The mayor of Chicago and executives from Advanstar Communications and Messe Frankfurt introduced Automechanika Chicago, a new trade show that will focus on shop-level training for technicians and product discovery. The biannual show will debut at McCormick Place April 24-26, 2015, the parties said in a May 1 press conference in the Windy City.
The show will be the 14th Automechanika event around the globe, but the first in the U.S. Chicago was chosen because it is centrally located and easily accessible for drive-in attendees and air travel.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, “By choosing Chicago for Automechanika next year, a great international convention comes to a great international city. Three years ago we started the hard effort of repairing the relationship and the image of McCormick Place. We used to have conflicts between labor and management. We resolved all those issues. We now work together as a team and go out and secure business for Chicago. This is a classic example of a win/win situation you can have when labor and management work together on behlaf of the city of Chicago.”
Chris DeMoulin, executive vice president of Advanstar automotive, said this is the second show that Advanstar has scheduled at McCormick Place recently.
“The Chicago team won our business seven months ago when we announced we would move our Powersports Dealer Expo from Indianapolis to Chicago. When our research showed that one out of evey four repair and collision shops in America are witin 500 miles of Chicago, that made this an easy choice.” He also praised Chicago’s union leaders for making McCormick Place “an easier, more user-friendly place to have a show.”
Michael Johannes, vice president of Messe Frankfurt and brand manager of Automechanika, said, “I am delighted to welcome Automechanika Chicago in our portfolio and I am sure that we have found the right partner in Advanstar and the right location in Chicago.
Johannes added that the company’s global network, which is active in more than 150 countries, will work hard to make the first Automechanika Chicago a huge success next year.
“We are in constant dialogue with our customers from manufacturing, distribution, retail and theentire automotive supply chain to ensure that we meet their requirements and to ensure that we organize shows in markets that they want. That’s how we know that our customers are waiting for an Automechanika in the U.S. The brand Automechanika serves over 16,000 exhibitors worldwide and over 500,000 trade visitors – that is our asset and that is what we take care of every day.”
Automechanika Chicago will showcase the newest tools, equipment and products in the market and will be the largest U.S. trade show dedicated to high-end technical training and management classes for automotive technicians and shop owners. The event will leverage the world’s most-trusted show brand – Automechanika – with Advanstar’s leading automotive publications for the service repair and collision repair segments, Motor Age and ABRN.
DeMoulin said, “Automechanika Chicago will be designed specifically for shop owners and technicians as we seek to make it the largest training event ever produced in the U.S. marketplace. Attendees will find a show floor packed with the latest products and innovations for independent shop owners and technicians and get top-notch classroom and hands-on training.”
Johannes said the show’s shop-friendly environment “will allow visitors, from technicians to shop owners, to really get a feel for the new product offerings through the various demonstrations, management seminars and technical training sessions. With the number of diverse product categories exhibiting at this one event, attendees can experience the latest advancements in a very efficient manner."
The U.S. automotive aftermarket has maintained steady growth of more than 3.4 percent annually, fueled by an aging vehicle population where the average vehice age is 11.4 years. These trends along with an explosion of new technology means technicians must keep pace.
Organizer believe that Automechanika Chicago will be THE venue for shop-level training and new product discovery in North America.
Headquartered in California with offices across the United States and abroad, Advanstar Communications has a portfolio of more than 50 trade shows, 100 conferences, 30 publications, and 200 electronic products and websites, including auto industry brands Aftermarket Business World, ABRN, Motor Age and SearchAutoParts.com.
The Automechanika brand continues to experience record exhibitor and visitor numbers, indicating that Messe Frankfurt shows are truly fulfilling the needs of the industry through a global business platform. This year’s Automechanika Frankfurt show Sept. 16-20 has 90 percent of its floor space already booked. In 2012 more than 4,500 exhibitors attended the show in Frankfurt as well as approximately 148,000 visitors from 176 countries.
Messe Frankfurt is one of the world's leading trade show organizers with around 543 million euros in sales and 2,026 employees worldwide. In 2013, Messe Frankfurt organized 114 trade fairs, of which more than half took place outside Germany.
To learn more about Automechanika Chicago, visit www.AutomechanikaChicago.com.
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