At the Delhi auto show, crowds gathered admiringly around a customised version of Volkswagen's Polo car, designed specifically for a new India-only race series that marks the most aggressive marketing foray yet in the sub-continent's fast-growing compact and hatchback sector.

VW is not alone – at the motor show Toyota also launched its Etios compact car, designed specially for India, and Pawan Goenka, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, forecast an astonishing quadrupling in sales over four years.

Consumption growth on this scale is raising hopes that Asia can emerge rapidly as an alternative engine of international economic growth, with its ultra-confident consumers rescuing western manufacturers from years of potentially sluggish growth in Europe and North America in the wake of the global financial crisis.