Auto Expo begins in New Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 5 (ANI): India's biggest car and automobile show, Auto Expo begins in New Delhi today.

Around 50 new models of car are expected to be launched in this year's show.

Car manufacturers are eager to move on from a year of sluggish sales caused by high interest rates and rising fuel prices globally as car sales in India has registered a growth of 30 percent in the year to April 2011, enthusing manufacturers as economic turmoil hit sales in developed markets.

"If you look at the growth rates in India, they have been quite strong compared to the rest of the economy," said show organizer, Virendra Gupta.

"We were looking at a growth rate of close to 7.5 percent for the past few years. So, that is propelling the growth and the demand for the vehicles and the automotive sector," he added.

Andy Zhang, an exhibitor from China and director of turbo charger maker Kangyue Technology Co., said he did not want to miss out on growth opportunities offered by the Indian automobile market.

"I think it is a very big country so there are large opportunities for all kinds of auto parts companies," Zhang said.

In a sign of India's growing importance among the global car heavyweights, U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. launched a compact sports utility vehicle in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"The market worldwide for automobiles is growing around five percent a year so it is a tremendous growth market and of course it is being led by the Asia Pacific region, especially India and China which is growing faster than anywhere else around the world," said Ford CEO Alan Mulally.

Ford's EcoSport is the second of eight new global models that Ford plans to launch in India, the company said, as it targets Asian and African markets in a push to increase annual global sales to 8 million vehicles by 2015.

Bajaj Auto also launched its first ever four-wheeled vehicle on Tuesday saying the RE60 would target commercial users and three-wheeled vehicle owners in India, and that production could involve Nissan and Renault. (ANI)