I am writing this two weeks after having visited INTERMOT in Cologne , Germany ( formerly the host event for the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building , since 2014 ), and two weeks before heading off to Milan for EICMA . As anticipated , INTERMOT was a shadow of its once mighty former self . It was three halls , each half full , instead of five ( large ) halls rammed with exhibitors . Indeed , there ' d generally always been a sixth too - taking the overflow and offering indoor electric vehicle testing and other industry activities and displays . Long before I decided to take up an invitation to stage the ' AMD ' at Cologne in Germany , I had always been a fierce advocate of the importance and quality of the show in that central German city . Before INTERMOT , Cologne had hosted IFMA - a joint bicycle and motorcycle industry expo - on an alternate annual basis , swapping with EICMA ( the ' Milan ' Show ), with both offering access to their very different but agenda-setting markets on a 24-month access cycle . The northern and southern European PTW ( Powered Two- Wheeler ) markets really are very , very different - they were then and , in reality , they still are today . It was a hugely satisfactory , even symbiotic state of affairs - one that worked well for the small and large displacement markets in Europe , and for the G & A , P & A and performance hard parts sectors . The ' Cologne Show ' dated from the early 1960s . The last one was in 1996 , after which the German motorcycle industry split from the bicycle market and , with two or three previously rival PTW trade associations burying their differences , one of the first things that the brand-new , shiny thing that was the IVM ( Industrie-Verband Motorrad Deutschland e . V . - the Motorcycle Industry Association in Germany ) had on its burgeoning agenda was to set about trying to find a new venue as an alternate to the by then outdated , linear architecture of the original Cologne expo center . The solution was the sweetheart deal that was on offer at the newly completed Munich expo center , and after four iterations / eight years for the new show brand at Munich , the IVM returned it to its spiritual home at a newly remodeled Koelnmesse ( Cologne exhibition center ) in 2006 . Unlike Munich , Cologne sits at the heart of the German motorcycle market . From recollection , some 70 % of German market new motorcycle registrations happen within a 500 km radius of Cologne . For a while back then , everything in the European exhibition garden was rosy . Until ANCMA , the Italian Motorcycle Industry Trade Association , responded to member complaints about the higher expo center costs at the new Fiera Milano Rho facility that EICMA had moved to , by announcing , then canceling , then announcing again that they would stage EICMA annually . I was at the press conference at INTERMOT , Munich , back in the early noughties , when the Italian trade association blindsided its fraternal industry colleagues in Germany by announcing that it would start to compete for the exhibitor Dollar by taking EICMA annual - without ever having discussed it with its German counterparts beforehand . That announcement caused a storm , and although the Italians had to initially agree to row the plan back , they eventually broke that agreement and went ahead with an annual frequency for ' Milan ' anyway . In truth , that decision sowed the seeds for a near death experience for one or the other , and it has only been a matter of time before one
70 % of German market registrations
of them succumbed . Though it took longer to have an effect in Europe than it did in the USA , the 2007-2009 financial crisis had a devastating effect on the market in Europe , with some 1.8 million annual PTW registrations collapsing to around 695,000 , with the decline not bottoming out until late 2014 . During that time , the attendance and exhibitor head count at both shows , but especially at INTERMOT , suffered badly . EICMA continued to draw from INTERMOT with bogus attendance numbers and a new international airport and routes sucked the life out of the one remaining USP that Cologne had traditionally had over Milan . By the time the pandemic hit and forced INTERMOT into a four-year cycle , the damage had largely already been done and when , as a trade association expo , you are faced with your own members ( effectively speaking the owners of the show ) refusing to continue to support it ( above all looking at you , BMW ), then it is going to take a massive injection of capital and a huge sea change in the digital direction of travel for northern Europe ' s showcase to re-invent itself . Sadly , one northern European rider is worth any ten of those that visit EICMA in terms of miles / kilometres ridden and products bought and consumed , but it was shocking just what a " who cares " shrug of the shoulders that argument got from some of the so-called senior German vendors when I called them out for failing to stand up for their home market showcase . Factor in the massive tech change that the industry is trying to get its arms around , the chronic economics of a continent with steepling energy bills and the little matter of a war to contend with , then even matters such as inventory , supply chain and logistics issues , plus the ' mega-flation ' consumers are having to grapple with , make the specialty consumer industry expo ecosystem one of the last places you ' d want to be investing your money . There had been a slew of so-called new initiatives that were supposed to take a brave newly imagined show concept into a bright new future , including the only superficially camouflaged decision to allow vendors to retail to show visitors . Personally , I saw little evidence of them though . With event attendances the world over in meltdown , I guess it is no surprise that so many people in the European motorcycle industry are figuring that this was the last INTERMOT . In fact , an October 2024 date has been announced , and the never very good Expo Center PR machine is trying to talk it up as a triumphant return to doing business ' in person '. However , if they took a careful look at their social media feeds , then they too would probably be likely to conclude that the sands of time have run out for the show as presently conceived . I always like to bring something nice home for my partner whenever I ' fly solo ', and I ' m pleased to say that I was able to bring her something - a nice bunch of Tumbleweed !
Robin Bradley
Co-owner / Editor-in-Chief robin @ dealer-world . com
4 AFTERMARKET MOTO DESIGN - NOVEMBER 2022 www . AMDchampionship . com