After its cancellation in 2020, The Tire Cologne has made a long-awaited return. The trade fair took place in its namesake city this week, and organiser Koelnmesse says the strength of the 2022 event confirms its position as the “leading international platform of the global tyre and wheel industries.”
After a four-year absence, The Tire Cologne is preparing to make a comeback in May. Continental, Falken, Hankook, Michelin and Pirelli have already signed up as exhibitors. Show organiser Koelnmesse and conceptual sponsor the German Tyre Retail and Vulcanisation Trade Association (BRV) discussed their plans at a digital press conference this morning.
The retreading industry has worked hard over the years to compete with the new tyre industry and to be heard on political, economic and product issues at European level. Since the industry is strongly shaped by medium-sized and smaller companies, active and influential advocacy thus plays an important role, as we witnessed during the formulation and successful implementation of UNECE regulations 108 and 109 in 2006, a regulation effectively giving retreads type approval equivalency with new tyres. BIPAVER has spearheaded the retreading industry’s lobbying in Europe for many years now, and in April its administration and technical representation was taken over by the German Tyre Retail and Vulcanisation Trade Association (BRV). The association’s two managing directors, general secretary Yorick M. Lowin and technical secretary Michael Schwämmlein, explain why this change took place, what tasks the future holds and what they both can leverage together with BIPAVER’s committees.
Koelnmesse has postponed The Tire Cologne 2020. The organiser of the largest tyre business show in the world came to the decision following what it calls “an in-depth consultation.” The postponement was made in agreement with the German Tyre Retail and Vulcanisation Trade Association (BRV), Koelnmesse’s partner for the event. Originally scheduled for 9-12 June 2020, the show is to be rearranged for 18-20 May, 2021.
The organisers of The Tire Cologne are feeling pleased with themselves. Not only is 70 per cent of the next show’s exhibitor floorspace already booked and rented a good nine months before it begins, the exhibitor list includes all five of the world’s leading tyre makers.
Despite being just seven months since the premiere of The Tire Cologne, Koelnmesse and the BRV are already working on the next edition, which will take place in June 2020.
When we compared the visitor headcount at last week’s The Tire Cologne exhibition with those at Reifen 2016 two years earlier, we noted visitor numbers were down around 20 per cent this year – a figure we reached by examining the official post-show reports released after each respective event. But did attendance drop so sharply from the one show to the next, or were the published visitor numbers for Reifen 2016 incorrect? The former industry association partner to Reifen and current partner to The Tire Cologne says the figure for Reifen 2016 was a case of over-inflation, and points to statistics supporting this.
The organiser of The Tire Cologne reports that firms from 41 countries have signed up as exhibitors for next month’s show. According to Koelnmesse GmbH, international exhibitors account for around 68 per cent of the 530 providers and 70 or so brands whose presence has already been confirmed. The strongest international contingents are from Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Turkey, as well as from China, India, Taiwan and the USA.
The International Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ITMA) has joined Germany’s association of tyre, wheel and car service specialists, Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk (BRV) as an associate member
Bonn District Court and the higher Federal court of appeal in Cologne have rejected the application for a preliminary injunction against Ultra-Seal regarding the use of Ultra-Seal on the German market sought by the German tyre association BundesReifenVerband (BRV). According to the company, over the last few months, a large lobby had been set up by the BRV, which had been “proactively attacking Ultra-Seal users and the press with statements about Ultra-Seal being illegal on the German market on grounds of §36 of the StVZO (German Road Vehicle Registration Regulations) under ‘Richtlinien’ (guidelines) issued by the Bundesverkehrsministerium (Federal Transport Department)”. Ultra-Seal stated its counterarguments against these allegations in statement published by Tyres & Accessories’ German sister website, Reifenpresse on 23 May 2017.
At the end of November – around one and a half years before the trade fair gets under way – the list of companies confirmed as exhibitors at The Tire Cologne passed the 100 mark.
Messe Essen’s Reifen show will be the epicentre of the global tyre industry from 24 to 27 May 2016. The event organiser has confirmed that the 20 largest tyre manufacturers in the world will be present, including key players such as Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper Tires, Goodyear, Falken Tyre Europe, Hankook, Maxxis, Michelin, Pirelli and Yokohama. The demand for stand space for workshop equipment providers is also growing, according to Messe Essen: Corghi, Rema Tip Top and Snap-on will all be amongst the exhibitors.
Following on from the second Kraiburg summit, Kraiburg Austria invited its Czech and Slovakian customers to a workshop at the end of September in Cerna Hora in the Czech Republic. During the even the retreading specialist shared its stance on various “pro-retread” campaigns and gave a status report on the ReTyre project, explaining the background behind the impending tyre labelling.
Having made its debut in 2014, Messe Essen and the Chinese United Rubber Corporation (CURC) have extended the contract for Rubber Tech Europe up to and including 2020. Rubber Tech China, the Asian predecessor to Rubber Tech Europe, has been held annually alongside Reifen China since 2007, with the former taking three halls at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre to the latter’s one. The new agreement will give Rubber Tech Europe, which started with a space in hall six in Essen’s Reifen 2014, the chance to develop into a more substantial component of the biannual event, with the backing from Messe Essen for the next three Reifen shows. The show within a show is one part of Messe Essen’s strategy to centralise international partnerships within its tyre show operations ahead of the BRV-backed The Tire Cologne show, to be held at Koelnmesse in 2018. The company has also developed links with global aftermarket series, Automechanika.
The eighth annual “Asian Essen”, Reifen China took place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre in the first week of December, with some of the Chinese tyre industry’s major players rubbing shoulders for the last time in 2014. The European side of the Sino-German partnership behind the annual show, Messe Essen stated that it expected the presence of around 120 exhibitors in hall W1 and 15,000 trade visitors. This latter figure, unconfirmed at the time of writing, takes into account the other three-quarters of the twin exhibition; RubberTech China 2014 and the International Exhibition on Rubber & Elastomer, led by the China United Rubber Corporation, comprised around 500 exhibitors across another three halls (W2-4). Messe Essen CEO, Oliver P Kuhrt stressed the importance of the ‘Reifen’ brand’s presence in China, stating in his introduction to the show that it “stands for the success of a fair made in Essen extending across borders”. With about two thirds of the exhibitors at May’s Reifen 2014 visiting Essen from outside Germany, Messe Essen also noted the importance of Reifen China in recruiting Asian participants, whose attention the exhibition organiser has drawn in Shanghai.
Reifenpresse