INTERMOT Cologne 2010 Attracts 210,000 Buyers and Fans

2011/04/08 | By Quincy Liang

The INTERMOT Cologne 2010, held Oct. 6-10 at Cologne Messe, Cologne, Germany, confirmed its role as one of the leading trade fairs for motorcycles, scooters and bicycles in Europe, attracting nearly all the important manufacturers as well as parts suppliers to present innovations and developments for the 2011 season.

The north entrance of the 2010 INTERMOT Cologne, one of the world`s largest motorcycle, scooter, and bicycle trade fairs.

The organizers Koelnmesse and the German Motorcycle Industry Association (IVM) registered more than 210,000 global buyers as well as motorcycle and scooter fans in Cologne.

This trade fair demonstrated that INTERMOT Cologne is indispensable for the industry and the trade. People come to view presentations, obtain information and place orders. And the slogan 'I love INTERMOT' also reflects the mood and enthusiasm of the many fans, said Oliver P. Kuhrt, Executive Vice President of Koelnmesse. Reiner Brendicke, General Executive Manager of IVM, also sees INTERMOT Cologne as a resounding success: "The industry set a clear signal with its new models and concepts, generating momentum for a market recovery that also extends to alternative drive technologies."

Many other new products also capture visitors` attention.

The IVM general executive manger also stressed that the new INTERMOT "e-motion" segment clearly showed that the PTW sector has already attained a high, market-ready standard in the area of electric mobility. "The future belongs to electric two-wheelers especially in urban areas."

High-end PTW parts from suppliers worldwide.

High Global Representation
The INTERMOT saw over 195,000 specialist buyers and motorcycle enthusiasts who came to the biennial fair from 108 countries. Trade visitors accounted for around 30% of the attendees, the show organizer said, with significantly more trade visitors coming particularly from Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Italy, and more buyers from Sweden, Austria and the U.K.. Over 210,000 visitors were counted at INTERMOT Cologne, the motorcycle service in Cologne Cathedral and the Suzuki Night of the JUMPs freestyle MX world championships in Lanxess Arena.

The biennial event attracted some 195,000 global visitors in five days.

INTERMOT Cologne 2010 also saw rising number of exhibitors compared to the previous event, up by 4%, with 1,107 manufacturers from 40 countries (2008: 1,068 from 38 countries) presenting 1,596 brands, including Aprilia, BMW, Derbi, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Peugeot, Piaggio, Suzuki, Triumph, Vespa, Yamaha, as well as Taiwanese labels as KYMCO, SYM, PGO, TGB.

Visitors can get up-close-and-personal with the latest PTWs soon to be launched by all major global brands.

Some 405 suppliers came from Germany and 702 from abroad, accounting for 63% of all the suppliers. After Germany, the countries with the largest numbers of exhibitors were China, Taiwan and Italy, followed by the U.K., Pakistan, the U.S. and the Netherlands.

E-Mobility
The new INTERMOT e-motion segment highlighted expertise in future mobility, focusing on electric PTWs.

Over 120 suppliers in Hall 5.2 and almost 350 brands presented new products and innovations for light electric vehicles (LEVs)—pedelecs and e-bikes—but also for e-scooters and e-motorcycles. The show organizer said that manufacturers of e-vehicles attracted ample visitors from the very first day and also enjoyed extensive daily press, spotlighting electric mobility as a vital issue for the future.

Various electric vehicles displayed under the "e-motion" concept.

The show even featured the first LEV and e-scooter world championships on a specially constructed racetrack. Electric mobility was also the topic of various symposiums and conferences, including the LEV Conference in cooperation with ExtraEnergy.org of Germany and the e-congress addressing electric power for short-range mobility, organized in collaboration with the Bicycle-Friendly Towns and Municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia Working Group. In addition, INTERMOT Cologne hosted the general meeting of the international LEV Association (LEVA).

Amusement Content
INTERMOT Cologne 2010 had no shortage of entertainment. The event action area, for example, featured spectacular stunts by internationally famous stunt riders. Professional riders demonstrated daring freestyle MX jumps and dragster racing. Visitors saw motor sports live in the hotly contested Yamaha Cup races, the KTM and Triumph brand series, the demonstration races of the world champion long-distance riders and the top IDM motorcyclists.

Riding accessories are also very popular at the show.

To promote motorcycling, the show also offered hands-on activities for visitors who test rode on a track, with experienced bikers, novices, long-absent riders and youngsters all having opportunities to try out PTWs, which was a way for the different makers to promote products; while many PTW-related organizations promoted riding safety.

So many activities are simultaneously held during the show.

The "INTERMOT Young Action" in Hall 5.1, for example, targeted children and teenagers, offering play areas and test tracks for scooters, bicycles, mini-quads, minibikes and motorcycles suitable for the youngsters.

Custom Bike Competition
INTERMOT Cologne also staged the second "Cologne Custom Championships," presenting the best bikes in different categories as Chopper/Cruiser, Fighter, Sports Bike, Cafe Racer and Scooter.

Winners of the 2010 "Cologne Custom Championships".

The "Bike Farm" motorcycle firm won all categories, thus winning not only the prize money of 5,000 euro, but also directly qualifying for the Customizing World Championship in Sturgis, South Dakota in the U.S.

Exhibitors' Feedback
The biennial show is generally seen as a major platform for global brands targeting the European motorcycle/scooter market.

Norbert Zaha, Managing Director of KTM Sportmotorcycle, for example, said: "For KTM, INTERMOT Cologne 2010 has great importance as an internationally leading trade fair, and we are convinced that it provides the motorcycle market with positive momentum. KTM has used this platform to present important new products, which are especially interesting to the German market."

As the head of the largest and most important motorcycle maker in Germany, Hendrik von Kuenheim, head of BMW Motorrad, said: "In 2010, INTERMOT Cologne once again fully lived up to its role of being the leading trade fair for the motorcycle and scooter sector. Although times continue to be difficult for the sector, the manufacturers can buck the negative trend with innovative and fascinating products. Due to the large number of new products, INTERMOT Cologne 2010 was extensively covered in the media and generated considerable interest among the general public. So the sector was also able to make its views known.”

KYMCO
Jim Yang, marketing director of overseas sales at KYMCO, Taiwan's largest PTW maker and a major brand in Europe, said that his company exhibited several 2011 models at INTERMOT Cologne 2010 with mainly modified color schemes and minor styling changes, but will debut the brand-new People GTi 300i big-wheel scooter from Nov. 2-7, 2010.

Yang said that Italy is KYMCO's largest market in Europe, trailing only Piaggio in 2009, as well as the No. 3 in the first 10 months of 2010 (Honda was No. 2 with its hot-selling SH scooter). Both the market size and the number of scooter riders make Italy the most important single market in the region.

KYMCO revealed several 2011 models at INTERMOT Cologne to meet the local market requirements, including ones with electronic fuel-injection (EFI) as the brand-new People GT 300i, Agility Carry 50, DJS 50 etc., as well as new ATV models as the new-generation MXU 500i IRS DX, MXU 500i DX and MXU 450i.

Andy Huang, director of the European market in the overseas marketing division at Sanyang Industry Co., Ltd. (SYM), another leading PTW exporter in Taiwan, chose the INTERMOT Cologne as its most important marketing platform for the entire European market.

According to Huang, SYM's sales in Europe, except Italy, Spain, France etc., are rapidly catching up to KYMCO, and have exceeded its Taiwanese rival's in many second-class markets.

Eyeing the entire European market, Huang said SYM booked a big stand for over US$310,000 at 2010 INTERMOT Cologne to unveil several new products, especially the Maxsym 400i high-end cruiser scooter, the Wolf SB 125Ni street bike, and two electric scooter models, the Symmetry and E-woo.

Honda
Jurgen Krantz of Honda Germany said that his company is definitely not the only one that enjoyed great success at INTERMOT 2010. "We aimed to present the Honda brand in a very customer-oriented manner. Our approach involved a very emotional stand construction design that enabled our visitors to experience the different lifestyles, in addition to relying on our employees who enthusiastically helped customers and answered all their questions. The big turnout of visitors daily confirms not only the strength and appeal of our concept, but also that of INTERMOT."

Honda, however, did not unveil any brand-new model at this year's show, but chose to showcase its latest products at the 68th International Bicycle and Motorcycle Exhibition (EICMA 2010) in Milan, Italy, about one month after the German fair. Italy is the largest PTW market and production nation in Europe.

Dieter Scholz, Managing Director of Peugeot Motocycles Germany, said: "Visitors of all ages were very impressed not only by our brand new 'e-Viva' electric scooter, but also the new 'Citystar', our new generation 'H2i' engine with fuel injection technology for 50cc and the special series such as the "Speedfight 3 Le Mans", which we present in an elaborate way next to the original 908 HDI race car.”