The IAA has typically been held every two years. However, the 2020 event was cancelled due to the pandemic. Hence, it’s been four very long years since the world’s truck and bus companies have gathered in Hannover, Germany, to display their wares.
Quarter of a million visitors
Back in 2018, visitors were treated to no fewer than 435 world premieres from the 2 174 exhibitors, who occupied 282 000 m2 of exhibition space.
Despite sweltering heatwaves, storms and rain, around 250 000 people trudged through the halls. There was certainly a lot for them to see and buy (one logistics company bought 2 500 trucks from three manufacturers during the show; another purchased 1 000 trailers).
There’s no reason not to expect more of the same this time around. While the exhibition is shorter than usual (it used to last for eight days), this year’s show – which will take place from September 20 to 25, 2022, at the Deutsche Messe AG exhibition centre in Hannover – is bound to be a highlight of 2022.
Change in focus
While we will still see the launch of lots of new vehicles – which is always THE highlight of the show – the focus will now be on logistics, transport and the digitalisation of commercial vehicle transport on the way to climate neutrality.
The previous IAA Commercial Vehicles is thus expanding the breadth of topics and exhibitors and, with its new name, is set to become the leading international platform for logistics, commercial vehicles, buses and the transport sector. With its expanded event concept, it networks the relevant manufacturers and suppliers from the commercial vehicle, bus and logistics sectors with leading tech providers. An important goal of the new concept is to focus more on the climate-neutral and technological transformation of the entire transport sector.
"IAA Transportation is the leading trade show for transport, commercial vehicles and logistics. Our successful concept for a corona-proof staging of IAA Mobility 2021 will also be used at IAA Transportation in Hannover. The current registration status makes it clear that the concept expansion has been positively received by the industry. There are already exhibitor registrations from more than 40 countries. The high level of registrations is gratifying and also underlines the exhibitors' desire to once again offer customers a live experience with their new products," says Jürgen Mindel, VDA Managing Director.
Prestigious awards to be presented
While the IAA has always been synonymous with new vehicle launches, it’s equally associated with awards. In 2018, for instance, Ford’s F-Max was named the 2019 International Truck of the Year while MAN won the first-ever Truck Innovation Award in recognition of the development of its aFAS Level 4 autonomous driverless motorway safety truck.
It is highly likely that those two awards will be presented at this year’s fair too (negotiations are ongoing). The winners of the prestigious "Bus of the Year", "Coach of the Year" and, for the first time, "Cargo Bike of the Year" competitions will also be announced. "We are in talks with "Truck of Year", "Trailer Innovation Award" and the "Van of the Year" and I am optimistic that in 2022 we will be able to present all of these awards in Hannover and thus give them the greatest possible attention. We are particularly pleased to welcome the ‘Cargo Bike of the Year’ to the IAA. This clearly shows how multi-layered our portfolio is," says Mindel.
Four theme days
The IAA Conference 2022 will form part of the exhibition. To give exhibitors and visitors the best possible exposure to their target audience, the IAA Conference will focus on different key topics over four days, namely future logistics, trade and logistics, infrastructure and finally innovations in public transport.
Last-mile experience area
Last-mile transport has become a hot topic of late and the exhibition will have a dedicated Last-Mile Experience Area. For the first time at a trade fair, a complete city backdrop will be set up indoors, within which the latest last-mile solutions will be presented. On display will be parcel drones, delivery robots, e-transporters, e-cargo bikes as well as innovations from the Internet-of-Things, data networks and cloud technologies, SaaS platforms and decentralised hubs.
It all sounds fascinating; we’re super happy that the IAA is back. Watch this space for all the news from sthe fair in September!
