Auto Expo moves to Noida

The next edition of India's biennial automobile show, Auto Expo, will be held from February 6-12, 2014, at Greater Noida, moving away from its traditional venue, Pragati Maidan.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Monday said the change in timing and venue was mainly to avoid a clash with the Detroit Auto Show and unavailability of Pragati Maidan. Traditionally, the auto expo is held in the first week of January.

"In the next Auto Expo, which will be held from February 6-12, we will be showing only vehicles and accessories at the India Expo Centre and Mart at Greater Noida," said Vishnu Mathur, director general, Siam.

For the components, the exhibition will be held in a separate

venue being still worked out, he added.

The Auto Expo 2014 will be much bigger in terms of exhibition space, informed Sugato Sen, deputy director general, Siam.

"We will have 50,000 square metres of occupied space by exhibitors as compared to less than 40,000 square metre we had at this year's Auto Expo," Sen said.

In order to have a trial run ahead of the 2014 expo, SIAM will be organising a bus and utility vehicles show from February 15-18, 2013.

At the end of Auto Expo 2012, the organisers - Siam, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association and Confederation of Indian Industry - had said they were mulling removing the next edition of the biennial trade show out of Pragati Maidan to a more spacious world-class location, so that it could become the largest in the world.