Highlights from the 2012 Chennai Auto Expo

It is not every day you get to see an Auto Expo in Chennai (despite it being a hub for all forms of racing). When we heard there was one scheduled, we had to go and take a look for ourselves. We have assembled a collage of images from our trip. Having never been to an Auto Expo in Chennai in before, we didn't know what to expect.

Let's just say we were surprised... and not necessarily in a good way. After seeing so many luxury/sports brands of vehicles on the road, we expected at least a few of the big gun car manufacturers. The highlight of the show happened to be a Mercedes Benz E350 and there were models from manufacturers such as Toyota with the Etios, Tata with the Nano, Honda with the Brio, Volkswagen with the Vento and Polo, Volvo with the S60 and the XC60, Force and Mahindra. You can check out the images in our collage. There were also a few bikes with the highlight being the Hayabusa and GSX-R1000 from Suzuki and the RX15 from Yamaha.

We were disappointed not to see other manufacturers that are already in the Indian market (read: BMW, Audi, Jaguar, Ferrari etc.). But considering the fact that taxes on imported vehicles adds up to around 150% on top of the cost of the car and how the majority of the masses aren't even aware of most of the imported brands, it is these kind of events that will slowly the public eye to the motoring culture. They get our support!

The event runs from March 16th to the 19th at the Chennai Trade Center. Tickets cost Rs. 40 and the doors are open from 10:30AM to 6:30PM.