By Stephen Downer, Special to Tire Business
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's suppliers association and the trade show organizer Messe Frankfurt Inc. have scheduled the 2017 edition of INA PAACE Automechanika México for June 14-16 in Mexico City.
The event, flagged by Messe Frankfurt on its website, will be the second to be staged jointly by the two organizations.
The inaugural edition of the exhibition was held in the Mexican capital over three days in mid-April this year and ended the rivalry that existed between the pair for six years.
Messe Frankfurt has now staged 18 PAACE Automechanika shows in Mexico — 11 of which the national suppliers association, INA (Industria Nacional de Autopartes AC), supported.
But in 2010 INA withdrew its backing and held the first of six shows — called ExpoINA — in direct competition with PAACE Automechanika México.
INA's members account for 70 percent of Mexico's $85 billion parts industry. A number of them were unhappy with the large number of Asian exhibitors at PAACE Automechanika México, claiming that in some cases they represented “disloyal competition.”
That is history now. INA's executive president, Oscar Albín, who is striving to unite the whole of Mexico's automotive industry — including tire manufacturers and dealers, under one exhibition roof — was delighted with the inaugural INA PAACE Automechanika México show.
“It will continue to be one of the most important events for the replacement market in Latin America,” he said in a news release.
Dennis Smith, president of Atlanta, Ga.-based Messe Frankfurt Inc., went further in the same communique, calling the expo “the most important automotive industry show in Latin America.”
He said 20,000 visitors from 36 countries attended. The show featured 452 exhibiting companies from 21 countries, including the U.S., Turkey, Brazil, South Korea and China.
U.S. organizations the Automotive Parts Remanufacturing Association (APRA), Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) and Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) heavily support the show.
Stephen Downer is a Mexico-based freelance writer who covers that country and Latin America for Tire Business and its Latin America e-newsletter.