The Biennial Auto Expo has had a three-year gap due to the pandemic, and is set to re-ignite the passion showcase of the car industry’s future. The only difference with the 16th edition of the Auto Expo will be the complete dominance of electric mobility in both the passenger vehicle and the two-wheeler spaces. New electric cars and SUVs and new scooters and motorcycles will fill the turntables. And even the brands that are yet to make their presence felt in the BEV category are joining the bandwagon, with concepts that will attempt to set the tone for their future. 

What a difference three years have brought on. From being offbeat showcases at the Expo that were meant to titillate audiences, and utilitarian two-wheelers in the fringes of the previous two editions, battery electrics will take centrestage at the show later this week. The industry has also grown significantly during the last three years, even though the total sales of BEVs still constitutes only one per cent of the total. The numbers are however, starting to look healthy at 8.2 lakh electrics sold by the auto industry for the nine months till December 2022, compared to 1.38 lakh units sold during the 2020-21 fiscal.

The current fiscal could end with over a million BEVs in sales, including two-wheelers, PVs, 3-wheelers and electric buses. According to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), this number is likely to balloon to five per cent of total industry sales within the next few years. 

In the meanwhile, what are the biggies of the auto industry going to be showcasing at this Auto Expo 2023. Hyundai Motor India will launch the Ioniq 5, its premium EV that sports a very European design and has already been teased. Expect pricing that rivals group brand Kia’s EV6 because the Ioniq 5 is being locally assembled. Hyundai is also likely to showcase the Ioniq 6, the Korean brand’s production sedan that was born out of the concept that it showcased at the previous expo. Sister brand Kia Motor India will also have a new electric vehicle on display, this one though will be a concept in the EV9 electric SUV. In addition, it is also going to showcase the new Carnival and the Sorento SUV. 

Tata Motors which is leading the passenger EV industry by a long margin, has upped its EV game with a trio of electrics on offer already for buyers, will showcase one more production-ready electric in the Punch EV. It will also be showcasing the evolution of its pure electric platforms in the Curvv and Avinya concepts. Maruti Suzuki has been staying in the background eyeing the EV market, but its investments into the development of future EVs will have a showcase in a new electric SUV concept that is likely to go into production by 2025. Being co-developed with Toyota, this concept could have a platform sharing version from Toyota too being showcased. 

MG Motor, which was amongst the first to launch an electric SUV in the Indian market will also have two new electric vehicles put up at its stall. One that will make It to market in the near future and almost in the form in which it is being unveiled will be the MG City EV. The one which MG will unveil but is only going to be seeking customer feedback for will be the MG4 EV hatchback. Chinese electric brand BYD is also likely to showcase the Seal electric, in addition to the Atto 3 compact electric SUV. 

Though the big two-wheeler brands have skipped participating at this year’s expo, there are number of start-ups that are going to be displaying their new e-scooters and e-bikes. Some older and some recently established brands in the electric two-wheeler space like Okinawa, Tork Motors, Ultraviolette, LML, Matter Motorworks, Greaves Electric etc are all going to be showcasing their new two-wheelers. There is another dozen new start-ups in the electric space that will also be displaying their new products.