Auto Expo 2012: Behind the scenes

Now that the 11th Auto Expo has come to a grand closure which was eventful every second, we now get enough time to sit back and mull over the personal experiences of our entire Cardekho team which was nothing less than living an adventure each and every moment. We have put in our best efforts covering all the intricate details without a moment to waste right from the biggest ever launches to the stiff meetings of the car manufacturers at the seven day automobile event in Asia for all the die-hard car fans across the globe.

But, before recounting all the events at the show the least we can do is accredit the 12 member team and the contribution made by each member without which the entire effort would not have been materialised. I would like to take the name of our CEO Amit before anybody else without whom the journey so far wouldn’t have been possible even in the wildest dreams. Next, Dinesh, our SEO and process Manager led the entire team and worked hard right from conceptualising to organising the whole event. Ritesh, our Editor in Chief was quick with his unselfish attempt to serve the public in the best possible way by uploading the pictures and news on the social networking sites like FaceBook through our own CarDekho and Cars in India pages on the site. Today our website stands at a point where we proudly announce to occupy the 197th slot in the Alexa ratings which determines the true worth of a website in our country. It is the most cherished moment for us when the public acknowledges our team effort and rewards us for it with the accolades, which is another feather to add to our cap when Cardekho.com, a hardcore automobile website is ranked as the most popular website of the year 2011.

Since you are already introduced with the key members of the team, the limelight is now focused at the rest of the team whose efforts are no less by any means. Sitaram and his team, Rajendra Kumar and Sohail Khan were right on their toes capturing the tempting new models at their very best angles simultaneously editing them to keep the eager readers of our website up-to-date  with hot news every second. Akshay played the role of a sole contributor collecting the PRs from the 18 OEMs participated at the Auto Expo to get all the authentic information about the new car launches and the wide range of concepts displayed amidst the massive crowd collected at the 1.20 acres spread Auto Expo. Amit our CEO, with an ample help from Amol and Ria struck the best deals with the car manufacturers acted on the spur of the moment exhibiting the spontaneity at its best to put up a great show, the marketing field would have ever seen.

Though mentioned at the last, the roles played by Ajay Yadav and Ajay Jangir are by no means least important where they took a deep dive at the most listless task of meeting the company representatives and get them to divulge the missing piece of information if left uncovered by the rest of the team. That was the brief introduction our onsite Cardekho team in action, while the content team led by Shilpa who was quick on making the right decisions segregating the authentic information from the misleading lot which was fraught with rumours and speculations to avoid feeding our readers with wrong information and is exactly why we stand well ahead of the rest. Her super-efficient team aides Lakshmi and Sneha delivered their best relaying the information to the excited public moulding the bare facts to an interesting story to imprint the news in the minds of our avid readers forever. It is the effort from our content team which has got our readers glued to their laptop screens to enliven every moment of the Auto Expo experience. The 14 member team comprising of Dinesh, Akshay, Sitaram and his aides Rajendra Kumar, Sohail Khan, Amit, Amol,  Ria, Ajay Yadav, Ajay Jangir, Shilpa, Lakshmi and Sneha worked day in and day out throughout the week long Auto Expo which began at January 5th, the onsite team’s job actually commenced from January 4th itself.

This is how the story goes….

The flurry of activities at the 11th Indian Auto Expo organised by the SIAM (Society of Automobile Manufacturers), CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and ACMA (Automobile Component Manufacturers Association) began two days before the commencement of the event which was witnessed by our onsite team without missing a beat. All the eleven members were lucky to get hold of the media passes in the first place which they eagerly collected to eye-witness the grandeur of the event on January 4th one day ahead of the Auto Expo. The rest of the day was however uneventful, though the team had to be watchful every moment to get hands over the hot happenings at Pragati Maidan which goes without saying is the best place to catch hold of the interesting tidbits.

Then the D-day began on January 5th just like any day with the Sun rising on the East but only the car fans would know the importance of the first day of the 11th Auto Expo in India. At this juncture its important to remind that January 5th is stapled media day to meet the pressing needs of the media coverage which is undeniably a catalyst to see the Auto Expo through success. All the same, this is the day when the majority of car launches happened with Maruti India kickstarting the show with a display of the supreme XA Alpha concept. Let’s leave the new car launches for a later time while we check on what went behind the scenes from our side as we managed to get a handful of details unscraped despite the outpouring crowd hindering every step we take. Nevertheless, we eased our way into the Pragati Maidan which is basically the venue to host the large event through the Gate # 7, the entry gate covering the last 500 m distance to our destination from the nearby metro station after getting down the metro transit connecting from our hotel. Not a single member of our team complained, on the contrary enjoyed every second of the journey to have the memory engraved in the minds forever.

We were there at the venue on dot at 9 AM only to find the large crowd already assembled at the venue waiting for the gates to open up to take to check if the event was as good as our imagination. However, the rest 15 minutes seemed like ages before the gates were finally opened to allow the crowd inside and the nearest to the entrance gate was standing gloriously, the pride our nation, the Maruti Suzuki India stall while Hyundai Stall located at another block down the line. Then began the trouble though mixed with pleasure in large proportions for our team members Ritesh, Dinesh, Akshay and Sitaram who bent over their back to reach out for the next to impossible tasks capturing all the important facts that could interest our readers. They collected all the information required from each and every stall covering the distance of 5 km along the circumference where the OEM stalls were situated featuring the best of their products amidst the eye-dazzling backdrop. Without a moment to waste, they simultaneously worked out on the business perspective of the visit while Akshay focused on getting hands on the most profound details from the car manufacturers, while Dinesh, Ritesh and Sitaram were busy imbibing the fantastic developments taking place at the Auto Expo from each and every auto maker anxiously waiting for their turn to check what the next moment has to unfold. They refused to give away to the lame excuses like sore legs and tired bodies but were right on their foot to capture the most happening moments of the Indian car industry.

January 6th, which was again a repeat of the media day, but the four member team from day one decided to lessen their burden handing over the partial responsibility to Amit, Ria and Amol who joined them on the second day but only in their dreams. Along with the excitement and enthusiasm doubled their responsibilities too where the late joinees got straight to work finding this an opportune moment to get a roaring business from the new car launches to help the online car sales business wing of Cardekho.com.  Amit’s team was there at the Auto Expo as business visitors unlike Dinesh’s team who were there on the sole purpose of getting the media coverage while gaining the business deals on the sidelines. As the evening dawned on January 6th came the end of the media day and the flurry of launches, while the actual work began for our CEO Amit and his marketing team, not to mention Dinesh who also got down to business doing the outstanding job of distributing the Cardekho brochures to let the public know the wide range on businesses handled by the number Auto Portal of the country.

January 7th and 8th: The good days begin for the general public who until now had to depend on news channels or auto portals to get the juicy details on what's happening inside the closed boundaries of Pragati Maidan. But, once the floodgates are opened there is no turning back. Being a weekend, which is the most essential part of the Auto Expo, is observed with continuous flow of crowd like an ocean assembled at the venue making it difficult to our most passionate photographer in our team Sitaram also acquire the best shots as the pouring crowd was more interested in feasting their eyes upon the freshly launched cars leaving no room for the professionals from doing their duty. The auto enthusiasts who were the sole reason for the Indian Auto Expo to become a tremendous success and to make an everlasting impression in the OEM's mind have surprised the organisers with the massive inflow crossing the 3 lakh mark on Sunday for one being the weekend and the other a single entry mode at Rs 200.

January 9th, 10th and 11th however went uneventful leaving the ground to the public to have their own share of appraisals of the new cars and concepts to decide on the best model to interest them most if they have new car purchase on top of their mind. On the other hand, if the visitor was there as a die-hard car fanatic and bubbling with enthusiasm to share the news with friends and relatives back home, the ground was a battlefield in other words, with the car manufacturers struggling to come up with the best they have in the process evolving out with the exquisite models packed with earthly comforts only possible in imagination. All the same, there were certain misgivings at the Auto Expo 2012 which though concluded satisfactorily to the heart’s content, the uncontrolled public has tested the patience of the OEMs who are not used to this kind of volume in the other parts of the world. However, the organisers are warned to take the necessary steps in the next season which might also include the change of venue and re-shuffling the dates of the Auto Expo to offer a more memorable experience.

Editors Take – 2012 Auto Expo

Well to begin with the 2012 Auto Expo was like a sweet sour affair from a journalist point of view. Sweet-because all’s well that ends well and sour-because of the utter chaos that was under process at the Expo grounds. CII which is the organizing body for all the Auto Expos had asked us to register well in advance and we followed their guidelines well in advance. Still then, 40% of the journalist did not get their Media Passes. It was a total mess up by the organizers. Even the journalists who had come from abroad were a part of this hold up. On the media day of Expo i.e. 5th Jan, many journalists were not allowed to enter the premise just because they didn’t have their Media Passes, thanks to the mess up of the Expo management. 5th and 6th Jan were supposed to be total Media Days as during the two days the entry was restricted only for the Journos so that they could work freely and attend the conferences and meets hosted by car makers.

However, due to the utter disarray on the 5th Jan afternoon itself the Expo organizers let in the public and that too in Lakhs. We journalists were totally sidelined and you had Pappu-Gappu and their parents walking in your camera frame or attending press conferences meant for the media. The Media management was very bad. Still our team from CarDekho did a splendid job to cover the event. We were there on a mission and our mission was to get our readers the most accurate coverage and instant reports. We had to jostle through the lakhs of people, we were pushed many a times while trying to get in a stall but we didn’t give up. We had zero network connectivity at times which added to the misery but we marched on.

The manufacturer’s stalls were nicely done up and a lot of effort had gone in making their pavilions ready. The Expo saw a lot of concepts and showcases from the car makers and I hope they make it to Indian roads soon. The biggest show-stealer Concept from the Expo according to me was the Ford EcoSport which is a Mini SUV followed by Maruti’s XA Alpha again a Mini SUV and Hyundai’s Hexa Space which is a MPV. All the 3 concepts have a lot of potential and I am sure that many buyers would have already made up their minds to buy them once launched. Coming to the launches at the Expo, there were quite a few launches that happened but a few that overshadowed the others were the Mini Cooper that marked its grand Indian entry, Hyundai Sonata Luxury Sedan and the Nissan Evalia MPV along with the New Toyota Innova and Fortuner, the Renault Pulse hatch and the Tata Safari Storme to name a few.

Mostly all the car makers showcased their future models at their stalls. VW got its latest Beetle while Hyundai got its latest generation Elantra, Toyota got their 2012 Prado and the new Prius with new Camry. General Motors got into the act by showcasing the Volt and the Cruze Rally edition with the muscle cars and unveiled their MPV and the Chevrolet Sail hatch while Audi got the Q3 shown and Mercedes did it by launching their SLS convertible and M Class. Maruti showed the Ertiga MPV that would be on Indian roads in a few months. Mahindra was in full power with their lineup of future Ssangyong SUVs. Nissan had the mighty GT-R and the Leaf at their stall and Peugeot used this expo to unveil the 508 luxury sedan that would be launching soon. Renault showed us the mini SUV the Duster that we await for Indian roads and launched Pulse hatch. A lot has to be learnt from the 2012 Expo and I hope CII and the Auto Expo organizers have picked their follies from this Expo mismanagement and would work efficiently and make the next Expo a much better experience. It was a pleasure in bring to you the entire Auto Expo coverage and I hope that you, our readers have also enjoyed it as much as we did in getting it across.