Frankfurt Show Opens

The big Frankfurt car show (IAA) opened yesterday, with the Chancellor attending. 

Naturally, it was delayed for a while while demonstrators were at the front door. 

Oh, then you had the Chancellor walking around and doing a tour, when suddenly the protest guys showed up (within 10 meters of Merkel), and the security team reacted quickly. 

The protest folks?  Mostly anti-capitalists, anti-diesel cars, anti-gas cars, pro-environmentalists, etc. 

The Chancellor's chatter about e-cars coming?  Not good enough, and not fast enough for the environmentalists.  Part of this slow trend revolves the cost level, and most middle-class people just laugh because they won't go and spend 50k to 70k Euro on an e-car.

The end of the car tradition in Frankfurt?  Most people are now convinced of that.

How many people attend this?  The numbers talked about are in the 810k range for the show (HR stat's).  The expo hall numbers for other shows?  Well, the second best expo that occurs in Frankfurt is the book show.....with 285,000 visitors.  The light and building expo?  It's around 220,000 visitors.  The music expo?  A mere 85,000 visitors. 

So here's the blunt trouble approaching.  If this is the last IAA show in Frankfurt.....it leaves a big dent in commerce, and there's literally nothing that can replace the lost revenue.

For this ten-day period, and the three weeks leading up to the show....there's tons of money pouring in via the car companies.  Hotels are selling rooms.  Private catering is going on for parties.  The expo hires up local folks to handle security and support operations.  Millions in revenue float through Frankfurt.  Even the brothels in town see a upturn in profits in this period. 

The anti-car attitude and the pro-environmental behavior?  It's now a problem for commercial shows like this, and companies don't want the hassle or negative press coverage. 

After watching the coverage on regional public TV last night....I'm not even convinced that another German city will get IAA.  I think this is the end of car shows in general.....within Germany.