Press Release Summary: England’s turbocharger specialists, Turbo Dynamics went to Germany this month for the greatest automotive trade fair in the world: Automechanika. Running for a week in Frankfurt biannually, Automechanika is estimated to be over twelve times the size of Britain’s NEC and to attract 160,000 people!
Press Release Body: 2008 also brought the show’s 20th birthday, which was to “set benchmarks for the automotive market.” Event organisers said, “The 20th Automechanika is a special anniversary not just for visitors; exhibitors have been working for the past two years to make the show an unforgettable event!”
Not wanting to miss such an important event, Turbo Dynamics’ Directors, Peter & Gail Marsh travelled over to Frankfurt along with their Marketing Manager and of course, a gorgeous TD girl.
German, French & Spanish speaking model, Hollie was chosen for the show because of her intelligence, beauty and charisma. Meeting both current and potential Turbo Dynamics’ customers/suppliers, Hollie also proved very popular. As a trade show, Automechanika attracts businesses and professionals from around the world so Turbo Dynamics went for a classy look with Hollie, who wore a fitted grey/black short dress and high-heels. Her clothes were then complimented by long eyelashes and long black curly hair. One bowled over customer in particular was Casper Hartogsveld of C&E Turbochargers B.V. who said “Hollie’s lovely, I wish she was on my stand.”
The busy Turbo Dynamics team of four also attended the event in conjunction with Peter’s associate, Kevan Jeans of Tomco and his nephew, Sam Jeans.
Marketing Manager, Natasha Miller explained that Turbo Dynamics had a small presence at Automechanika this year in order to “test the waters” for futures years and assess what was needed. The stand did however, feature a selection of Turbo Dynamics’ best-selling and latest products, their new ‘Turbos’ DVDs, and the new and immensely popular, MD555 turbocharger.
A selection of Turbo Dynamics’ customers and suppliers were also present for Automechanika 2008 with turbocharger manufacturers such as, Garrett by Honeywell and Borg Warner present with trade stands.
Of course with 10 ten halls, consisting of around twenty floors, 65km of isles and 4,600 exhibitors, the companies in attendance did not stop with the turbocharger industry! The hall classifications were: Repair & Maintenance, IT & Management, Service Station & Car Wash, Parts & Systems and Accessories & Tuning. The vast extent of the Automechanika halls also meant that well-known Frankfurt buildings such as, the Congress Centre and Messeturm became part of the event! Automechanika organisers said, “No other trade fair offers such a depth and breadth of product range.”
Among those anticipated 4,600 exhibitors, car manufacturers Audi, Fiat, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen all had a presence. Audi were said to be attending with “a grab bag of new solutions for garages” and Fiat introduced their ‘Green Checkup’; a project about sustainable mobility. Skoda focused on vehicle check-in procedures and equipment along with service/diagnostic systems, and VW presented their new products and services designed for the aftersales service sector.
VW, like Skoda, also looked at vehicle check-in procedures and equipment. Volkswagen Service Director, Dietmar Hildebrandt commented, “Success in service begins with effective communications between dealership personnel and the customer. And vehicle check-in procedures play a huge role in this.”
The car manufacturer’s Vehicle ECG and V Protector car paint protective foil system, which were featured on the stand both won the Automechanika Innovation Award this year.
Another attraction of Automechanika is the fact that the event organisers do not stop at taking stand bookings. 2008’s show, which ran from 16th-21st September, covered the global issue of climate change with one of the event’s ‘Areas of focus’ being a discussion on climate change and its effects on the automotive aftermarket. An environmentally-friendly visitor guide called the Green Directory was also available for visitors this year.
Further initiatives included ‘Girls ans Auto’ (Girls at Work), which has been created to encourage automotive businesses to be more open towards females working in technical positions and to encourage women to consider apprenticeships within the industry. Discussions on the best female vehicle mechatronics practioners in Germany, successful women in the automotive trade etc. were also held in the Galleria to help convey the Girls ans Auto messages.
Automechanika’s Aftermarket Forum was back for another year, looking at ‘How to benefit from the dynamism of the aftermarket’ with speaker, Franz Thurner, head of Aftersales Germany, BMW AG, Munich, ‘Worldwide Opportunities in the aftermarket’, ‘The CO2 challenge: How can the industry best adapt to the move towards CO2 emissions?’ and ‘Dealer Management – realignment in the authorised dealership sector
and optimisation of products and services’ as this year’s subjects.
A smaller version of Automechanika will also be taking place at Istanbul from 16th-19th April next year.
Web Site: http://www.turbodynamics.co.uk
Contact Details: Natasha Miller natasha@turbodynamics.co.uk Tel. 01202 487497