FINAL REPORT

INTERauto 2008 – International meeting of the automotive interiors industry sustains it´s position in spite of branch crisis

From 19^th till 21^st November INTERauto 2008 took place in its already 9^th edition in Cologne, Germany. INTERauto is the European leading event for OEMs and suppliers of automotive interiors and therefore unique in its concept.

INTERauto as important platform for the industry

Also this year, exhibitors confirmed the need of a presentation platform for suppliers and car manufacturers of the automotive interiors industry for international, current branch information and business contacts. Born out of the growing need for the automotive industry, in particular the interiors market, to keep abreast of trends and developments around the world, INTERauto was launched as niche event in Paris in 1995. INTERauto established itself as European leading event for automotive interiors. In 2008 exhibitors from 16 nations presented current trends and developments in different sectors of the automotive interiors industry ranged from industry machines and textile composites to leather, novel leather substitutes and interior panels.

Again top-ranking visitors

Within the 3-day exhibition more than 1.550 trade visitors caught up on the newest trends and developments of the industry. In particular the high percentage of foreign visitors (46 per cent) reflects the international importance of the event. Against the background of the present state of the economy and the closely related restrictions for business travel at home and abroad the event organisers could not achieve completely the target regarding the visitor frequency for 2008. This is reflected by the varying satisfaction of exhibitors. But again the high quality of visitors was confirmed within this year`s INTERauto. Additionally, there were above-average numbers of decision makers, among executive directors, key account managers and buying agents.

Automotive Interiors Conference on the occasion of INTERauto 2008

Europe´s leading conference on automotive interiors took place on 20^th November on the occasion of INTERauto. Organised by ims Automotive Interiors in partnership with G+J Expomedia Events GmbH, and with the theme “Redefining Automotive Interiors – The Next Decade”, the conference attracted a top level series of speakers from all parts of the automotive interiors sector including vehicle manufacturers, component and system suppliers, raw material groups, business associations and consultants.

Although the gathering took place at a time of great uncertainty for the industry with global automotive industry facing one of its most serious downturns for at least 30 years, the mood of all speakers was decidedly upbeat. There was a clear consensus that interior vehicle design and specification is developing into one of the most crucial competitive factors in the increasingly competitive global marketplace. Speakers noted that this stems from a number of factors such as growing congestion which implies that people are spending more time in their cars with the result that interior ambiance should be as comfortable and pleasing as possible. Thereby, especially individuality and exclusiveness will have importance for interiors in the future.

G+J Expomedia Events GmbH is a joint venture of Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG, Europe’s leading print and publishing house and Expomedia Deutschland GmbH.

Hamburg, 15^th December 2008

Your contact:

Katrin Fütterer

G+J Expomedia Events GmbH

Project Manager/ PR & Marketing

Phone: 0049 (0)40 66906918

Fax: 0049 (0)40 66906800

eMail: fuetterer@gjeme.de

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