The President of SIAM has confirmed that no Chinese delegates will be participating in Auto Expo 2020.
It is not news that Auto Expo 2020 will witness immense participation of Chinese automotive brands in both four-wheeler and two-wheeler categories. For the same reason, the onset of the novel corona virus in the city of Wuhan and other parts of mainland China has created a lot of panic among visitors and other participants of the event.
In this regard, Mr Rajan Wadhera, President of SIAM (one of the main organisers of Auto Expo 2020) has confirmed that exhibitions / pavilions of all the Chinese brands participating in the 15th instalment of the biennial automotive show will be managed by their respective Indian representatives. None of the stalls will be run by anybody who has recently come to the country from the People’s Republic.
Since the arrival of almost all commodities from China has stopped, there is no direct corona virus threat at Auto Expo 2020. However, organisers have taken effective measures to educate visitors about the causes of spreading, symptoms and prevention methods of the virus. The venue will have ample number of hand sanitisers as well.
So far, confirmed reports of corona virus have come up in more than 25 countries, including India (three confirmed cases reported to date). The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already classified corona virus as a ‘Public Health Emergency’ even though it has not become pandemic, thanks to the strict and effective measures undertaken by major nations and organisations.
Corona virus has made a huge impact on global trade and commerce, including the automotive industry. It was only recently that MG Motors India shared that its sales will be indirectly, yet majorly, affected by the spread of the virus. The British-origin automotive brand under SAIC group expects a disruption in the supply chain from its vendors based in Europe, China and certain other Asian countries as a result of the epidemic.
MG Motor India currently sells two products in the country: Hector and ZS EV.; the former being the brand’s volume-sales product. The company claims that the demand for the Hector is so overwhelming that it does not have excess inventory to make up for the present scenario. In other words, customers might face longer waiting periods than usual due to the lowered rate of production.
Sales of various foreign automotive brands who heavily depend on Chinese suppliers are going weak. Still, no brand plans to make a deliberate attempt to boost sales to maintain customer satisfaction. Everyone has taken customer safety as the main priority.
