En Englais: 'United front' for upcoming Automechanika show

By Stephen Downer, Special to Tire Business

 MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Billed as the automotive supply industry's largest event in Latin America, INA PAACE Automechanika Mexico City will take place from April 13-15 in a totally different atmosphere to that of the previous six trade shows.

 That's the time it's taken show organizer Messe Frankfurt GmbH to reconcile its differences with national supply industry Asociación Nacional de Autopartes AC. (INA) It will be the 18th edition of the PAACE Automechanika show in Mexico.

 Messe Frankfurt had a falling out with INA in 2009. Some powerful INA members had complained about the large Chinese contingent of exhibiting companies at the show, casting aspersions in some cases but not all on a company's credentials and motives for being at the event.

 PAACE Automechanika in Mexico went ahead without the association, which hired a local Mexican company, B&N Exposiciones SA de CV, to operate a rival show called ExpoINA. The first ExpoINA was held in 2010, the last in 2015.

 At a pre-show cocktail party speech Feb. 3, Oscar Albín, INA's executive president, said four or five supply chain exhibitions were being held in Mexico every year. He had been advised that “we have to unify them” and that the Mexican automotive industry should present a united front.

 “We are not against the importation of auto parts. But we are against the importation of bad auto parts,” Mr. Albín added, in a reference to allegedly poor quality products from China seen at earlier shows.

By his side were Dennis Smith, president of Altanta, Georgia-based Messe Frankfurt USA, José Luis Muñiz, president of parts importing and distributing association ARIDRA (the Asociación Nacional de Representantes, Importadores y Distribuidores de Refacciones y Accesorios para Automóviles AC), and Elizabeth Ventura Rendón, president of Asociación Nacional de Distribuidores de Llantas y Plantas Renovadoras AC (Andellac), Mexico's tire dealer and retreader association.

 Mr. Smith told Tire Business that at a number of shows — not just PAACE Automechanika — “U.S. companies were complaining that Chinese companies were copying (products).

 “Now we have legal counsel for companies who can have a product removed or have a booth closed down entirely. We were the first (exhibition) company to introduce this in the early 2000s.”

 Mr. Smith said the Chinese pavilion at this year's INA PAACE Automechanika event will cover 1,200 square meters. “It used to be 4,000 square meters, which two years ago represented 40 percent of the total show.”

 Messe Frankfurt, he said, had been aware that some Chinese companies with no branded products were sharing the same floor space with legitimate Chinese companies in Mexico in an effort to win manufacturing contracts. “We wanted to create a sourcing hall,” he said.

 The wish has been granted and there will be a sourcing hall at INA PAACE Automechanika. “We are giving Asian companies an opportunity to exhibit in the main hall,” Mr. Smith said, “but they have to show the organizers they have legitimate products, branded products and global marketing plans.”

 In a speech he said that “we have set the stage for a very, very strong event that will represent the industry in Mexico. We've worked on the marketing of the show, on education for young people and future technicians” (via a congress, organized by INA and held simultaneously).

 “We've put in a lot of effort outside Mexico City.”

 The number of Mexican companies exhibiting at the event has increased from 150 to 200, he said. The U.S. pavilion would be the largest in the history of the show, while there would be a Brazilian pavilion for the first time alongside others from Germany, Argentina, Turkey, Australia, Poland, Canada, Spain, France and the United Arab Emirates.

 “Chinese participation will be reduced significantly this year,” according to Mr. Smith, clarifying in a separate interview with Tire Business that “there's been a downturn in the Chinese economy and their exports have taken a bit of a hit.”

 He said show organizers were aiming for 400 formal business meetings between exhibitors and visitors during the exhibition. “The show will have a new look and a new feel,” he promised.

 Stephen Downer is a Mexico-based freelance writer who covers that country and Latin America for Tire Business and its Latin America e-newsletter.