BERLIN, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The world's leading automotive trade fair for commercial vehicles, the biannual IAA Commercial Vehicles in the German city of Hanover, opened its doors for the 67th time on Wednesday.
This year's exhibition takes place under the motto "Driving Tomorrow".
Speaking at the opening press conference on Tuesday, Bernhard Mattes, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), highlighted that the automotive industry was facing up to the great challenges of the future such as digitization, connectivity, automated driving, electric mobility and other alternative drive systems.
The trade fair includes 2,174 exhibitors from around 48 countries. In total, exhibitors present 435 global premieres for the commercial vehicle sector, a record figures for the IAA, on an area of 282,000 square meters.
The market for commercial vehicles in Germany is growing. On Sept. 14, VDA announced that a new sales record is expected for 2018. In August, 33,500 new vehicles were registered. This means an increase of 12 percent compared to last year and "thus the highest domestic sales ever measured in August," said VDA President Mattes.
The industrialization of electric mobility is happening, especially in the commercial vehicle sector, according to Mattes and he points out that IAA trade visitors can test drive over 35 models with alternative drive systems such as electric vehicles on the IAA exhibition grounds.
Germany's roads, railways and waterways transport 4.3 billion tons of goods annually, according to the German ministry of transport (BMVI). On long-distance haulage, however, electric drives quickly reach their limits for heavy transporters in particular, industry expert Stefan Bratzel told the German press agency (dpa). Engines that use liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) as an alternative fuel could serve as a substitute, Bratzel added.
Bosch, Germany's largest automotive supplier, also attaches great importance to electric mobility. Bosch announced at the IAA that in 2030 one in four commercial vehicles would be electrically powered. In China, the ratio would even be one in three by 2030.
The diesel engine, which has come under heavy pressure in the exhaust gas scandal from both public and political groups in Germany as well as internationally, would remain the most common engine type, according to Bosch. Between 80 and 90 percent of all commercial vehicles would still be powered by diesel engines in 2025.
VDA President Mattes describes the suggestion by the European Union to reduce CO2 emissions of heavy commercial vehicles as "anything but easy to implement". In May, the EU Commission submitted a proposal in order to reduce CO2 emissions of newly registered heavy commercial vehicles. The proposal seeks to lower emissions from vehicles like trucks by at least 30 percent compared to 2019 levels by 2030.
"The clean and efficient Euro VI diesel will remain the top dog economically and ecologically in heavy long-haul traffic for the time being," said Mattes.
