High Attendance Marks Automechanika Frankfurt’s Successful Return

Automechanika organiser Messe Frankfurt has hailed the 2022 edition of the Frankfurt event a success after large numbers of visitors and exhibitors travelled to Germany to attend the fair. According to Messe Frankfurt, the fair drew 78,000 visitors from 175 countries, while 2804 companies from 70 countries exhibited products and services across 19 hall levels and the outdoor exhibition area.

Messe Frankfurt said 92 per cent of visitors were satisfied with the fair, which highlighted important developing trends such as increasing digitalisation, remanufacturing, alternative drive systems and electromobility.

“Things are clearly heading in the right direction,” said Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt. “Together with our customers and our international partners, we are optimistic about the future – nothing can take the place of trade fairs. The strong international component amongst exhibitors from 70 countries and visitors from 175 countries alike makes it clear that the international automotive aftermarket is back in Frankfurt. Participants also took full advantage of the new networking opportunities to finally meet with one another in person and make new business contacts.”

For the first time, there were more than 350 events on offer, including presentations by new market participants and free workshops for automotive professionals. Among the innovations were three ‘Collision Talk’ presentations hosted by BodyShop News Group Publisher Michel Malik, with panellists including Carl Bizon, CEO of AMA Group in Australia; Robert Snook, Group Director of MG Cannon in the UK; Pierre Nicolau, President & CEO of Celette; Osvaldo Bergaglio, CEO of Symach; and Khaled Sorour, Export Manager of Kapci Coatings.

“The Collision Talks were a new innovation to Automechanika Frankfurt,” Snook told BodyShop News. “The talks hosted by Michel Malik and IBIS Collision Talks hosted by Jason Moseley offered different styles of seminars, but both were very well represented by panellists and very well attended by delegates. They’ve proven really popular and I’m sure they will build on them next time.”

Snook also praised the overall event. “We knew there would be a buzz and people wanted to get back together, but the scale of the networking, the scale of the conversations, the innovations I’ve seen on stands really does show Automechanika Frankfurt is the home of the paint and body industry.”

German company GelKoh, whose new recovery system for damaged e-cars won an Automechanika Innovation Award and the Green Award, participated in the exhibition for the first time. “The trade fair went really well for us,” said Markus Kohten, Technical Director of GelKoh. “We were able to meet a lot of our customers here, including major corporations like insurers, car dealers, recovery companies, even people from the fire brigade – 90 per cent of our target groups, in other words. We are very particular about which trade fairs we take part in, and we are already considering participating in the next Automechanika.”

Tiemo Sehon, Managing Director of Innovative Lackieranlagen, also rated the show a success. “In partnership with Premiotherm, we presented one of our systems at Automechanika. This system makes it possible to achieve carbon neutrality in painting and bodywork centres with painting systems – systems that often use a great deal of energy. In light of the current energy supply situation, this is an important issue for all workshops. The trade fair has been a complete success for us – we met visitors from every country imaginable and thanks to these new contacts, we can move full speed ahead with our international expansion.”

Look out for our full report in a future edition of your region’s BodyShop News magazine.