek at it first hand and I still regret it, anyways this was my take on the Auto expo. I didnt have time so I stayed away from BMW, AUdi, Volvo etc. But as a normal car enthusiat who is looking for something sub 20 lakhs my rating is as follwoing.

1. Tata Nano : though I might not buy it ever but she looked beautifull, probabaly as cute as the girls on the fiat stall.

2. Sumo Grande : Grand it is and I feel it has the potential of make a huge dent in M &M Scorpio, Innova, Safari & tavera sales.

3. Santa Fe : looked voluptuous, a bit pricy, they say it will be around 20+ lakhs

5. Captiva : Same story like the Santa Fe, looks good.

6. Indigo CS : A very practical car if brought below 4 lakhs

7. Winger executive : The interiors were just beautifull, no pricing though

8. Xenon : Amazingly macho, but it is a segment that needs a kick start.

9. Splash : looks beautifull, they should come out with it fast to counter the I10, the lady said it will come later this year.

10 A-star : it is still a concept I dont think it will be lauched pretty soon, for a concept car it looked good, lot of neon though.

11 Fabia : looks good, pricing is totally off, looks swiftish.

12 Suzuki APV : Can do well in India if brought at the right price and especially if it comes with a diesel but a very unusal nose.

13. Fiat Linea : looked good, can do well in the Corolla/Civic segment but only if brought below 10 Lakhs.

14 Punto : looked toyyish like the Nano, looked cute though, but if they are going to bring them as CKD's I dont know what kind of numbers will it do.

15 New Indica : Couldnt really get myself to like it. It still has lots of traces of Old Indica left in it.

16 Steppe : Just loved it, it can do well but they had no idea when will it be launched and at what price.

17 Scorpio BIO/Hybrid : The concept is good but again no idea of the pricing and the launch, also they should do something about the exterior and interior of scorpio, its already started looking dated.

This is what I could see if the couple of hours that I had, I am sure some of you would differ from my opinion but then it is my opinion and not yours.

Ciao

[gd1418]

I first went alone to the Expo on 11th during business hours and it ws like a fish market. What all Tanveer mentioned about pervertness, is all true. Very sad that this happens in the Capital.

There was a stampede on 12th at the TATA stall because of huge crowds to see Nano and it was even reported that there was a minor lathicharge to disperse the crowds.

Now, since my car crazy family too wanted to visit, we decided to go on 13th the Sunday. Horror of horrors; was that the right decision?

Well, I surmised and told the family that since this stampede happened a lot less people would come on Sunday fearing massive crowds. And I was partially correct.

I reached the grounds at 10:30 in the morning and till about 2 had our fill at most of the stalls. That's when the crowds started pouring in.

I also reached the expo from Gurgaon by parking my car at Patel chowk and then taking a metro. Was lot easier this way..

Originally Posted by greatDrive

Oh My God, I somehow managed to come out of hell No 11, Yes HELL, where Tata Nano /Linea Lady are displayed.
I Don't know why people are so crazy to enter that they cannot make queues, I am sure most of the people are from good familes and litterate society.
I went there with my family( Wife & 3 yrs old Son) and I was in no mood of entering but had to go inside as my son wanted to see Nano( He is just as crazy for cars as I am).

How did I reach Pragati Maidan from Gurgaon.
That was the only good thing, I just drove down to Dwaraka 9 sec and took a metro to Pragati Maidan.

People who are planning to go tomorrow, do take care of your purses, Watches, Mobiles, Your wifes, Yours husbands etc..

I saw people who lost all of these

[1100D]

Originally Posted by narayan

BMW STALL
- well laid out and was pretty crowded too
- the stall managers were selectively letting in only people who "looked" like they were likely customers to inspect the cars from close quarters.
- there was this gentleman who was asking aloud standing in front of the M3 - " ARRE YEH KOUNSA GAADI HAI ?"..

ME - " SIR THIS IS THE BMW M3- ITS A SPORTS CAR BASED ON THE 3 SERIES "

HIM - " HAAN - I NOTICED - IT LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE 3 SERIES - KITNE KA HAI "

ME - " SIR I THNK THIS SHOULD BE AROUND 60 -7- LAKHS ON ROAD "

HIM - " WHAT ??? WHY WILL I BUY THIS - I WILL PREFER THE 3 SERIES"

ME - " SIR - THIS PUTS OUT MORE THAN 400HP - SPORTS CAR - 2 SEATER BLAH BLAH BLAH "

HIM - " NO BUT STILL LOOKS SAME AS 3 SERIES AND THE 3 SERIES IS JUST 30 LAKHS "

i gave up and moved on !!

Thats what happens when people who dont need the money have it. On top of it they wish to flaunt it.

[khanak]

Originally Posted by 1100D

Thats what happens when people who dont need the money have it. On top of it they wish to flaunt it.

but to be honest I really doubt he was actually going to go ahead and buy the 3 series.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by redrage

I was there at the hyper performance motorsports, I told the guy there that i have a remus exhaust for my esteem and i need some info on the centre pipe, He said wait a minute nad got a huge exhaust and asked me whether i had heard about them and went on for ten minutes. I tried explaining to him that i already have a fabricated header and end can from remus,I wanted some information on the centre pipe as i was running on stock one and wanted to know if they had some info. He says wait a minute and goes back and gets a stainlesssteel wierd header and tells have i heard about their products?their headers can be used with any engine irrespective of the dispacement and goes on and on shouting high about their products. I just walked out.

Hehehehehehe that was quite funny!! Not sure if you know but if you wanna know the truth behind them search for threads created by a user called "Witnesstowonder". It'll be a nice laugh I can tell you that!!

[narayan]

continuing from my earliest posts...

GM stall
it was a well laid out one but most cars were just there for display or were of little consequence to the broader indian car market
the CTS-V ( praised even by the much hated Jeremy clarkson looked great ), so did the Chevy WTCC

hummer was absolutely yucky and what a waste of sheet metal!! - rear space for such a huge vehicle was still very bad..dashboard absolutely boring..




the CTS-V




hummer- waste of battery !!

[narayan]

the renault stall had some boring cars and then their F-1 car replica i presume..nuthing else...

i then left the GM hall and outside, tucked in a corner plot ( as if M & M spent their last little bit of autoexpo budget for this space ) was the impressive AXE..
quite a lot could have been done to display this vehicle appropriately - like maybe in a 4wd KIND of track or something - but all they did was put it in a corner and hired 2 boring models to sit inside dressed up like army jawans !!! - atleast they could have hired some hot ladies to dress up in a fashionable army uniform ..something like this..




instead they did just this....





up next HONDA's stall-
actually HONDA made a mistake of putting their stall right next to HYUNDAI - bcos HYUNDAI had some really cool cars on display - some like santa fe and the avante which could be coming to india soon and of course some concepts which were absolutely cool...and HONDA's stall was one of the most boring ones

there was nuthing much beyond the below car in the HONDA stall - dont remember the name but it looked cool



then there was the new accord which has been seen enough times in auto magazines and various threads in t-bhp.. apart from that some boring civic variants and nothing much...

[narayan]

HYUNDAI - had some good models and good concept cars..
models were very happy to pose for cameras ..

there are enough photos on HYUNDAI's concept vehicle, so am just posting one picture of the same

check out the twin pipes .... ( and of course the twin legs ! )



another awsome concept at hyundai stall - dont recall the name though




moved on then to the DC stall and checked out the AMBEROD - not posting any pics bcos there is a separate thread dedicated to this car.. ( i am still wondering how the mods allowed a SEPARATE thread for this car !! ) i know looks are subjective - but still ...

- no design flow at all
- front, rear, sides look like having been designed by 3 different people sitting in different rooms and then DC came and said " ok your times up - lets put all these things together in photoshop!! "
- HUGE wheels and low profile tires for the sake of it ..
- crazy interiors - not sure what material it was but looked more like the lining i find in my sons pampers ! maybe it was meant to absorb fluids bcos there was no space to put a toilet
- the hydraulic mechanism for the gull wing doors was absolutely crude looking - i mean some cheap looking pistons jutting out of a 4 crore car ?!!

and the sad part was as soon as i clicked 2 photos of the AMBEROD - there goes my battery charge !!! and so no more photos after this

there was this nice lambo gallardo look alike car next to the AMBEROD but not sure which car it was based on ? knowing DC it might have been a MAHINDRA BOLERO to start with !!!!

[revvedup]

up next HONDA's stall-
actually HONDA made a mistake of putting their stall right next to HYUNDAI

Actually Honda is in a habit to imitate others see the new accord a mix of the sonata front with a 5 series like like light edges for the front and rear lights,and the side profile including the shoulder line is a blatant copy of the 3-series.this year Honda had a very bad stall they had this replica of an indy vtec engine with the engine head wrapped in decorative gold gift wrap of sorts..Although the Honda stall did provide good entertainment,while looking for someone from honda who could explain me how a vtec worked using the cross section of a real vtec engine on display there,one bystander thought that vtec was utterly simple and told me that the inline engine I was looking at for an explanation was not a vtec and instead the gold foil head v config replica engine was a vtec since according to him all vtec engines are v-shaped.

[narayan]

MARUTI - SUZUKI
- true to its leadership position in the market - MARUTI really had a SUPERB display area
- right mix of entertainment and cars
- simply loved the separate sections for various body styles for the SWIFT AND THE ZEN ESTILO
- some of the ZEN ESTILO body styles really looked cool and i am sure this would help MARUTI in increasing their ESTILO sales if only they were to promote this car with such unique body fittings
- the SX4 rally car was simply awesome..

AUDI/VOLKSWAGEN

- the new TT was gorgeous
- there was the A4-A6 and i think A8L also on display
- but the eye catcher was the R10 TDI

heard this comment from a chap standing next to me while i was watching the R10 TDI - " is ka ground clearance hi nahi hai - yeh gaadi india me nahi chalega "

the Q7 was indeed amazing in flesh - finally a premium SUV with good space in the rear - i think it was much more spacious than the X5,

girl asking her boyfriend about the Q7 " yeh gaadi me kya speciality hai ? "
guy says " first its an AUDI, second its a Q7 , thirdly its a SUV - so its special "

VW
nice cars, nice models and a superb skating show from some german chap doing juggling while skating

then there was this mad rush to grab free posters, calenders etc at their stall...

the TIGUAN looks promising - the chaps in the stall were mentioning on an indicative price of around Rs18-22 lakhs
that should give good competition to the CRV

[BunnyPunia]

Originally Posted by narayan

SKODA STALL
- cars were absolutely boring
- FABIA was a BIG disappointment - i mean - i was expecting much more space from a 7.5 lakh hatch back !! am not sure whether ppl are going to buy this one..
- models were awesome - looked like typicaly eastern european ladies...

They were australian models - SkodaIndia celebrates launch of Fabia - India PRwire

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by narayan

BMW STALL
- well laid out and was pretty crowded too
- the stall managers were selectively letting in only people who "looked" like they were likely customers to inspect the cars from close quarters.
- there was this gentleman who was asking aloud standing in front of the M3 - " ARRE YEH KOUNSA GAADI HAI ?"..

ME - " SIR THIS IS THE BMW M3- ITS A SPORTS CAR BASED ON THE 3 SERIES "

HIM - " HAAN - I NOTICED - IT LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE 3 SERIES - KITNE KA HAI "

ME - " SIR I THNK THIS SHOULD BE AROUND 60 -7- LAKHS ON ROAD "

HIM - " WHAT ??? WHY WILL I BUY THIS - I WILL PREFER THE 3 SERIES"

ME - " SIR - THIS PUTS OUT MORE THAN 400HP - SPORTS CAR - 2 SEATER BLAH BLAH BLAH "

HIM - " NO BUT STILL LOOKS SAME AS 3 SERIES AND THE 3 SERIES IS JUST 30 LAKHS "

i gave up and moved on !!

KBK should have been in your place... this is what he would have done to the guy:

[gendarmee]

Went there at 11 30 AM only to find out that it opens for public at 3 pm.
Spent time at Qutub Minar and got back at 2 45.
Just 4 hours i spent on friday but was worth every minute in comparison to what I was joining to see the next day, saturday.

Great exhibition of the Classic cars. Just going around that one stall made my trip worth it. With dad pointing out too cars we had to what car he learnt driving on.
Was taken aback when he told me the cars name & year of manufacture faster than I could read the board! I was amazed.

Then got into the FIAT stall and then the Skoda.
The 500 is good, bit over priced @ 10 lakhs. I so wish that they do something like that to the 59 model fiat 1100.

I really liked the Skoda Roomster. its a station wagon version of the fabia(looks like that). wonder when that will come out.
Volkswagon's stall was the pick of the lot. Actually let the people experience the car. with all the cars unlocked and accessible.

DC's Ambreoid was one hell of a interpretation.
56 years of R&D(may be no real r&d) at Hindustan motors gives the ambassador. DC does such a good job there with just an inspiration makes the amby's R&D looks degressive.

The next day was saturday. Not as conducive to checking out cars, leave alone sanpping coz of the phenomenal number of the crowd. But had fun though.wanted to check out the kawasaki & yamaha stall. Found the Kawasaki stall in the end.


I just hope the next time they go low on models,. I want the car's picture not the model with the car. So, had a tough time requesting the model to move out of the frame, most, out of paranoia, though that I was asking them for a picture. But every model was helpful enough to move out, with exception of one who found it embarrassing.

Some of my Expo pics here Delhi Auto Expo 08' - a photoset on Flickr


What I hated about the expo-

--The BMW stall. It was easy. fine. but the managers there had no right to herd people around, even before one could lay his eyes on a car the guy went like," please move dont stand" screaming right into one's ear.
Worst part was when ever i tried to get a pic they jumped right in front of the cam and went like,"You can have my picture, please move. You can see the car's picture in the magazine"
Were they selling cars or shooing people away?!?
I swore then. I will never buy a BMW.

-No map of the place, as in, not the topographical map.
I wanted to know where Kawasaki and Yamaha stalls were I was at gate 10 but i couldnt find out by any means which hall had the bike stall. the help desks just asked us to check the map on the board, that had a map of the halls. Sad for some one new to the place.
got to go around to the Kawasaki stall but missed the Yamaha stall in the end.