Wissmann: Curtain up on the World's Most Important Trade Fair for Mobility!

FRANKFURT AM MAIN and BERLIN, September 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

"As the world's most important trade fair for mobility, the IAA offers a unique programme including 183 world premieres. The automotive manufacturers alone are presenting 89 world premieres. Over half of them, 45 in fact, are from German group brands. And the suppliers have 94 world premieres here. In total, 1,012 exhibitors from 32 countries are present at the 64th IAA Cars; in the last week five more smaller stands have been added. This means that we have far more than at the IAA 2009 (781 exhibitors), and have almost matched the large number at the IAA 2007, which took place during a very buoyant economic phase. The amount of exhibition space comes to 235,000 sq m and is a new record," stressed Matthias Wissmann at the IAA's opening press conference in Frankfurt am Main on Monday. The 64th International Motor Show (IAA) Cars will be officially opened on 15 September by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. Around 10,000 journalists from over 90 countries have already been accredited for the two Press Days (13 and 14 September) with around 90 press conferences. Following the two Trade Days (15 and 16 September), the IAA will be open to the general public from 17 to 25 September. The slogan of the IAA 2011 is "Future comes as standard."

"The IAA is the automotive trade show that elicits the greatest media response anywhere in the world. It will be visited by high-ranking politicians: apart from Ms Merkel, we expect German cabinet ministers including Federal Minister of Economy Philipp Rösler and Federal Minister of Transport Peter Ramsauer. Five German state premiers have announced they will attend, including - of course - Volker Bouffier who will continue the tradition of Hessian state premiers speaking at the IAA's opening ceremony. The state premiers Kurt Beck (Rhineland-Palatinate), Winfried Kretschmann (Baden-Württemberg), David McAllister (Lower Saxony) and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (Saarland), will also be present," Wissmann said. Petra Roth, Mayor of Frankfurt am Main, will also speak at the IAA opening ceremony. The European Union will be represented by EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger. India's Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel will be here, and from the United Kingdom Mark Prisk, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise, is also planning to attend.

The IAA is traditionally also a meeting place for Formula 1 racing drivers. According to our current information, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg (both Mercedes GP), and Adrian Sutil (Force India) will come to the IAA. In addition, racing legends Jacky Ickx, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Walter Röhrl are planning to visit.

Wissmann pointed out that for many weeks the exhibiting companies have been busy constructing their stands. This was especially true of the new Audi pavilion on the Agora, the conversion of the "Festhalle" by Daimler, BMW's elaborate set-up in Hall 11, and many other stands. The exhibitors have employed a total of over 15,000 people to prepare and staff their presentations at the world's most important automotive trade show.

"All this serves one goal, i.e. showing visitors to the IAA the most exciting innovations in the world offered by this industry in a fascinating and unique setting. At the IAA we can see - and this also sets Frankfurt apart from all other trade fairs - not only all the important automotive manufacturers, but all the important large and medium-sized suppliers who are also becoming increasingly active globally and account for three quarters of the value-added associated with automobiles," Wissmann emphasised.

However, he continued, this IAA is different from its predecessors in one special respect: "Never before has there been an IAA where so many cars can be seen 'in motion.' One might call it the 'IAA in motion'," the VDA president said. As examples he mentioned BMW's driving activities in Hall 11 and on open-air site F11, and the Audi circuit in the pavilion. Ford offers visitors a test circuit to the south of Hall 9, where IAA guests can also get behind the wheel themselves. In addition to the Festhalle (Hall 2), Daimler has its open-air site with driving opportunities. Jeep has set up its "Camp Jeep," its own off-road circuit on open-air site F12/F13. The supplier Valeo is demonstrating the use of an automatic parking sensor on open-air site F10.

The traditional IAA off-road circuit is located to the south-east of Hall 10 (F13). A total of 24 four-wheel-drive vehicles are awaiting visitors, including models from Daimler, Hyundai, Opel, Škoda, SsangYong, Suzuki, Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. Eleven different firms are offering "on-road" test drives in their new models. So overall, a fleet of 200 vehicles is available. Alongside Audi, Opel and Seat, there are Citroën, Peugeot and Renault, plus Hyundai and Kia from South Korea and Chevrolet. erdgas mobil GmbH and Valeo have six cars at the IAA. And in front of Hall 4 (F4) there is another dozen electric vehicles waiting to be taken out for a quiet drive.

Wissmann stressed, "Only the IAA presents the complete range of powertrains, from optimised classical powertrains and hybridisation, plug-in EVs and range extenders, all the way to the 100-per-cent battery-powered electric car and vehicles with fuel cells." He said that the "Hall of Electric Mobility" showcased the entire value-added chain for these new types of powertrains - which was another unique feature of the IAA.

The VDA, the organiser of the IAA and initiator of the "Hall of Electric Mobility," was taking a new approach with this "electric mobility ecosystem" - an approach supporting and complementing the electric mobility activities of the exhibitors at their other stands. "At the IAA we have in all over 20,000 sq m of exhibition space dedicated to the topic of electric mobility. The IAA is thus also the world's largest trade fair for electric mobility," the VDA president underlined. Furthermore, the "Electric Mobility Congress" will be held at the IAA on 21 September involving high-ranking guests and organised by the VDA, in co-operation with other industry associations (BDI, BDEW, Bitkom, VCI and ZVEI). Nearly 400 participants have registered to attend the congress, which means that the event is already booked out.

Regarding the industry's second major future technology topic, the networked car, on 22 September the VDA and Bitkom will hold the "carIT" congress, which will examine the trends and priorities for innovation in this important field. In total 25 specialist and country-themed events will take place at the IAA, including an IAA India Day, an IAA China Day, and a Slovakia Economics Day. The VDA Design Award will also be presented at the IAA - for the fifth time.

The IAA has more events to encourage the upcoming generation than any other comparable exhibition. They include the programme "GoIng" aimed at children in their final years at grammar school and for which almost 900 schoolchildren and their teachers have registered, i.e. more than double the number that came in 2009. In parallel to this, the programme entitled "WorkING" is for those already studying at universities and colleges. Wissmann said, "Thirdly, we have a very good number of registrations for the IAA schools' campaign: so far over 18,000 schoolchildren have registered to come to the IAA with their teachers. This, too, is a new record."

"Public interest at the IAA will naturally focus on the world premieres. No other trade fair in the world offers such a glittering display of innovations of this calibre," Wissmann underscored. They include the Audi A2 Concept study with its electric powertrain, the A5, the A6 Avant, the A8 Hybrid, the R8 Spyder GT and the Audi Urban Concept. BMW is displaying its new BMW 1-Series, the BMW M5, the 6-Series Coupé, the Mini Coupé and the i3 and i8 Concept. Daimler is presenting the new Mercedes-Benz B-Class, the new M-Class, the SLS AMG Roadster, the SLK 250 CDI, the SLK 55 AMG, the smart fortwo electric drive, the smart forvision and the research vehicle F125!.

Ford is also presenting several world premieres, headed up by the Ford EVOS Concept Car, the Ford Focus ECOnetic, the production version of the Ford Focus ST and the Ford Fiesta ST. Opel has world premieres of the Opel Zafira Tourer, the Astra GTC and the Opel Combo. It is also celebrating the German premiere of the Opel Ampera - the first passenger car with a range extender - at the IAA. Porsche's focus is the world premiere of its new Porsche 911 Carrera. The company also has on display its new Panamera Diesel, the 911 GT3 RS 4.0 and the Porsche Cayman S Black Edition. Volkswagen is focusing on the world premiere of its new small car VW up!. And the Beetle is celebrating its European trade fair premiere. Furthermore, Volkswagen is showing the NILS, an electric-powered research vehicle in the form of a one-seater city car. The international manufacturers also have many more premieres.

"The suppliers' innovations cover, in particular, the whole transmission, alternative powertrains, lightweight construction - that is, major contributions to further CO₂ reduction," Wissmann said, and mentioned a few examples: ZF will present a new 9-gear automatic transmission at the IAA which offers potential fuel savings of up to 16 per cent. Continental is marking the IAA by launching the large series production of an electric motor destined for the electric vehicle fleet of a European manufacturer. The production of the highly efficient synchronous machine does not require rare earth elements that are relatively costly and whose long-term availability experts regard as critical. In addition, the company is presenting a tyre with optimised rolling resistance that reduces fuel consumption by 3 per cent.

For the first time the Schaeffler Group has its own 500 sq m stand (with the slogan "efficient future mobility") at the IAA showing two concept studies in this context. The exhibits called "Advanced Drive" and "eSolutions" give visitors insights into the company's broad product portfolio of energy-efficient, forward-looking mobility for various types of powertrains.

And Bosch is demonstrating how to achieve total fuel savings of up to 30 per cent with hybrid and downsizing concepts for classical engines and energy-saving ancillary systems in the transmission. "The suppliers are making just as much progress in battery development as in the development of new driver-assistance systems, for instance with a mid-range radar sensor suitable for emergency braking systems in the medium and compact classes," Wissmann stated. Turning to the expected number of visitors at the IAA, Wissmann said, "We expect a strong IAA. We are confident that we will exceed the result from 2009. At that time, during the crisis, we had expected 750,000 visitors. But over 800,000 came. We are basing our expectations on this figure. But first of all it is 'curtain up' to welcome the 90 world premieres at this most important trade fair for mobility!"

Contact:
   
Eckehart Rotter
VDA - Press Department
Tel.: +49 30 897842-120
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE VDA Verband der Automobilindustrie e.V.