Int’l players take centre stage at Automechanika

Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business

The region’s biggest automotive aftermarket event — Automechanika 2016 — came to a close on Monday, with international players stealing the show. Industry bigwigs left no stone unturned to grow their strong footprints across the region.
Talking to Emirates Business Michael Dehn, Group Exhibitions Director, Messe Frankfurt Middle East, organiser of Automechanika 2016, said, “This is the 14th Edition of Automechanika Dubai. The event is by far the most important automotive aftermarket event in the region. This exhibition showcases all the aftermarket products. It also provides a platform for the dealers across the globe to interact and offers future trade opportunities. The exhibitors of the Automechanika are supplying the regions car dealers, spare part dealers, manufactures, etc.”
Over 25 countries had set up their pavilions at the exhibition, among which the top five include Germany (103 exhibitors), Italy (78 exhibitors) Korea (88 exhibitors), Turkey (75 exhibitors), and USA (58 exhibitors). Countries including Japan, Iran, Peru and The Netherlands made their debut at the event.
Dehn added, “All the renowned names across the globe have participated at the exhibition. Though these names might not be well known to the consumer, they definitely are the giants of the field, which include scheifler, Delta, Denso, etc. These are some of the renowned names in the industry, who supply spare parts to the car manufacturers.”
Magnetti Marelli Trading Enterprises from Italy was one of the most attractive pavilions. Marco Mestrallet, manager at MM Enterprises, told Emirates Business said, “We think that the Middle East market is one of the most significant market for us. We have been keeping a track on the market for quite some time now and now we are looking forward to investing in the market, this is our prime focus for now.”
The upsurge in the automotive industry has been one of the factors for the growth of aftermarket which also includes the rate of rapid urbanisation and growing infrastructural and industrial development in the surging economies across the region.
According to Frost & Sullivan, MENA region will continue to be among primary driving forces of global automobile aftermarket, with demand for spare parts expected to be worth US$ 16.85 billion by 2020, up from US$9.5 billion in 2013.