With Europe’s largest tire show well and truly over for another two years, event organizer Messe Essen has revealed that over the four days of the exhibition around 20,000 people came through the doors as visitors. This attendance figure is marginally higher than the previous figures in 2012, therefore setting a new record for the show.
It has also been revealed that around 36% of visitors were industry professionals from the show’s home country Germany while the remaining 12,800 visitors traveled to Essen from no less than 130 different countries around the world.
It is also interesting to note that 670 companies exhibited, which again is a slight increase from the 2012 show. Two-thirds of the exhibitors were based outside Germany and covered 44 different countries with the best represented being Italy, France, Poland, Belgium and the UK.
Breaking these exhibitor figures down even further it is interesting to note that around 90% of booths belonged to the manufacturing sector. In terms of visitors, also around 90% were from the tire trading and servicing sectors, which were mainly decision makers with purchasing powers.
What the future holds
Messe Essen also announced an update on its earlier announcement of a strategic partnership with Messe Frankfurt in which the two companies fully intend to link the Reifen and Automechanika shows in the future to combat the arrival of the new Tire Cologne show in 2018.
On the last day of the show as everything slowed down, I was able to chat with a number of additional exhibitors including Miami-based Latin Expo Group’s Show Director Linda Bassitt. She explained that apart from building up the now increasingly popular Latin American & Caribbean Tyre Expo, which was fully booked for this year’s event in July, they will be staging a new show called the World Tire & Retread Expo in New Orleans April 15-17, 2015. It will exclusively offer tires, retread equipment and tire-related machinery.
Bassitt pointed out that America needs a show like this where manufacturers and large-scale distributors can discuss business with tire buyers. At the same time, it was mentioned that in the future the Panama tire show will be held in a new convention center five times larger than the current venue.
Increased market presence
Thailand-based Vee Rubber was at the show to significantly increase its market presence in Europe and was looking for distributors in most European countries as the company progresses to becoming a serious market player in Europe. At the same time, UK-based international tire wholesaler Treadsetters reported having a highly successful show as it looks toward further enhancing its increasingly popular Torque truck tire brand around the world.
Enjoy Tyre, based in China, also was on a mission at the show to further strengthen its ongoing presence in Europe of its Rotalla and Routeway brands and reported having a very positive reaction from visitors.
Meanwhile, Stamford Tyres was introducing a full range of new 4x4/SUV tires. Plus, Stamford Sport Wheels (SSW) was displaying exciting new colors in its wheel portfolio. The company also announced its intention to introduce an innovative new wheel collection with two-tone color options in the near future.
Finally, I spoke with international shipping specialists Maritime Cargo Services who was making its debut at the event. The company hopes to build on a growing infiltration into the global tire market that currently accounts for 25% of its business.
Taking everything into account over the four days, the general impression I got from exhibitors and visitors alike was impressive satisfaction at what some were saying was the best European tire show they had ever attended. ■
John Stone has been working within the global tire industry for the past 20 years. In 2004 he launched his own company, Sapphire Media Services, as a business media consultant with clients around the globe. Stone also writes for tire and automotive-related publications in Europe, South Africa and Asia.
