Automechanika Middle East 2009 concludes on a positive note

On the first two days of the show, the visitor figures had already climbed to over 17'000, reaching 96% of last year's overall numbers.

At the time of going to press, a significant increase - especially of in-ternational visitors was achieved. The three day trade fair had more than 50% of buyers from the international arena. Exhibitors of Auto-mechanika Middle East 2009 expressed satisfaction at the interna-tional visitor turnout, and the massive business potential of the show.

Considering the tough economic climate Automechanika Middle East registered a remarkable increase in the number of exhibitors at 966 exhibitors from 46 countries, occupying 31000 sqm, Halls 1 to 8 of the Dubai Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Mr. Peter H. Rehberg, MD of the Asanetwork GmbH of the German Pavilion summed up the sentiment of the majority of trade fair visitors, "The majority of our exhibitors are very positive and satisfied. We can't feel the effects of the economic crisis here in Dubai."

He added that the German pavilion member-exhibitors displayed mainly parts, accessories and repair shop equipment. "I have been participating in Automechanika Middle East exhibitions since this trade fair started in Dubai. This time around we booked more than 900 square meters of exhibition space. Some exhibitors at the German pavilion are looking for distributors in the GCC and Middle East while others already have representation in the market and are here to visit and network with customers."

"The success of Automechanika Middle East signified early signs of the much awaited economic recovery in the Middle East region. The economic activity between buyers and sellers during a trade fair is a sure indica-tor of the health of an economy and the Middle East region will be one of the places that would recover quickly judging by the success of this exhibition,"

said Mr. Micheal Dehn, Senior Show Manager of Automechanika Middle East, organized by Epoc Messe Frankfurt GmbH.

Speaking to us, Mr. Martino Picotti, Marketing Manager of Indepen-dent Aftermarket of ACDelco said, "Our stand has received more visi-tors this year than last year."

He added that ACDelco has received some very potent inquiries and established good contacts with the high number of visitors which came into to their stand at the Autome-chanika Middle East.

ACDelco has more than 300,000 individual part numbers, 37 product lines covering all makes and all models of automobiles with conti-nuously expanding product coverage.

Under the umbrella of UbiFrance and the French Trade Commission are 19 French companies dealing in automotive aftermarket, car parts and accessories, automotive body and windshield repair kits, and car safety equipment.

Ms. Pascal Galli, Chef De Projet Automobile, Service Transports and Infrastructures said the big crowd of visitors that gathered at the Ubi-France pavilion is an indication of a good potential. "Some of these companies have been here before, while others are new in this mar-ket."

Arwani Trading Company LLC., a Dubai based company dealing in garage equipment, construction equipment, power tools and hand tools were happy with the number of genuine business inquiries that they received.

Hani Arwani said, "We have had very good and targeted traffic on our stand with enquiries and orders being signed during the show. This year in particular we did not know what to expect and were pleasantly surprised to see an even better show than last year." Mr. Arwani added, "We also launched the Sparky brand of power tools made in Germany at the Automechanika Middle East."

Automechanika Middle East is the largest auto aftermarket exhibition in the Middle East and the only exhibition incorporating the four major segments, parts and systems, accessories and tuning, repair and maintenance and IT and management. A successful segment for tyres and batteries was also introduced in 2009.

Mr. Dehn said in 2009, Automechanika Middle East focused on broa-dening its reach to include Africa and to a lesser extent, the CIS. "This is because visitors from Africa are high quality key buyers with big cash budgets looking for high quality products and are a perfect match to the profile of Automechanika Middle East."