Frankfurt show tightens security amid activism
INTERNATIONAL NEWS/ Under fire from car-hating protesters, the organisers say the event is actually green, writes Michael Taylor
Threats of environmental activism have clouded the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, but organisers insist the event is pointing the way to a sustainable future rather than a harmful past.
The German auto industry association, the VDA, which runs the show, says the event will showcase mostly electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell EVs and future innovations, rather than high-powered sports cars and autobahn burners.
The show, which opens next week, is stepping up security checks to prepare for potential disruption by climate activists who are calling for people to join anti-car protests.
Police are already probing a group calling itself Rocks in the Gearbox after more than 40 luxury
vehicles were vandalised at a car dealership in Kronberg on the outskirts of Frankfurt last week, adding to a string of antiauto protests.
Environmental groups, including Rocks in the Gearbox, have appealed to the public to join protests in Frankfurt on September 14, prompting the VDA to warn car-show visitors to expect longer queues at security checkpoints.
Rocks in the Gearbox released a statement saying: “Frankfurt will once again launch a propaganda show where the outmoded, climate and environment destroying transportation system is hyped.
“We want to expose this show for what it really is: profits made on the backs of the poorest and at the expense of future generations We think it is time to throw rocks into the gearbox of capitalist and automotive profit logic.”
The VDA sought to defuse anti-car sentiment by inviting environmental activists from Greenpeace and Deutsche Umwelthilfe to a panel discussion in Berlin, where they along with executives from Daimler and BMW and the VDA will discuss the climate crisis and mobility of the future.
“We will make our contribution to climate protection and invest massively in sustainable individual mobility,” VDA president Bernhard Mattes told a media conference this week, while being heavily protected by riot police.
“We wish to provide intelligent answers to the most urgent questions about the future of mobility,” he said.
“We are experiencing a transformation from the world’s largest car showroom to the most relevant platform. A trend can be seen among all the major exhibitions: the relevant point is no longer the size of the area, but the extent of the media reach,” he said.
Mattes invited activists to attend the summit to understand the direction change in the newcar market.
Once the world’s largest motor show, the Frankfurt Motor Show has seen a large number of its usual display areas cut down. Its attendance peaked at 1.2-million visitors, with 2,000 exhibitors, in 1989.
It has cut exhibition space from 200,000m² in 2017 to just 168,000 in 2019, while Fiat, Aston Martin, Cadillac, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru are among the major carmakers skipping the show.
There will still be plenty of new-product reveals, including the Volkswagen ID.3 EV, the Porsche Taycan EV, MercedesBenz’s EQV electric van, BMW’s 8 Series GranCoupe, 3 Series wagon, M8 and X6, and Mini’s Cooper SE EV.