Chinese companies to dominate 2008 Auto Expo

The 2008 Auto Expo week will see a Chinese invasion of sorts this time around. As per auto industry news reports, as many as 300 Chinese companies, most of them auto component makers, will be in the national capital for the 2008 Auto expo.

To add to this number, there will be as many as 100 Taiwanese automobile component makers at Pragati Maidan who will display their products at the show.

Apart from the Chinese companies, as many as 600 multinational component making companies will participate in the Auto Expo 2008, it is said. The single largest participation, however, will be from China. Other participants would be from Germany, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, Korea, and France. The Indian component manufacturers, numbering 1,350, who will be there at this year’s auto expo, are seen as waiting with crossed fingers expecting an invasion from the land of the dragon this year.

It has been reported that about 70 per cent of the multinational companies are from low cost manufacturing countries from South East Asia. The last edition of the auto expo two years ago saw only 50 Chinese companies participating.

Experts have attributed the Chinese interest to the rising rupee. According to a report, the 15 per cent rise in the rupee against the dollar has led to more imports of components into India. The import of automobile components stood at $3.3 billion in 2007, significantly higher than component exports of $2.9 billion during the year. Meanwhile, imports this year are expected to shoot up by another 20 per cent to almost $4 billion.

The Chinese invasion is seen by the industry as coming at a time when Indian companies are set to make an investment of about Rs 30,000 crore. The component makers who will descend at Pragati Maidan for a week long extravaganza will hope to rope in business from automobile majors like Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, General Motors, Ford, Tata Motors, and Mahindra & Mahindra.