AA Commercial Vehicles ready to open with 322 world premieres
The 65th IAA Commercial Vehicles is ready to open, and visitors can expect a large number of exciting innovations. A total of 322 world premieres will be on display at the world’s most important trade fair for mobility, transport and logistics this week in Hanover, Germany.
“The entire commercial vehicle world will meet in Hanover. Another 9 per cent rise in the number of exhibitors to 2,066 – from 45 countries – is also good,” stressed Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), shortly before the opening of the IAA which is organised by the VDA.
“Of course the IAA focuses on the new heavy commercial vehicles and vans. Yet the great proportion of commercial vehicles” value-added generated by the suppliers is revealed by another figure: the suppliers alone will unveil 226 world premieres at this IAA – which is 70 per cent of the total. And the manufacturers of trailers, bodies and buses are also present with a great many innovations. Alongside the 322 world premieres, the IAA will host 78 European premieres and 52 German premieres,” Wissmann underlined.
“With the concentrated drive for innovation, the huge number of exhibitors, and the ever more international nature of the show, everything is in place for enhancing the IAA’s standing as the
largest and the world’s most important trade fair for mobility surrounding commercial vehicles,” the VDA president said. He pointed out that the 1,216 international exhibitors make up 59 per cent of the total: “This is a new record.” Two years ago the proportion was 55 per cent. The foreign exhibitors come from 44 countries and together they occupy 38 per cent of the total area of almost 265,000 square metres – which has also increased.
The top ten foreign countries most strongly represented here are again headed by China. The number of Chinese exhibitors has risen by around one third, to 200. Italy follows in second place with 137 exhibitors and Turkey is in third place with 113, followed by the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Poland, the United Kingdom, the USA and Belgium. Argentina, Estonia, Malaysia and Tunisia are also represented.
This major trade fair concentrates on three forward-looking topics, which can be expressed in the terms efficiency, connectivity and flexibility.
For example, compared with the previous Euro V standard, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from the new Euro VI vehicles have come down by 80 per cent, and their particulate emissions are down by around two thirds. Wissmann said, “The Euro VI trucks have therefore really become ‘clean machines’.” At the same time, manufacturers and suppliers had managed to reduce fuel consumption slightly and thus CO2 emissions as well. This “technological feat” represented a major rise in efficiency, Wissmann explained, adding that it had come about with high levels of investment. In the future, the VDA president said, the most important task would be achieving further decreases in consumption. Another reduction in the now hardly measurable pollutant emissions would make little economic or environmental sense.
Aerodynamics, lightweight construction and driver training were the keywords for making progress in CO2 levels. Politicians should now also take action to make road freight traffic even more efficient
while conserving resources. Wissmann drew attention to the welcome interim results from the field trial with long trucks.
“One very major focus of this IAA is connectivity. The commercial vehicles of the future will always be ‘online’, communicating with other vehicles, with the transport company and of course with the customer,” Wissmann explained. Connectivity also offered huge opportunities in logistics. The existing driver assistance systems would be consistently developed. In the next decade, he continued, in all probability highly automated commercial vehicles would be able to drive on clearly defined routes such as certain motorway sections. “That will relieve the stress on the driver resulting from tiring routine tasks, and thus increase road safety,” Wissmann said.
Compared with other means of transport, the great advantage of commercial vehicles had always been their high flexibility. Only commercial vehicles carried freight from door to door, Wissmann said. The annual number of courier, express and package deliveries in Germany had risen to 2.7 billion. “This IAA also shows how important commercial vehicles are for every individual citizen – in our daily lives,” he emphasised.
In addition, the IAA is characterised by its many special shows and activities, including test drives in 21 electric vehicles on the trade show grounds, and in 54 conventional commercial vehicles on public roads. Commercial vehicles can be experienced in action on the”Innovation Stage” (on the open-air site north of Hall 26). These demonstrations showcase road safety, transport efficiency, environmentally and climate-friendly propulsion systems including electric drive, connectivity and the use of intelligent driver assistance systems. Wissmann added that further highlights included the numerous classic trucks, US trucks, buses, construction vehicles and trailers, which will be on show in Hall 22.
And the IAA is a large recruiting fair. WorkING, GoING and – for the first time – “job and career”, provide special platforms for school children and students to find out about the exciting job opportunities in the commercial vehicle industry and the transport business.
Around 30 specialist events complete the IAA programme and underline the fact that the IAA is also a major congress where all the relevant future-oriented topics surrounding commercial vehicles are discussed by experts. This includes the classical IAA events such as the Hazardous Goods Day and the symposium on load securing. In addition, the China Day, the India Day and the Turkey Day form three country focuses at the IAA.
