By Hanan Alnufaie
Saudi Gazette
RIYADH — “There is an increase demand on better vehicle services and products in Saudi market,” said Zahoor Siddique, Vice President for Al Harithy Company for Exhibitions (ACE) to announce Automechanika Riyadh that will take place on Feb. 5-7, 2018 at the Riyadh Exhibition Centre. The event takes place every two years. The three‑day event will alternate between the existing Messe Frankfurt-organised Automechanika Jeddah, which will now become a biennial event, with the 3rd edition taking place in 2019.
In an interview with Saudi Gazette, he said “before, auto mechanic spare product industry was part of motor shows in Riyadh as well as Jeddah. Then we realized that people started to buy used cars which result in increased demand on better services and products. We thought of how to make the cars people already own more durable, sustainable, and safe for the longest time possible. So we thought of Automechanika which is the Middle East’s international treade fair for automotive service and products. We can link this huge event to vision 2030: manufacturing is part of important industrial clusters. The Saudi government is promoting such events to encourage having local base of manufactures, spare parts and car accessories. When the international companies come, local companies can make joint ventures to have local production that serve the increased demand and meet the Saudi and global standards.”
Mahmut Gazi Bilikozen, show director, Messe Frankfurt Middle East GmbH, said: “Automechanika started in Germany, Frankfurt back to 1971 and then over the years has grown to be the largest part in equipment show for automotive aftermarket and Automechanika Dubai has established in 2003. Automechanika is the exhibition brand. So once it is established, it has been annual and it has been growing rapidly and we are looking at ambitious plans to grow within the region. So that is why, we came to Saudi Arabia. We started Automechanika Jeddah in 2016 and the second addition was this year in late January. Now we are actually moving to Riyadh and we are planning to hold that big event one year in Riyadh and the following year will be in Jeddah and so on. We found the Saudi market very vibrant,” he said.
“Automechanica is a B2B trade exhibition. If we want to take the Automechanika Dubai 2016 as an example, we had 2,017 exhibitors (90% international) participating from 58 countries including 25 official country pavilions such as: Australia, Japan, Korea, Germany, India..,etc and 30,018 visitors (51% international)from 138 countries. It is very international show. The one in Saudi Arabia is more a domestic show which caters the Saudi domestic market because the Saudi domestic market is huge and the consumption rate is very high.” He added.
He continued: “The exhibitors are the manufacturers, or distributers of parts, equipment, or services for cars, trucks, buses, agriculture vehicles, industrial vehicles. So the exhibition will showcase everything for these different types of vehicles yet the vehicle itself. So it is not a motor show. We do not have vehicles, but we have all their parts and even accessories. The exhibitors will present the products they are specialized in whether certain or multi products. They then meet with key buyers such as government entities. They can sign contracts with the suitable manufacturers. These contracts are profitable and could be annual, service contracts,,etc. Automechanika creates long term purchasing relationship.”
There are a substantial number of pavilions some divided for nationalities which are for pavilions supported by their government, for example: the German pavilion, Australia,..etc they are supported by their official governments. However, we do it by products. There are different sections: parts and components, electronic and systems, repair and maintenance, car wash and care and reconditioning, tyres and batteries, and accessorizes and customizing. It is 70,000 square meter, so everything was well organized because it is a huge show. It is a three day show, the company’s statistics show that a visitor can spend a maximum of 2 days. So the division is very clear. However, if the visitor wants to see what Brazil is producing so you go to the Brazil pavilion. “Our goal is if a visitor look for a product or service providers, the should find them immediately.” He said.
“We are very selective, if you go to the tyre section, you can see only tyre companies. However, within the sections, there are priorities depends on the manufactures and major distributors. But we would like to give opportunities to small and medium companies as well. Like we all know the big manufacturers and major distributors are well known by the industry and by the people while the small and medium are not. “ he added.
Sami Ahashemi who is a project manager, Autmechanika, Messe Frankfurt Middle East GmbH, said: “We expect this sector to prosper because as vehicle age average increases, the demand on spare parts and maintenance increase as well. This applies to all types of cars: passenger, commercial, industrial, and agricultural. In the Saudi market, the pricing of spare parts’ products and maintenance are stable and did not go down. According to our the statistics made by our insight partner, there are expectations that in 2021 the vehicle age average will be longer or in other words Saudi will keep their cars for longer period of time. So this industry will be very active. In terms of Saudi market, we are very proud of many Saudis who started car assembling initiatives. We all heard many plans initiated by Saudi Arabia and in cooperation with Nissan and Isuzu in Saudi Arabia there is a plan that within the upcoming years there will be full car assembling in Kingdom.“
“Our expectations and statistics show that there will be 5% of more prosperity in the vehicle aftermarket products and services in the upcoming years,“ he added.
