New Delhi, February 9, 2013: The first edition of the ACMA Automechanika New Delhi trade fair has seen 258 exhibitors under one roof. That makes it bigger than the inaugural edition Automechanika Shanghai 2004, which had 235 exhibitors from 26 countries that year.
The four-day-long ACMA Automechanika, which is spread over 9,500 square metres at Pragati Maidan, is to be held every two years, alternating with the Auto Expo.
"India has always been a core market for us. We had some legacy issues which we have bridged through discussions," says Stephan Buurma, member of the extended board of management, Messe Frankfurt.
Discussions for the first ACMA Automechanika began three years soon after the appointment of Raj Manek, managing director of Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India, who has been instrumental in driving the debut event in India.
Speaking exclusively to Autocar Professional on the first day of the show, Michael Johannes, vice-president, Brand Management Automechanika, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH, said, “We are proud that we have organised the first ACMA Automechanika 2013. Automechanika is the main brand in the aftermarket and is the ultimate B2B platform. We are doing 12 shows worldwide and we are happy to be in India. We think there is a lot more potential in the Indian auto component industry as it has been doing well in the last few years and the quality of the products is also improving.”
“I think we can grow the show tremendously in future years. The next show is in February 2013 in New Delhi. We had asked for more exhibition space this year but unfortunately the venue could not provide us with that. We have another 100 international companies who had applied for the first show but could not participate.”
The same was true for Indian exhibitors, 20 of whom could not participate in this year’s show. Vinnie Mehta, executive director, ACMA, told Autocar Professional that the association had asked for additional space but due to the ongoing Book Fair that took place in two halls, ACMA Automechanika 2013 could not accommodate additional exhibitors.
Brazil likely to have an Automechanika
The Automechanika, which is billed as the ultimate trading ground and networking platform for the automotive aftermarket, is held in various cities in 12 countries (Buenos Aires, Dubai, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Madrid, Mexico-City, Moscow, New Delhi, St. Petersburg, Shanghai)
across the world.
Messe Frankfurt, the organiser, is considering expanding it further. Brazil could be one of the new markets. Currently, Automechanika Frankfurt, which generates between 40-45 million euros, is the largest and the maximum revenue generator among the various expos. Automechanika Shanghai is the second largest among all global editions of the trade fair.