The Tire Cologne: Cooper, Toyo no longer exhibiting

Representatives of Cooper Tires and Toyo Tires have respectively confirmed they’ll not exhibit at this year’s The Tire Cologne, as previously planned. Their decisions come as governments across Europe announce rigorous measures to delay the spread of coronavirus and reduce its impact wherever possible. Michelin announced its withdrawal as exhibitor last week.

Representatives of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Deutschland state there is “unfortunately no alternative” to cancelling their exhibition presence in Cologne. Marco Stezelow, manager of Toyo Tire Europe, says the decision was “regrettable but necessary” in light of the “ongoing and increasing risk.”

In the absence of information to the contrary, the official line is still that The Tire Cologne will open as planned in June. That said, potential exhibitors and visitors alike await comment from organiser Koelnmesse regarding the show’s viability in light of the restrictions on travel to and within Germany that were announced yesterday.

Koelnmesse updated its message regarding coronavirus today:

Dear Customers and Partners of Koelnmesse,

The consequences of the corona virus, which is meanwhile occurring almost worldwide, are also affecting Koelnmesse’s events.

The health of all trade fair participants, customers, partners and our employees is paramount. We are taking the current concerns of all our participants very seriously.

On 10.03.2020, the City of Cologne banned all major events with more than 1,000 participants up to and including 10.04.2020 on the basis of a decree issued by the NRW state government on the same day. At present, this ban does not affect any Koelnmesse events, since following the postponement of four own events and three guest events, no trade fairs will be held at the Cologne venue until mid-April.

For trade fairs at later dates, we will take the current recommendations of the federal and state governments and the crisis management team of the City of Cologne into account in all decisions and will continue to evaluate each event individually. An important basis for the risk assessment of major events are the principles of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) (“General Principles of Risk Assessment and Recommended Action for Major Events” of 28.02.2020), to which the crisis management team of the Federal Government also refers.

We understand that you currently have many questions for us. Due to the huge number of inquiries, we kindly ask for your understanding if our response is somewhat delayed. We are making every effort to assist you with your inquiry as quickly as possible.