On Sunday evening, December 9th, 2001, the Essen Motor Show crossed the finishing line after ten days. This year's "Fair Grand Prix" saw its best results ever; approximately 410,000 visitors from around the world came, bought, and were amazed by this unique gathering of automotive giants. With 550 exhibitors in total, including the top car manufactures and tuners, more car-crazy guests attended than ever before. The exhibitors confirmed what eurotuner already knows, the demand for automotive individuality is buzzing and the enthusiasm and interest in European cars is in full swing.
Essen has become the most significant annual automobile fair in Germany. "A great success," was the assessment made by Dr. Joachim Henneke, president of the Messe Essen fairgrounds. "We have further consolidated our 'pole position' as the most important annual automobile fair in Germany. Our concept, which is unique anywhere in the world, of exhibiting automobile diversity in all its facets and of spicing up the high-class range offered by the industry with a good portion of show and entertainment, was confirmed in an impressive manner." With over one third of the visitors working within the automotive industry, the Essen Motor Show also enhanced its image by becoming the meeting place for high-ranking automotive specialists.
The overwhelming success of the Essen Motor Show sends a positive signal to the automotive tuning community worldwide. Consider this, over half of the visitors have already bought or ordered something from the range of products on display. Plus, brisk post-fair business is also awaiting show exhibitors with nearly 78-percent of the visitors poled intending to fulfill their automotive wishes after the fair ends. Needless to say, money exchanges were the order of the day in the Automobile, Tuning and Old-timers sections of the show.
Speaking of the Tuning section at the Essen Motor Show worldwide attendance continued to grow! Styling, suspension and power tuning were equally popular amongst the show participants. Tuning and accessory parts were the "hot sale" of the show. Polling numbers confirmed this with 52-percent of the visitors intending to change over to a tuned vehicle when they make their next purchase. Those are strong figures putting the Essen Motor Show on top of the podium as the world's largest fair for automobile tuning.
The 35th Essen Motor Show will take place at Messe Essen starting November 29th and running through December 8th. The motto for 2002 is "Power and Fun" and eurotuner readers will have something special to celebrate, as we're planing a tour to the event. Stay tuned for additional details as we prepare to invade Germany for Essen 2002.