It should be a veritable restart after the corona pandemic, with a new location and a new concept: no more high mass of the artistically bent sheet metal, but a mobility and discussion platform. At least this is how the announcements by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) could be interpreted when Bavaria’s state capital Munich became the new location for the international automobile exhibition at the beginning of March 2020 IAA selected
Munich “convinces with attractive event locations and excellent transport infrastructure”, praised the VDA at the time. The IAA will evolve from an automobile to a mobility platform. It should serve as an “initial spark” for the development of Munich into a “Smart City with intelligent traffic concepts and innovative networking – sustainable and geared to the needs of the people,” exulted Germany’s most powerful car lobby association. However, only a part of the big buzzwords and hopes should be redeemed when the IAA 2021 in Munich opens its gates to the press on Monday.
German rather than international
Compared to the previous auto show in Frankfurt am Main, the auto show renamed “IAA Mobility” has mainly slimmed down. It is open to the public for six days, from September 7th to 12th, only half as long as the previous one. The huge manufacturer’s stands with dozens of new cars at the stand, which are common in Hesse, should also no longer exist.
The Chancellor is coming Angela Merkel At the opening, the international, as the IAA already promises in the name, the fair will only redeem to a limited extent. Many global car manufacturers are not even bothering to set up an expensive exhibition stand in Munich this time. Toyota renounced that OpelParent company Stellantis with brands like Peugeot, Fiat, Opel, Citroën or Jeep as well as the sports car brand Aston Martin.
The big German automakers BMW, Daimler and the Volkswagen Group are at least there, along with the Korean car company Hyundai-Kia and electric car brands such as Polestar, China’s Nio and XPeng. New are 50 bicycle manufacturers as well as numerous tech providers and mobility service providers who offer car subscriptions, for example. The Munich IAA offers them the opportunity to present themselves on a larger scale – unlike the previous trade fair concept in Frankfurt, where they were often “hidden” in the less attractive halls that were difficult to reach.
And yet: Despite the broad space for “climate protection and sustainability”, which VDA boss Hildegard Müller (54) emphasized at the presentation of the new trade fair concept, there is also bitter resistance to the Munich trade fair.
Opponents announce numerous demonstrations
When the IAA opens next week, the first demonstrations and actions against it will already be over. Protests will continue during the fair. “We have to expect disruptions, blocked roads and possibly also violent protests,” said Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (64).
Numerous groups have announced demonstrations. Her goal is “to destroy the image of a green car party of the German car lobby,” said a spokeswoman for Sand im Getriebe, a group of IAA opponents, “In view of the climate crisis, we want strong protests and blockades.” The group has also announced civil disobedience. The Extinction Rebellion climate movement is also planning actions. A spokeswoman says that the IAA event areas in the city will probably be disturbed. Where and when she does not reveal. There was action training for the activists in advance – for example, how to behave when police officers want to break a blockade.
VDA is likely to earn significantly less money with the IAA
On the other hand, the large demonstration on Saturday, September 11th, should be non-violent and civil. The mixture of bicycle rally and demonstration is provided by a broad alliance of Greenpeace through the Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) to the ADFC bicycle club. Many see the IAA Mobility “as the opposite of a mobility turnaround,” emphasized a Greenpeace spokesman. He expects several thousand participants. However, Corona ensures restraint among the participants, even if distances are easy to maintain during a bike demo. He is not sure that the 25,000 participants in the demonstration in Frankfurt in 2019 will be exceeded.
Numerous planned protests, noticeably fewer exhibitors, plus corona concerns despite a comprehensive hygiene and safety concept by the organizers: Much indicates that the IAA restart could be rather poor. The IAA already suffered from a heavy decline in visitors two years ago: In 2019, 560,000 visitors came to the Frankfurt exhibition halls, in 2017 it was over 800,000.
This is probably one of the reasons why the VDA and the Munich trade fair shy away from overly specific answers to the question of how many visitors they expect this year. “Ticket sales for the IAA Mobility are developing well despite the Corona situation,” said manager magazin when asked. “We expect a strong increase in the next few days”. The IAA’s experience also shows that tickets are mostly bought on the day of the visit. And in addition, this time the viewers of the global stream and thus the digital reach of the IAA are of great importance.
So far, however, the very real payment flows from ticket sales have also been of importance to the VDA. The IAA has so far been one of the most important sources of income, which is likely to be much more sparse this year. On Friday afternoon, the VDA responded to a request from manager magazin about how much lower the income this year should be compared to 2019 with a short sentence: “We do not comment on the income situation and ask for your understanding.”
Great confidence looks different.