50% more exhibitors expected for “Tire Cologne 2024″

In the middle of this year – more precisely from 4-6 June – “The Tire Cologne” will open its doors again. The leading trade fair for the tyre industry will then take place in Cologne for the third time. But again, the conditions are somehow completely different: If the premiere took place in 2018 and therefore before the corona pandemic, the second edition – actually planned for 2020 – made a very respectable “restart” after being postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic and did so again a step towards normalization, so what exactly follows number three? Our international colleagues at Neue Reifenzeitung spoke about this with Ingo Riedeberger, who acts as “Tire Cologne” director at the organizer Koelnmesse GmbH. According to him, the pandemic has acted “like a turning point” for trade fairs, and the event about tyres/wheels, retreading/recycling and workshop/vehicle service, which starts in Cologne in a few months, is no exception. Nevertheless, it remains an “issue driver in the global tyre industry”. And even if companies plan a possible presence there “more quickly than before the pandemic”, they still expect “the event to be revived”. With the same hall set-up as in 2022, Koelnmesse will have around half more exhibitors than two years ago, when there were 300 and in 2018 there were a good 530.

Neue Reifenzeitung (NRZ): What is the current status of exhibitor bookings for “The Tire Cologne” next year?

Ingo Riedeberger (IR): We have been preparing “The Tire Cologne” with great pleasure for months so that it will once again become the most important network trade fair for B2B business in the industry. As a central industry meeting point, our goal is to actively promote exchange and networking within the tyre industry. That’s why “The Tire Cologne 2024” will present itself as lively, diverse and very dynamic through an innovative trade fair concept and a variety of event and networking formats.

We want to specifically promote exchange within the industry. The three theme worlds of tyres/rims/trade, workshop/vehicle service and retreading/recycling not only provide orientation in the market and show the hottest innovations, but also offer the opportunity for efficient networking and a wide reach. At this point in time, we are right on schedule with registrations. But many companies will also be planning more short-term for this edition of “The Tire Cologne” than before the pandemic. It says nothing about the participation and quality of the trade fair if exhibitors cannot be named early for internal company reasons. Many discussions are currently ongoing with the relevant stakeholders. It is pleasing that we not only receive positive feedback from the well-known brands, but can also report some returnees and new exhibitors such as Maxxis or MRF from the tyres and wheels sector, in the Heuver trade with the Albourgh brand, Euromaster, Tyre24, in the retreading sector. and repair area Vipal, B&J Rocket and Tech Europe as well as Würth in the workshop segment. Overall, we expect the event to be revived.

Pandemic a turning point for trade fairs

NRZ: How do the figures for the companies represented in 2024 and the space they booked compare to the same point in time before the 2022 trade fair?

IR: In my opinion, “The Tire Cologne” has always delivered a successful performance and thus provided lasting impulses that have certainly repeatedly confirmed the decision for a new industry platform in Cologne. But the whole truth also means that there is a time before and a time after the pandemic for trade fairs – and here the pandemic has acted as a turning point. That is why “The Tire Cologne 2022” cannot be compared with the event in 2024 and certainly not with 2018. On the one hand, there is a consolidation of the market, and on the other hand, today it is no longer about topping visitor and exhibitor numbers, but rather the trade fair to develop further. An industry meeting like “The Tire Cologne” has to offer more than just a showcase like in the past. I am convinced that in the future we will have to strengthen the idea of community and networking and continually provide the right impulses for this. Overall, this means for the current event that we will use the same hall set-up as at “The Tire Cologne 2022”, but will have significantly more exhibitors, an increase of around 50 per cent.

NRZ: Which (market) areas are particularly well represented, and in which would you like to see greater participation?

“An industry meeting like ‘The Tire Cologne’ has to offer more than just a showcase like in the past,” explains Ingo Riedeberger, who acts as “Tire Cologne” director at Koelnmesse GmbH, explaining that trade fairs today are no longer about Not only to top the number of visitors and exhibitors, but also to develop them further or to strengthen the community/network idea with them and to continually provide the right impulses for this (Photo: Christian Marx/Profil-Verlag)

IR: This question is not so easy to answer. On the industry side, there are certainly a variety of challenges, such as problems in the supply chains, rising raw material costs, new requirements for products due to increasing e-mobility and, of course, the big issue of sustainability. Today, sustainability is no longer an end in itself, but rather relevant to business. Economy and ecology must be in harmony in the future. All of this and many other factors lead, among other things, to consolidation in the market. On the other hand, we are currently experiencing a strong comeback from abroad, particularly from Asia.

Like no other trade fair, “The Tire Cologne” focuses on the relevant trends and focus topics that offer future prospects and business potential. With this in mind, we have developed a concept for a circular economy area. In this way, we bring together companies from the entire tire circular economy, such as the Allianz Zukunft Reifen (AZuR), which exhibits with various partners and can therefore present the topic holistically. In keeping with this, the topic of retreading will play a major role at “The Tire Cologne”. Many well-known players in the industry and experts will exchange ideas at the trade fair. The topic of recycling in particular is a topic with enormous development potential in the tyre sector – innovative concepts for thermal and material recycling are being added and are providing new impulses and a breath of fresh air in the industry.

NRZ: What will be different at the upcoming trade fair than at the 2022 one? Or to put it another way: Will “The Tire Cologne” put certain subject areas more in focus than before? Conversely, does one or the other lose significance?

IR: The task of “The Tire Cologne” is to be a topic driver for the global tyre industry, and so the trade fair will also highlight topics such as the shortage of skilled workers in specialist retailers. Or that tyre retailers have to position themselves competitively in order to continue to be successful in the market in the future. Vehicles are becoming more and more technically sophisticated, the future is digital and also places ever-higher demands on workshops. That’s why we provide an insight into the workshop requirements of the future with the Workshop Live topic area and the companies Hunter and Würth. In the spirit of change through knowledge, “The Tire Cologne” as a “Global Knowledge Leader” offers a forum for exchange with renowned industry experts and well-known future and trend researchers.

NRZ: In your opinion, why should employees in the tyre trade and service sector definitely not miss a visit to the trade fair?

IR: The program at “The Tire Cologne” offers a holistic view of the topic of tyres: products and innovations, trade and e-commerce players, the topics of circular economy and recycling as well as warehousing and logistics become visible. But even though “The Tire Cologne” is currently still a more typical B2B trade fair and is increasingly developing into a network meeting, the whole thing also has a strong emotional side. But if I were to reveal everything now, it wouldn’t be half as exciting. Therefore: a little more patience!