With only a little more than a year to go until the 28th edition of Autopromotec, taking place from May 22-26, 2019, at the Bologna Exhibition Centre, organizers are announcing several new developments reflecting the innovative spirit and unstoppable growth the fair has witnessed for some time.

One of the biggest developments is the revamp of exhibition space at BolognaFiere, which will lead to a more rational layout of spaces and an additional increase in the exhibition surface. There also has been a makeover of the branding to identify all communication tools of the fair, show organizers say. This new image reflects a spirit that embraces the future of technology. Lastly, the preliminary data regarding pre-registrations, numbers regarded very positively by the organizers, confirm the centrality of Autopromotec in the automotive aftermarket on a global level.

New Floor Layout

The 2019 edition of Autopromotec will encompass a total surface of 162,000 square meters (1,743,753 square feet) – 4,000 square meters (43,055 square feet) more compared to 2017 – with more than 580 product categories covering all sub-sectors of the aftermarket.

The layout of Autopromotec 2019 will see the total renewal of Hall 29 and 30, which will reclaim their role as “the home of diagnostics and equipment” with leading international companies in the industry already confirming participation in validation of the strategic importance of Autopromotec for this market.

Hall 14, in the last edition hosting the diagnostics segment, will now be dedicated to lifting and garage equipment and tyre servicing, completing an important product area totally focused on the sector (Halls, 14, 15, 19, 20 and 22) with exhibitors including tire and rim producers and dealers, servicing equipment, new and retreaded tyres and related accessories and services, lifting and garage equipment. This space has no equals on an international scale in terms of exhibition surface and number of companies.

Thanks to the new layout, Autopromotec will see one of its distinctive features, that of being a “fair within a fair,” being further strengthened. This is a unique aspect that allows visitors to plan their visit based on specific professional interests. The positioning of other sectors will see no changes.Those sectors range from spare parts, body repair, equipment and products for service stations and car washes, right through to polyfunctional equipment, consolidating Autopromotec as the main international event with the clout to bring together all product supply chains of the automotive aftermarket.

A New Image

For Autopromotec 2019, a new image has been created in keeping with the technological innovation that has strongly characterized the exhibition over recent editions. The image represents the evolution of the fair over the past few years, projecting it in a future where an increasingly connected world is conveyed by the fusion of skylines of different cities suspended on a futuristic galaxy. The organizers say it shows a new world immersed in constellations that strongly identify the sectors present at Autopromotec and that represent the future of the world of vehicle assistance, a world in a not too distant future that still is yet to be explored, where visitors will be accompanied by a special guide that will be the focus of publicity campaigns, banners, videos and much more.

Pre-registrations

Confirming the trend of recent shows, company pre-registrations are showing increases, a factor allowing organizers to start plotting the layout of the various sectors and give form to what will be the exhibition space in 2019. But even before the official registrations for the exhibition are open, this year the organizers are announcing the number of pre-registrations in early April, a month earlier than the last editions. To date, 642 companies have said they intend to participate compared to the 627 in the same period in 2016. Of these companies, 6.8 percent will be choosing Autopromotec for the first time as a showcase for their products, maintaining the importance of foreign participation, represented by 139 companies, headed by companies from countries such as China and Germany, followed by the principal European countries.

The analysis of these early data, while still preliminary, also provides an indication of the sectors that most attract exhibitors, including spare parts, garage diagnosis and tires. Also to note is a welcome upturn of the body repair sector.