There are few exhibitions that can honestly claim to be cashing in on recession economics.
Automechanika is one of those that can. The exhibition, dedicated to automotive tools, repair and maintenance, is one of the world’s most successful events and arguably the largest exhibition brand in the world. Figures for the full event portfolio are truly remarkable, featuring 13,700 exhibitors, 400,000 trade visitors and 700,000sqm sold across events in 12 countries.
But why the success? Put simply; we’re keeping our cars for longer. Repair and maintenance is more important than it was. The days when car manufacturers could be defined by their assumed acronyms are behind us. Fords can no more be laughed off as Fix Or Repair Daily, or Fiat’s by Fix It Again Tomorrow, than BMW can be held up as Bring More Wrenches or GM as General Maintenance. These acronyms have become anachronisms. The majority of modern cars sold today are expected to run well past 100,000 miles and in doing so be subject to many services.
Automechanika is the place for anyone involved in the business of keeping cars on the road. More than 300,000sqm dedicated to panel forming, buffing, re-mapping, fabricating and fettling, the pit-lane custodians responsible for keeping our cherished vehicles out of automotive heaven. Or hell.
The original show in Frankfurt, Germany, is still going strong. EW attended the 22nd edition of the six-day trade show, which used almost all of the 305,000sqm on offer at Messe Frankfurt, welcoming 150,000 visitors and 4,600 exhibitors from 78 countries between 11 and 16 September.
It was the largest edition in terms of area, exhibitors and visitors, opened by the prime minister of the State of Hesse, Volker Bouffier, who used the platform to wax lyrical on the event’s significance for Germany and the automotive maintenance industry.
It certainly presents itself as a mixed bag, straddling the line between efficient auto repair and motoring passion. While one stand is occupied by a topless modified aftermarket Audi R10 and an equally topless, albeit bodypainted, female model, the stand beside it provides demonstrations on panel shaping and metal fabrication. If the marketing-led forces working in the halls of the International Geneva Motor Show paint motoring as a glamourous and seductive activity, then Automechanika takes it down to the bare metal.
But this too is changing. E-mobility and hybrid technology were the biggest of the buzzwords at this year’s event, and perhaps the greatest technological breakthroughs in motoring for many years.
This shift to new methods of propelling our vehicles opens up a wholly different market for repair and maintenance experts.
Automechanika is also expanding into truck competency, as well as industrial and agricultural vehicle maintenance, which bring with them a new set of tools, tolerances and liabilities. Farmers, after all, don’t replace their tractors as often as a salesman hands over the keys to his rep mobile.
But the days when they could fix them with elbow grease and a welding kit are also going the way of the internal combustion engine, banished to the annals of history by superior technology only a computer programme can repair.
Recession economics
Emerging technology aside, the exhibition director largely has the recession to thank for its current success. Keynote speaker Professor Charles McKay, a leading light in the automotive and transport sector from the German Institute of Mobility and Transport, used his platform at the exhibition to tell journalists and industry experts that the decline in new car sales fomented by the global economic crisis has effectively played into Automechanika’s hands.
“We are well-off, but the market is in decline,” he said. “The used car market is driven by the fact vehicles are more reliable, and repair happens on a higher level. We need to retain the quality level on used cars to be successful; the used car market is now the most important one.”
The professor also claimed research he conducted for the Automechanika industry study shows that while the market has consolidated for both branded and independent workshops, the number of people who now need their services – and the level of quality they expect – is increasing.
“The middle class is dissolving and with it monthly disposable income,” said McKay, adding that fewer people are buying new and are instead maintaining their current vehicles. “The gap is widening between rich and poor and the nominal income of poorer people in society is going down.”
One thing’s for sure, if this event continues to grow, for the sake of visitors it will need to expand into the maintenance and repair of shoes.
This was first published in the Issue 4/2012 edition of EW. Any comments? Email exhibitionworld@mashmedia.net
