As in the past, this year’s Automechanika in Frankfurt from Sept. 14-19 will be accompanied by the Automechanika Aftermarket Forum.
Part of the renowned complementary program of the fair, the Forum has already attracted considerable interest with, to date, registrations having been sent in by around 500 participants from all over the world.
This year, the Aftermarket Forum will be distinguished by a completely new format including an extra day and a new venue in the Portalhaus, not to mention an unmatched range of subjects with top speakers. Among the focal point of the Forum will be the new eMobility Day and the Damage Repair Management Forum.
Damage repair management is a subject of major significance for the automobile, repair and insurance market. The majority of accident repairs are not carried out by the authorized workshops of the automobile manufacturers but by independent bodywork and paint shops that, in turn, cooperate with authorized dealers.
At the Aftermarket Forum, this complex and controversial field will be discussed from a variety of different perspectives at a special Damage Repair Management Forum.
In addition to giving an overview of Europe’s most important damage-management systems, Dr. Klaus Weichtmann, general manager of the German Federation of Body and Automotive Engineering will talk about the German system. The aim of the first Damage Repair Management Forum is to make trade visitors from home and abroad aware of the demands that will confront them in the near future. The Forum will be held concurrently with the plenary discussion on ‘Workshop equipment – product innovations and new sales channels’.
At the request of numerous participants of the last Aftermarket Forum in 2008, and to take due account of the importance currently attached to the subject, an additional day on the subject of e-Mobility has been integrated into the program. Thus, representatives of industry, politics and business will discuss the future of electric vehicles on Sept. 17.
Rainer Bachmann, head of B2B at RWE Effizienz GmbH, will take a look at the subject from the point of view of an energy supplier. Simon Czerny, director marketing and product .anagement, hybrid and electric vehicle technology, Robert Bosch, will talk about drive-train electrification and review different types of electrification and the latest developments in the market.
Also of major significance will be the lecture entitled “Through 100 emotions to zero emissions,” by Frank M. Rinderknecht, CEO, Rinspeed AG, who will present a new mobility concept that circumvents the range barrier of electric vehicles by integrating individual and public transport.
The potential and challenges of e-mobility is the subject of the lecture by Wilfried Nietschke, general manager, IAV, who will pay special attention to inductive energy transfer and the future-oriented development of wireless charging systems for electric cars. The aim of this is to achieve unlimited mobility. Additionally, Peter Krams, project manager for the MINI E BMW Group, will discuss the implementation of e-mobility concepts using the example of the MINI E car.
Suitably qualified workshop employees are vital if the idea of e-mobility is to be implemented in its entirety and Werner Steber, specialist of the ‘Technology, Safety and Environment’ department of the Federation of the German Motor Vehicle Trade (ZDK) will discuss points of importance that should be observed in this connection. Subsequently, Wolfgang Eichler, member of the Board of Management of TÜV SÜD Auto Service, will examine the challenges posed by e-mobility for the inspection organization. The emphasis of this lecture will be on electric-vehicle safety and testing.
With around 50 top international speakers, the Aftermarket Forum will present a comprehensive programme of lectures. On the first day of the fair, after the official opening ceremony, Prof. Willi Diez, director of the Institute for the Automobile Sector in Geislingen, will take an in-depth look at the Automechanika Study on a ‘New Era in Automobile Service’. The study will be presented for the first time at the Automechanika Business Press Conference in Frankfurt on Sept. 9, 2010.
Participation in the Automechanika Aftermarket Forum is free and all contributions will be translated simultaneously into English and German. Visitors who register online at by Aug. 31 will receive a free admission-ticket voucher for Automechanika Frankfurt and a certificate of participation in the Aftermarket Forum. The program of lectures can also be seen in detail on the website.
Messe Frankfurt is Germany’s leading trade fair organizer, with more than 1,660 employees worldwide. The Messe Frankfurt Group has a global network of 28 subsidiaries, five branch offices and 52 international Sales Partners, giving it a presence for its customers in more than 150 countries. Events “made by Messe Frankfurt” take place at more than 30 locations around the globe. In 2009, Messe Frankfurt organized more than 90 trade fairs, of which more than half took place outside Germany.
Messe Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds are currently home to 10 exhibition halls and an adjacent Congress Center. The company is publicly owned, with the City of Frankfurt holding 60 percent and the State of Hesse 40 percent.
