“Driven by ideas” is the slogan of the 66th IAA Commercial Vehicles, which will be held in Hannover from September 22 to 29, 2016. The IAA’s new key visual accordingly presents vans, trucks and buses as innovative, modern and digitally connected. In a growing global economy where digitization is marching forward, the development of commercial vehicles continues all the time so they are destined to be a driving force for Industry 4.0. “Commercial vehicles make the intelligent connections between markets and people,” said Mr. Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), as the IAA key visual was unveiled recently.
The digital world shown on the poster consists of translucent windshield projections (head-up displays) and connected information systems. The futuristic vehicles therefore appear to be a computer-aided expansion of the observer’s perception of reality. “This visual interplay of vehicles and the digital world illustrates that the term “commercial vehicles,” as we know and use it today, will change,” Wissmann explained.
Given the growing economy, increasing consumption and the great importance of e-business, commercial vehicles are becoming ever more important for freight traffic. In Germany, trucks carry 73 percent of all goods transported and in the future they will continue to bear the lion’s share of freight traffic, Wissmann said, adding that no shifts worth mentioning to other means of transport were expected. “Commercial vehicles are the engine driving our economy,” Wissmann stated. Every day they make a major contribution to ensuring our prosperity. No other form of transport was as flexible, he said.
The increasing importance of commercial vehicles is also shown by the total mileage covered by German freight traffic. This has always risen in the past and the trend is continuing. In 2014 the total came to 463.9 billion ton-kilometers, which was 10 billion more than in 2013.
At the same time, considerable progress has been made in fuel consumption and CO2 output. For example, consumption by heavy trucks over the last four decades has come down by around 30 percent. CO2 emissions have fallen 60 percent per ton-km since the mid-1960s. “The industry continues its progress in this direction. By 2020 the European commercial vehicle manufacturers want to leverage the potential for another 20 percent reduction in CO2 compared with 2005 levels,” Wissmann said. He stressed that pollutant emissions had also been markedly reduced. “The new Euro VI exhaust standard applicable to all new trucks since 2014 has brought emissions of classical pollutants and particulates down to such low levels that they can hardly be measured anymore.”
The mode of transport that is evidently the most environmentally friendly, the bus, has gained hugely in importance since long-distance passenger services were deregulated. In 2014 there were only 200 routes available in Germany, whereas now there are well over 300.
The 66th IAA Commercial Vehicles will be held on the Hannover trade show grounds from September 22 to 29, 2016. It will be preceded by a Press Day on September 21, 2016. The second Press Day on September 22 will coincide with the opening day and the first day on which the show is open to the public. Online accreditation for journalists will commence on July 14, 2016.