The 63rd International Motor Show (IAA) will be organised by the VDA from 17 to 27 September 2009 in Frankfurt am Main. The focus will be on innovations in electric vehicles and conventional powertrains.
Wissmann: IAA presents itself as the world’s most important mobility trade fair
Berlin/Frankfurt am Main, 11 June 2009. “Measured by the number of exhibitors and the space booked, the IAA remains the world’s most important mobility trade fair. No other trade fair presents the entire value chain – manufacturers and suppliers – as comprehensively as the IAA,” emphasised Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), at the presentation of the new IAA poster in Berlin. The 63rd International Motor Show (IAA) Cars is organised by the VDA and takes place from 17 to 27 September 2009 in Frankfurt am Main.
Despite the difficult global economic environment, the VDA President was convinced that this IAA would once again be a success: “This IAA, which will be opened by Chancellor Merkel on 17 September, will offer an impressive firework display of innovation and will be a fair for those who are shaping the future and will emerge stronger from the crisis. Only here will visitors find answers to the challenges of the crisis.”
A total of 700 exhibitors – including more than 60 car manufacturers from all over the world – will present their world premieres at the IAA. The space booked amounts to 170,000 square metres. However, given the global economic conditions, different standards should be applied to this IAA 2009; a purely quantitative view, as was customary in previous years, makes little sense. Wissmann: “The focus of the IAA will be on quality: the IAA is the leading international trade fair for automobility. This is where the answers to today’s demands and tomorrow’s challenges are given. That is why the companies that are taking on this competition of innovation are particularly well represented this year.”
Wissmann emphasised: “We are convinced that the IAA 2009 is taking place at the right time in the right place. We expect that by September it will be clear when the bottom of the crisis will have been reached or even passed. And with its new products, the German automotive industry is showing the way out of the crisis.”
Further optimisation of conventional powertrains – clean diesel and highly turbocharged petrol engines with direct injection – will be on show at the IAA, as will progress in the electrification of the car, from mild hybrids to cars with purely electric drive. In addition to the consistent further reduction of fuel consumption and thus CO2 emissions, the focus is on new assistance systems that make driving even safer and more comfortable.
The new IAA motto “Experience what moves” takes up the guiding principle of sustainable mobility, which had already shaped the IAA 2007, and consistently develops it further. Wissmann emphasised: “Over the past two years, we have consistently implemented this strategy and significantly reduced the CO2 emissions of our new vehicles. Overall CO2 emissions fell by 2 per cent in 2007 and by 3 per cent in 2008. And this trend is continuing this year.” According to Wissmann, German manufacturers have already achieved greater savings than importers in important segments, such as the mid-range, over the last two years.
Wissmann emphasised: “Much of what was still a dream of the future two years ago is already concrete in production planning today or is already on our roads this month – such as the first series-production luxury hybrid with a lithium-ion battery.” Even if the optimised combustion engine will continue to dominate the global market for a long time to come, the growing importance of electromobility is clearly recognisable at this IAA. The development of electric vehicles is making great strides. Wissmann: “All German manufacturers are working intensively on this topic.”
This year, Daimler will deliver the first of 100 electric smarts for the “e-mobility Berlin” project, and it recently acquired a stake in electric sports car maker Tesla. The BMW Group already has around 500 MINI Es on the road in test operation in Los Angeles and New York. An e-mobility project is also planned for this year in the London/Oxford region in England; in Berlin, a further 50 MINI Es will be handed over in the coming weeks. Test operation of the electric MINI is also planned in Munich. Volkswagen will also show pioneering concepts on zero emissions and ultra-low consumption in combustion engines at the IAA. Opel will present the Ampera, and Ford is coming with the Tourneo Connect BEV. According to the current status, the list of car manufacturers exhibiting in the electric field at the IAA comprises more than 20 companies. Numerous suppliers will also present their innovations in electromobility, including Bosch, Clean Mobile, Continental Automotive, EBM-Papst, Li-Tec and ZF.
The IAA motto thus underlines the claim of the world’s most important mobility trade fair: “IAA visitors will be able to experience what secures sustainable mobility today. And at the same time, of course, they will also see what is driving the automotive future,” explained the VDA President. “Experience what moves” appeals to all the senses: cars not just to look at, but also to touch, to sit in, to feel. This underlines the emotion and fascination that emanate from new models.
The new IAA poster conveys this message precisely. Wissmann emphasised: “It connects people and engines, driver and vehicle, city and countryside – and with the shades of green in the foreground and the white-blue sky, the ecological component, climate protection, is taken into account.” The skyline in the background stands for Frankfurt city centre and refers to the IAA location.
The IAA poster itself is also an innovation: it is the first motif in the history of the IAA to be based on a photograph – the car is not shown as an object, but in its contours. The hands make it clear: it is people who give the car its contour, its shape. “The fact that the two hands virtually enclose a car that is also rolling along the road stands for this approach, which also symbolises the care with which we develop and produce our cars,” said Wissmann. Following a tender, the VDA Board unanimously chose this motif, designed by the Berlin-based agency WeDo. It is ideally suited for large posters as well as the website and the IAA letterhead and will be on the website www.iaa.de with immediate effect.