ACMA Automechanika clicks with exhibitors

The first-ever ACMA Automechanika New Delhi held last month at Pragati Maidan has drawn industry-wide appreciation for its smooth execution. According to the post-event release by the organisers, the trade fair saw participation from 261 exhibitors (149 domestic, 112 international) and a total footfall of 8,157 visitors over four days. Showing a strong interest in the Indian aftermarket, the overseas exhibitors came from China, Czech Republic, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, Ukraine and Bangladesh.

ACMA Automechanika witnessed a host of firms launch their products, sign technical agreements with fellow companies and showcase their latest innovations specifically for the Indian automotive aftermarket. Praful Patel, minister for Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises, government of India, stated that “the ACMA Automechanika New Delhi is a very important show to India’s automotive industry, which currently represents 22 percent of India’s manufacturing GDP. India today produces high-quality components and has a strong manufacturing base. A show like this gives India’s auto industry the perfect chance to showcase its current progress.”

Meanwhile, Surinder Kanwar, president, ACMA, commented: “ACMA Automechanika New Delhi 2013 has been a very successful new venture for ACMA and Messe Frankfurt India. The conference on ‘Opportunities and Challenges for the Indian Auto Component Industry and Aftermarket’ was also well attended. Participants greatly benefitted from the incisive discussions on the key challenges being encountered by the auto component aftermarket value chain and the issue of combating counterfeiting.”

Raj Manek, MD, Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India, added: “To tap the emerging opportunities in India, it was highly imperative that ACMA and Messe Frankfurt formed a partnership, utilising our respective expertise for developing this extraordinary show. With ACMA representing over 600 companies, its reach into the Indian automotive aftermarket is unparalleled. Combined with Messe Frankfurt’s knowledge in organising highly sought-after exhibitions around the world, the show was bound to be a huge success. Buyers came from a range of backgrounds, including intellectual property owners, OEMs, dealers, retailers, suppliers, manufacturers, and global automotive leaders from both India and abroad.”

Anand Automotive was among the prime exhibitors. Sachin Puri, vice-president (Corporate Aftermarket), said: “The response to ACMA Automechanika was good but it could have been better. We have large enquiries for aftermarket exports. But the trade fair did not have much publicity. Of course, those who track Automechanika on the Net worldwide came. We had enquiries for all products from Pakistan, Indonesia, Mauritius, Dubai and Africa with lead products being piston rings, gaskets and shock absorbers. Domestically, we had a lot of enquiries for dealerships for Valeo, our new marketing JV.” Escorts Auto Products' Love Dua, assistant manager (products), said: “In addition to promoting our existing wares, we also came to source raw materials and spare parts. ACMA Automechanika significantly reduced our workload by gathering some of the industry’s key players under one roof.” Rengarajan, director, Maha India Automotive Testing Equipment, said that “the visitors who came to the fair were fully in line with our target group profile. We received a good response, especially from carmakers. ACMA Automechanika New Delhi was very well organised. I am sure we will take part in the next edition.”

Ajay Dhawan, senior vice-president, operations, Bony Polymers said, “The event was well organised, visitor profile was good. We had invited officials from Maruti Suzuki and Honda to visit our stand. Though good B2B enquiries were made, I believe just as in other global Automechanikas, more OEM visitors should have visited rather than the parties involved in the aftermarket. The area was also a concern; we had applied for a bigger area for better visibility. I hope these issues would be taken care of in the next ACMA Automechanika event.”

On a similar note, P Kumar, director, Methods Automotive said: “We are very happy with the way the event was executed, considering this was the first time. We saw some serious business visitors who made apt enquiries. However, I believe better marketing and publicity of the event would have led to more awareness. As compared to the global Automechanikas, we have a long way to go.”

Similar opinions were voiced by Anil Choudhary, senior GM, fuel and lubricant solutions, BASF India; K R Kumar, CEO, Benara Udyog; and Vikas Chetwani, international marketing, GROZ Engineering Tools. Chanan Rohiwal, DGM, AIPL Marketing, too pressed the need to publicise and market the event to make more business sense.

Among the overseas exhibitors, Bernd Grasser, GM, ZF India, expressed that “we took part in the fair to draw attention to ZF and our trademark brands Sachs, Lemfoerder, Boge and ZF Parts in the domestic market. We met customers who deal with our parts and conducted lots of interesting discussions. Our expectations on the event have been fulfilled and the ZF presentation at ACMA Automechanika New Delhi was a success.” “We had lots of buyers at our booth, and we can tell from the conversations that the buyers were very knowledgeable about the automotive industry. Due to extremely positive results, I am confident we will be able to bring even more exhibitors to the next show,” noted Isabella Giuliano, Automotive and Manufacturing Industry – Senior Consultant, Piemonte Agency for Investments, Export and Tourism of Italy.

Sarah Thevenet of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd (SMMT), the agency dedicated to the interests of the UK Automotive Industry, said: “The 2013 show has exceeded the expectations of all of our exhibitors. The level of organisation was very good and we were equally impressed by the smooth operations. I am sure we will be back for the next edition with a larger group.” Bryan Kim, manager, Yong Sung Corp, a Korean OEM, illustrated the opportunity in India when he said, “Hyundai alone sold 400,000 cars in India last year. Though we have no presence in India, we wanted to explore the market through this platform. We met over 30 buyers and two OEMs who were really interested in our products. I am confident we can make some deals from the leads generated here.” Simone Sguiyyardi, export director, MAPCO, remarked that “our expectations from the fair were exceeded by a wide margin. We made a numerous amounts of good contacts with small- to medium-sized and even big companies. We are also fully satisfied with the way the event was organised.” The seminars on the opportunities and challenges faced by the Indian auto component industry and aftermarket drew appreciation from industry. Besides providing a common platform to share professional views with the industry peers, it targeted decision makers, addressed current and future trends within the auto component distribution chain, auto servicing and concerns around counterfeiting. “Automechanika has been introduced to India at a crucial time and has provided us with the opportunity to meet and do business with several countries. Since the Indian auto industry is still in its development phase, seminars like this help in providing thought leadership, which is essential to charting a successful future,” remarked Mohit Arora, executive director, J D Power Asia Pacific.

Autocar Professional's daily reports in the form of e-newsletters on the four-day trade fair were also appreciated by industry. The next edition of ACMA Automechanika New Delhi, which is one of Messe Frankfurt’s 12 Automechanika fairs held in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America, will be held in 2015.