Automechanika Shanghai, the largest automotive aftermarket trade fair in Asia, was held from 29 November to 2 December at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) in the city.
This was the first time that organiser Messe Frankfurt hosted the fair in Shanghai after the global COVID-19 pandemic, and its return was widely welcomed by the industry in China and abroad.
According to Messe Frankfurt, the show grew significantly compared to the 2019 event. The company said the number of exhibitors increased by 71 per cent to 5,652 businesses, and the occupied floor space increased by 36 per cent to 300,000 square metres.
The company noted that the increase in exhibitors and visitors is especially significant considering that Messe Frankfurt held another Automechanika show in Shenzhen, China in February this year. This show offered them an opportunity to return to large-scale industry shows on mainland China, and its 3,302 exhibitors were visited by over 106,000 people.
Automechanika Shanghai is considered to be the largest show of its kind for product and supplier sourcing, and it is only overshadowed by the flagship Automechanika Frankfurt show in size and the number of international visitors.
This year, the show boosted its international appeal by adding 16 country platforms, most notably from the United States, Japan, the UK, Italy and Turkiye. It also hosted a record-breaking 177 buyer groups from China and 27 other countries and regions.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Fiona Chiew, General Manager of Messe Frankfurt Hong Kong, noted the rapid increase in exhibits and visitor attention on new energy vehicles. As such, her team added special “Innovation 4 Mobility” sections to many of the display halls, while also creating a platform to discuss the future of the automotive aftermarket at its International Automotive Industry Conference 2023.
At the Industry Conference, experts from China, the USA and Europe discussed the growth in electric vehicles and its impact on the automotive aftermarket. While they noted the challenges to suppliers of components and technologies for internal combustion engines, there was a general consensus that the changes were creating more opportunities for the automotive aftermarket and that the “long-tail” of over 1.5 billion existing ICE vehicles were expected to sustain the traditional industry for “many more decades”.
Messe Frankfurt has confirmed that the next Automechanika Shanghai will be held from 2 to 5 December 2024, also at the NECC.