After the ceremonial opening of the 65th IAA Commercial Vehicles, Federal Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt took the traditional opening tour, visiting numerous exhibition stands of commercial vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, and manufacturers of trailers, bodies and buses. The minister was accompanied by Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), Katharina Reiche, Parliamentary State Secretary, and Stefan Schostock, Mayor of the state capital Hannover.
In Hall 14/15 the guests were welcomed by Dr Wolfgang Bernhard, Member of the Board of Management at Daimler AG and Head of Daimler Trucks and Buses. He described the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025, which is intended to show how road freight transport can be even more efficient, safe and connected ten years from now. Anders Nielsen, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus AG, presented the D38 – an efficient, economical 15.2-litre in-line six-cylinder engine. At the Volkswagen stand Dr Eckhard Scholz, Chairman of the Board of Management at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, explained the “TRISTAR” concept, which gives an idea of
what future generations of the T series will be like.
The minister also visited stands of trailer and body manufacturers in Hall 27. At Schmitz Cargobull, CEO Ulrich Schümer and Management Board member Ulrich Schöpker explained a new I-beam formed cold from a single blank in the trailer chassis, which offers greatly increased loading and enhanced safety. Jürgen Spier, Managing Director of Spier Fahrzeugwerk, described a van with an especially light box body. At the stand of Fahrzeugwerke Bernard Krone GmbH, the proprietor Bernard Krone welcomed the minister and presented the newly developed Krone trailer axle.
The suppliers are unveiling 226 world premieres at this IAA – which is 70 per cent of all the world premieres here. The importance of the suppliers also became clear during the opening walking tour. At the Bosch stand (Hall 17) Dr Volkmar Denner, Chairman of the Board of Management at Robert Bosch GmbH, explained that the company had a focus on connectivity. Dr Denner presented a control device intended for use in the automatic “ECall” (emergency call). At the stand of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, CEO Dr Stefan Sommer presented a facsimile of the Innovation Truck that the driver can control remotely using a smartphone. The original
Innovation Truck can be experienced in action every day on the Innovation Stage.