Frankfurt Auto Show – 114 years of history

The German Auto Show is organized by Verband der Automobilindustrie, VDA, which is the German Car Manufactures Association. The German Auto Show is straight away recognized as the largest auto saloon in the world when it comes to its sheer expositional size. More importantly is that Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung, IAA, or International Auto Saloon has a history of over 100 years and Frankfurt was not always the host of this event.

1897

The first German Auto Show is held at Berlin’s Bristol Hotel.

1897-1911

The Auto Show or IAA becomes a yearly event, usually held at Berlin. During 1905, 1906 and 1907 there were not one but two editions per year. The car had become a social phenomena and car manufacturing was a big part of the industry.

1921

The first Auto Show held at Berlin after the first World War, the 14th edition. 67 car makers presented to the general public 90 automobiles.

1931

The world was recovering from a harsh recession and the 22nd edition of the Auto Show was being organized at Berlin. 295.000 visitors had visited the show and for the first time in history, front wheel drive cars were displayed.

1939

The last IAA before the start of the second World War was the 29th and this was the most visited show of all time: 825.000. One of the exposed cars was a Volkswagen („people’s car”) Beetle which made history in the years that followed.

1947-1949

For the first time in history, the German Car Industry is attending the commerce fair at Hannover. The space dedicated to the automobile has attracted the visitors like nothing else.

1951

For the first time in history, the Auto Show was held at Frankfurt. The event had taken place in April and brought 570.000 visitors. Also, for the first time ever, a truck equipped with a turbo diesel engine was displayed. Six months later, a second show was held at Berlin but only 290.000 visitors were present. As a consequence of this fact, the decision to permanently move the auto show to Frankfurt am Main was taken. The Auto Show will be help once every 2 years.

1956

The automobile was celebrating 70 years of existence. The car production was over 1 million units in Federal Germany and 302.000 people were working in the car industry. Germany was the 2nd largest car producer after U.S.A. Exports were flourishing, half of the cars made in Germany were sold abroad.

1961

The 40th edition of IAA was being organized at Frankfurt and knocked over all the existing records: 950.000 visitors. The car was becoming a mass phenomena and passenger safety was becoming a key factor. The seat-belt was one of the main attractions of the show.

1965

A Japanese brand participates for the first time at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

1969

The 44th edition of the show marked the recovery of the German automobile after a harsh economical time.

1977

The German car industry was knocking off a new record: 4 million cars were produced.

1981

The 49th edition was the first time that the reduced fuel consumption was beginning to play an important role in the car development.

1989

The last IAA edition that presented cars and other commercial vehicles. The show was becoming too small for both kinds of vehicles. Almost 2000 car manufactures were squeezed in 252.000 sqm. More than 1.2 million visitors were present. Because of the high demand for expositional space, the VDA have decided to organize two shows: one for cars and one for commercial vehicles.

1991

IAA is dividing. The odd years were years in which the Frankfurt Auto Show would be held and the other years were for Commercial Vehicles Show. The first show dedicated only for cars was a huge success, 1.271 car makers from 43 countries were displaying their creations on 200.000 sqm. Almost 1 million visitors were present.

1992

The first edition of the Commercial Vehicles had 1.284 car makers from 29 countries.

1999

The slogan for the last show of the millennia was „The automobile, future meeting place”. The car manufactures were starting to produce vehicles that were not harming the environment.

2001

The 9/11 terrorist attack on World Trade Center in New York was impacting the Frankfurt Auto Show. As a sign of respect for the victims of 9/11 the ceremonies that were programmed for the start of the show were cancelled. 800.000 people attended this silent show.

2003

The 60th edition of the show smashed all the previous records when it comes to visitors: over 1 million people attended the show making this edition the most visited since the 1991 edition. 2.000 car makers from 42 countries were present on 215.000 sqm.

2005

In this year the car makers presented the first hybrid cars (i.e. hydrogen, flex-fuel). 940.000 people attended.

2007

Almost 1 million people from 125 countries visited the show. CO2 emission reduction was the main objective of the car makers.

2009

Electricity was the word spoken by everyone on this edition. The majority of the car makers were developing electric powered cars.

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