Bologna, 30 November 2008
Release n. 12/2008
THE 2008 MOTOR SHOW PRESENTED IN MILAN SOME DAYS AGO
THE INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOBILE EXHIBITION
IN BOLOGNA FROM 5TH TO 14TH DECEMBER
The 19th November the 33rd edition of the Bologna Motor Show – International Automobile Exhibition – was presented in Milan, which will be held in the BolognaFiere Exhibition Centre from 5th to 14th December 2008. The 3rd and 4th December will be reserved for the press, while trade professionals will have access to the Motor Show on 4th and 5th December, and the Motor Show will be officially inaugurated on the 5th. This year’s edition will occupy 140,000 square meters indoor exhibition area and 90,000 square meters outside: a total of 304 exhibitors,71 of them from abroad from 19 different countries. 11 outdoor areas, with 16 exhibiting companies, while the MotorSport Stadium race track in the Motor Show will have 7 different circuits, more than 30 different races and exhibitions and 250 racing drivers involved. To date there are a planned 100 previews from car manufacturers during the exhibition: 7 at world level and 9 at European level. 30 press conferences have been planned organized by the car manufacturers and other exhibiting companies. Visitors to the exhibition will have a total of 13,000 car parking spaces and 59 open ticket desks, with a total of 2,000 people working at the exhibition.
This edition is addressed to news and renewal, a fundamental choice to get over the current difficult scenario in the automobile market, as the Managing Director of Promotor International, Giada Michetti confirmed: “The 33rd Bologna Motor Show will open its gates at a very delicate time and as our mission is to serve this sector we are fully aware of this fact. It is not the first time that the Motor Show comes at the end of a difficult year: just remember the 1993 edition, when there were a total of 29% less vehicle registrations than the previous year. Albeit the current situation is different from 1993, it is still very difficult: in fact we are going through a phase of structural change in the entire economy and the automobile trade will come out at the other end drastically changed. However a change is needed, and change means facing up to the problems that are the hot topics this year: environment, fuel, safety and reduced purchase and running costs. This was one of the reasons why we designed something really new this year, Innovation Cube. As a service company, one of our tasks is to provide the Companies with a really surprising setting, like the Motor Show, where manufacturers can show off their investments to the utmost, exploiting all the potential offered by the barycentric position of Bologna and the amazing flow of public to the exhibition. One of our aims is to provide the Companies with the uniqueness of the Exhibition which has been totally restyled over the last 33 years, always looking forward, punctual and developing its international nature along with the traditional features that have made it famous: the exhibition, test drives and its sporting heart. This Motor Show will be full of interesting news and features and is backed up by considerable investments, both by manufacturers and by ourselves as the organisers. Car manufacturers are highly committed nowadays to ensure that the market is ready to take off again as soon as this difficult economic period is overcome. The right path is technological innovation that fully considers the effective needs of our time. After this transition period, the car will be reconfirmed as the indispensible means of transport for whoever wants freedom and independence”.
Giada Michetti then spoke of the contents of the event: “Before opening the Motor Show Promotor International had already invested something like 7 million Euros to guarantee its best possible success. This figure includes the costs for managing and preparing the exhibition centre both inside and out, preparing the race areas and organizing the sports events. To this we must add the communications and public relations, management and personnel costs for all the staff who work all year round to prepare the Motor Show. I would also like to remember our very intense and widespread communications campaign, which involves an advertising campaign of around 10 million Euros – involving bill posters, daily, periodic and specialised press, the TV, radio and internet – which occupies three specific press offices: one for the exhibition, one for the sports events and the last for relations with the international press, without forgetting the work of Promotor Study Centre which works throughout the year processing the market data and analyses with monthly contacts with the press. We are extremely satisfied with the exhibition stands and the number of different car makes that are present, with a total of 51 brands representing 94.4% of the Italian market in the January/October 2008 reference period. Some of them have chosen our Exhibition for the first time, while others have increased their exhibition space or have opted for exhibiting their models in the 11 outdoor areas for the visitors’ test drives. We are also very satisfied with the calendar of sports dates, with some really exceptional moments that have become “normal” at the Bologna Show, like the Ferrari driving round a real track, the Rally World Champion Sebastien Loeb who will be at Bologna to take part in the Bettega Memorial our indoor rally, and the other champions from motor and other sports, who will be exhibiting themselves in some really spectacular sports events, like drifting and freestyle. We are also extremely positive about the numerous business initiatives that will be hosted by the Motor Show, like the press conferences, meetings with the sales networks that the Manufacturers will be taking to the Exhibition, the conventions and all the other meetings dedicated to the more important matters with the priority focused again on the environment and safety. Considerable investments have also been made in this field, but which we feel is indispensable to give the Exhibiting Companies a new stage and further reason for curiosity and discovery for the visitors: Innovation Cube. This totally new exhibition initiative has been created in cooperation with H2Rome to highlight technology in cars helping the general public understand what is involved and focuses on four key factors – ecofriendliness, infomobility, safety and design. As organizers of trade fairs and exhibitions, our job is this: create opportunities and value for the sector. We have the skill and know-how to create and give the maximum visibility in the best possible container, to an economic field which reaches incredibly sophisticated and advanced heights in its promotions. We can create international events in Italy or anywhere in the world, thanks to our extensive experience and GL Events the group we now belong to. GL Events has branches in 13 different countries, and over recent years has invested considerably in Italy, which is the second market for the group after its home market, and had decided to continue along this path. Therefore, together with the car firms and our partners, our job is to try and face up to this extremely delicate moment for the market in the best possible way and, in full agreement with the Car manufacturers, we are ready to examine the future scenarios”.
We later got the chance to talk to the Commercial Director of Promotor International, Marco Angrisani and Simona Sandrini, the Sports Events Manager for the 33rd edition of the Motor Show. Marco Angrisani was the first to speak: “The 2008 Motor Show will have a rich collection of events and we would like to present them to you following two lines: business and consumer. The Motor Show is an important moment for the market which can be read in four different keys. The first is the sales networks, where the main players are the Car firms, the dealers, the category associations, the after-sales service and the garages, which define what the market situation is during the Motor Show and therefore decide their future strategies, organizing special meetings with dealers and trade professionals. The second is the conventions, which deal with some very delicate matters this year and try to outline the future of cars following three focus points: the first is economic, the second technical and innovation, the third mobility needs. The players will be politicians, institutions, category associations, economists and representatives from the automobile world. The third key is road safety with institutions, the police force, schools and associations all debating the matter, and the fourth key is the prize giving which will involve both the press and the Car firms with their sports champions”.
In relation to the sports section of the Motor Show, Simona Sandrini claimed: “The MotorSport area in the Motor Show has changed enormously: initially conceived as entertainment and shows for the consumer, it has now become an important business moment. The paddock is a real assistance park, and also a date for the trade professionals to meet and discuss on the trend of the driver market, racing car markets and sponsorships between companies and drivers, and it also gives visibility to the drivers and championship promoters. This year there will be a MotorSport Business Area with various partners: in the paddock in Hall 35, inside the Race Management reserved area, there will be a VIP area and Truck, with reserved access to team managers, drivers, invited journalists and sponsors”.
Marco Angrisani then spoke about the “consumer” section dedicated to the public at the event: “The Motor Show is a wonderful showcase for the public and we have always focused great attention on them. We began back in spring contacting the companies who provide the public services during the Motor Show, and with the introduction of the special packages that can only be bought online through internet, the 2008 Motor Show public will receive considerable discounts on catering and car parks. The special trains will also be back on the main Italian routes, which offer savings up to 21% of the normal prices. To close, I would like to point out that the price of the tickets has remained unchanged for three years now and, from 2008, there is also the possibility to print your ticket directly at home. To improve public relations even further, we should mention a project that will involve us especially in the main social networks on Web 2.0 – like Facebook for example. In relation to the contents of the Exhibition – apart from the 100 previews, of which 7 world and 9 European that we have been informed of so far – visitors will find all the different types of cars at the Motor Show: from the most economic in terms of fuel consumption and running costs through to the dream cars. Once again this year, as in 2007, we will have EcoCity a special space dedicated to companies working on alternative fuel technology and eco-friendly fuels. We should also remember the dynamic soul of the Motor Show, which makes it stand out among all the others: in 2007 visitors made more than 57,000 test drives. For this edition there are 11 outside areas with 16 companies involved who will give the public the use of their products, from sports cars to SUV. The focus will be on active and passive road safety and safe driving in the outside areas, matters of great importance for the Motor Show for several years now. I would also like to underline the importance of technological innovation for the entire automobile sector: for this Innovation Cube will be debuting in bologna, a new exhibition format that has been developed in cooperation with H2Roma. When we were designing this initiative, we fully considered the features of our Motor Show, which is a container that offers, besides the exhibition in itself, spectacular contents. Therefore technological innovation that can be used by the public and declined in four macro-areas: safety, ecofriendliness, infomobility and design. In Innovation Cube the Car manufacturers, companies in the automobile chain and Italian research centres will all be present. But the Motor Show also has another amazing container: the MotorSport Stadium the race area during the exhibition”.
Simona Sandrini then spoke again to give us details of the sports events planned for the MotorSport Stadium circuits: “We have called our Race Area a Stadium this year to emphasise the uniqueness of a container that does not exist for 353 days of the year, but which becomes a 40,000 square meter track for the remaining twelve days which is extremely powerful in terms of communications, business, people and horsepower. The Motor Show Stadium is imagination applied to motor sports: it is a real theatre created from some very complex ideas. The recipe for the MotorSport Stadium is simple: cars, public, dreams, champions and applause. As ever the public plays a very important role and it was thinking of them, the end users, that the event was created. The calendar has changed over the years and in December and January there are other Motorsport activities, so we are very pleased with the interest we have received from world champions, who have helped us to prepare a very intense programme. From the Rally World Championship and Formula 1 cars with their drivers, the Bologna debut of Nascar thanks to Red Bull, the return of Audi with the R10 which won the Le Mans 24 Hours, three events dedicated to vintage cars, the date on two wheels dedicated to the Motorbike World championship and the traditional Bettega Memorial. We should also mention the general restyling of the layout: the speed track has been lengthened, the rally track reviewed and a new area has been created for the box wall”.