At a time of digitalisation and networked vehicles, the motor-vehicle sector confirms its top economic role | Messe Frankfurt expands in the field of ‘Mobility & Logistics’
4,820 exhibitors (2014: 4,660) are participating at the world’s leading international trade fair in its field, Automechanika Frankfurt. They work in fields covering equipment, components, accessories, management and services. Around 1,000 of them supply parts for commercial and freight vehicles. The event will take place from 13 to 17 September 2016 and cover an area of 305,000 square metres in all, once again occupying the entire Exhibition Centre.
It has achieved growth not only in terms of exhibitors, but also in terms of the level of international participation. Companies from a total of 76 different countries (2014:74) will be presenting themselves and their products to a huge international trade and professional public from the wholesale and retail trades, from industry and from the workshop sector.
Detlef Braun, President and CEO of Messe Frankfurt, states “The top position of the motor-vehicle industry and the motor-vehicle retail trade is reflected in a new record for levels of participation in Automechanika inFrankfurt.” According to the Institute for Retail Research IFH, Köln, (Institut für Handelsforschung), business sectors that are covered by the Automechanika trade fair account for total revenues of approximately € 1.35 trillion in the EU27 countries.
The economic areas covered by Automechanika Frankfurt represent the industrial supply of original equipment, including vehicle components, accessories and tyres, the various relevant retail formats at the distribution stage and, additionally, the maintenance and repair of motor vehicles. The € 1,348.8 billion of earnings in 2015 correspond to an increase of 4.8 % over the previous year. The top-selling sector is motor-vehicle retail, with sales of € 806.3 billion (calculated on the basis of prices to the end consumer), followed by market provision by manufacturers of components, accessories and tyres for motor vehicles (€ 218.9 billion, calculated on the basis of manufacturers’ actual sale prices) and the turnover for maintenance and repairs (€ 135.5 billion, calculated on the basis of prices to the end consumer).
The major topics covered by this year’s show include concepts of mobility and modes of transport in the future and the corresponding services and workshop solutions, together with the Innovation Awards and initial and further training. Detlef Braun summarises as follows: “The entire motor-vehicle trade is keeping a weather-eye open. Many of our customers, who work in the field of motor-vehicle parts, the retail trade and the workshop industry, are here to get to grips with new products and new areas of business. Here in Frankfurt, over the next few days, the whole world will be presenting its solutions and innovations in response to the increased networking and digitalisation of vehicles”
The Frankfurt Festhalle will become a ‘laboratory of the future’ at Automechanika Frankfurt. Visitors to the trade fair can expect a pyrotechnic display of innovation and pioneering ideas for both individual mobility and freight transport, in both private cars and commercial vehicles. The companies come from the components industry, the workshop equipment sector, software development, vehicle manufacturing and the development and marketing of accessories, as well as from the energy business, transport and logistics trades. Key areas of focus in the exhibition include e-mobility, telematic systems and solutions for internal and external networking of vehicles, with also apps and software solutions for vehicle networking, for intelligent traffic control and applications for effective fleet management.
Against this background, Messe Frankfurt is investing in some new events. Recently they launched coverage of a new business sector ‘Mobility & Logistics’. Looking forward, Detlef Braun observes: “We shall be spreading our wings a little in future as far as topics and formats are concerned. We are thinking beyond the automotive aftermarket and are extending our portfolio with conferences, roadshows and festivals for the whole automotive sector, including transport and logistics.”
One of the new series of conferences is, for example, the international roadshow ‘Connected Mobility’, which will be launched in the Forum on 15 September with further sessions in Shanghai (2 December 2016) and Austin, Texas (11 March 2017). Amongst the new shows are the Automotive Engineering Show in India, the trade fairs for commercial and freight vehicles Futuroad Expo in Johannesburg and Comtrans in Moscow, as well as the logistics fairs Materials Handling and Scalex.
In two years’ time, to coincide with the 25th edition of Automechanika Frankfurt from 11 to 15 September 2018, REIFEN will take place in parallel with Automechanika Frankfurt for the first time, on licence from Messe Essen. These two leading trade fairs have already been collaborating since 2014 and will, in future, be held jointly at 14 locations in 13 countries – from Birmingham to Shanghai. Both parties are set to benefit from the arrangement, as the tyre retail sector and the workshop sector continue to grow ever closer together.