Reporting "Asre Khodro", As the leading automotive trade brand in the region Automechanika Istanbul once again became the industry’s ultimate meeting point. The fair brought together 48,737 industrial trade visitors from 130 countries with 1400 local and international exhibitors from 38 countries in Istanbul. This year, the fair exceeded its own record once again with increasing the visiting rate by 6%. Stating that Turkish automotive manufacturers targeted 32 Billion Dollars’ worth of exports in 2019, Hannover Fairs Turkey Fuarcılık General Manager Alexander Kühnel and Messe Frankfurt Istanbul’s Managing Director Tayfun Yardım stated that, “Within the scope of the trade fair which we organised in line with the vision of making a greater contribution to exports, our exhibitors signed important agreements. These agreements will have positive impacts on the industry’s targets. We will be seeing these positive impacts on Turkish economy more clearly particularly beginning from the second half of the year”.
The international trade fair “Automechanika Istanbul” which was held between 4 - 7 April in Istanbul brought industrial professionals together with their target markets. At the trade fair which was organised for the 13th time with the cooperation of Deutsche Messe’s Turkey office, Hannover Fairs Turkey and Messe Frankfurt Istanbul, professional visitors had the convenience of finding everything they need about the automotive industry under a single roof.
Pointing out to the importance of Turkey as a trade centre for the international automotive market, and the need to utilise this potential through an increase in exports, Hannover Fairs Turkey Fuarcılık General Manager Alexander Kühnel commented;
“The automotive manufacturing industry is among Turkey’s most important industrial manufacturing areas. Automechanika Istanbul offers a very important opportunity in order for Turkey to show the world its strength in this field, and its future potential. With Automechanika Istanbul, which we organised with the vision of making a greater contribution to the exports in the industry, we achieved huge success also in 2019. During a four-day period, our exhibitors made magnificent use of this opportunity and made important deals. The positive feedback we received from our exhibitors, and their satisfaction, motivated us to immediately start the preparations for next year’s trade fair”.
Emphasising that the shrinkage experienced during the first quarter was temporary, and that the industry will gain momentum with new business deals to be realised in the remaining part of the year, Kühnel and Yardım continued his words as follows:
“The vehicle sales experienced in European Union countries, which constitute Turkey’s largest export market, caused a decline in new orders, which resulted in a temporary shrinkage in manufacturing. Automechanika Istanbul witnessed successful conclusion of business deals that will change this course of events in Turkey’s favour. Automotive industry is very important for Turkish economy as it covers a wide range of goods. We attach great importance to the development of companies that focus on the manufacturing of this category of goods which ranges from passenger vehicles to the supply industry, motor vehicles for cargo carriage, and buses. We are delighted to have organised such a fruitful B2B trade fair in Turkey, which is a very important country for Deutsche Messe’s activities”.
Stating that Automechanika Istanbul is an important meeting point for the sector at an international scale, Messe Frankfurt Istanbul Managing Director Tayfun Yardım also pointed out that the fair is not only focused on commerce, but is also an information-sharing platform. Mr. Yardım shared his thoughts on the fair with the following words:
“Under the roof of Automechanika Brand which is the most successful trade fair brand in the world, Automechanika Istanbul as the 3rd biggest automotive industry fair in the world, once again closed its doors with record-breaking numbers. During 4 days, 48,737  professional visitors from 130 countries met with 1400 exhibitors in 13 halls. At the fair where all the components of the industry meet professionals from all over the world had the opportunity to see the latest trends, technologies and new products in the automotive industry. As in previous years, international participation and visit proved the importance of the fair in the world.”
Attracting attention with its international top-quality contents and conferences that add colour to the industry every year, this year Automechanika Academy discussed the role of women within the industry.  Leading woman executives of the Turkish automotive industry will speak at the “Women in the Automotive Industry; “Women Talk” Panel organised with the cooperation of KAGİDER.
Automechanika Academy, which attracts attention with its international content and conferences, discussed the role of women in the sector for the first time this year at “Women Talk” Panel. Female executives in the automotive industry from Mercedes-Benz Türk, TOBFED Women's Commission, Faydası Çok Multi Foundation and Turkish Tractor were the panelists who has attended the Women in the Automotive Industry Panel; “Women Talk”.