Organisers of the world's largest automotive show, the Frankfurt Motor Show, have announced that it will be relocating to Munich from 2021.
Attendance at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show dropped 30%, and the relocation is an attempt to remedy this drop. Munich was picked from a list including Berlin and Hamburg, as many German carmakers’ headquarters are based in the city.
"The IAA will evolve from an automotive to a mobility platform."
The announcement comes from VDA, the association of German carmakers. A spokesperson for the association commented: “The IAA will evolve from an automotive to a mobility platform. In addition to the fascination with cars, it should be the initial spark that the host city will develop into a smart city with intelligent traffic concepts and innovative networking of modes of transport - sustainable and geared to people's needs. Munich and the concept of the city offer the best conditions for this - and thus for the restart of the IAA - in the opinion of the VDA board.
“Munich also convinced by making the city centre (and locations close to the city) highly attractive places as event locations for the IAA. These locations are to be connected to the exhibition centre via a transfer route including priority tracks for environmentally-friendly vehicles.”
The announcement comes following CMW’s recent feature about how automotive tradefairs are increasingly crossing over with tech shows, and need to adapt. The presence of automotive companies at CES in Las Vegas was evidence of this.
