The press conference of the 16th International Commercial Vehicle Show COMTRANS has been held on February 17th, 2021 in Moscow. The speakers included the exhibition organisers and their major partners. The press conference hosted all key industrial media focused on the automotive industry and the Russian automotive market.
The press conference speakers:
Igor Korovkin, the Executive Director of the OAR Association:
“Speaking about COMTRANS, we together with ITEMF Expo run this exhibition since 2007 года, continuously developing and advancing it. This exhibition, this format allows showcasing the whole range of commercial vehicle models – from the well-known to the innovative ones… We actively prepare for COMTRANS and regularly following it up at the chairing meetings of our association, understanding that the exhibition gives the maximum opportunities to demonstrate your advantages right next to your direct competitors… and this is very important. We expect a very interesting and intense year, and COMTRANS is the highest point of 2021 for marketing and public communications of the automotive industry.”
Maksim Gorin, the Head of Transport Communications Development, The City of Moscow Department for Transport and Road Infrastructure Development:
“I would like to tell you on behalf of the Department: we intensively support COMTRANS and BUSWORLD. For the area I am responsible for, those are the major sources of innovative ideas, a perfect opportunity to see the vehicles offered by our suppliers, see the developments from international parties, generate new ideas and concepts. We are currently busy with the advancement of ground passenger transportation in our city with the third generation of electric buses. Our major suppliers – GAZ Group and KAMAZ have seriously updated the technology of those. I can also disclose our future plans – the Russian President told us to go ahead with the implementation of the hydrogen technology project, and we will not use the hydrogen as a replacement for heat engines but upgrading existing electric buses by replacing the used electric cells with hydrogen ones. This approach will further improve sustainability because we will manage the full process including recycling of the used batteries. Coming back to the exhibition, it gives us a platform for sharing new experiences. A lot of professionals visit it from other regions and countries, they see our progress in the development of electric transport and we handle there a large flow of inquiries.”
Norair Bludyan, the Chairman of the TAMA Association:
“We are involved in the organization of COMTRANS together with ITEMF Expo on behalf of the City of Moscow transport and the automotive market of the whole Moscow Agglomeration. Our mission is to ensure the exhibition provides a platform for both showcasing vehicles and communication between manufacturers and end-users. At COMTRANS 2019, we have held a serious event together with the Inter-Industry Advisory Council (MOEK) which represents all major commercial fleet operators. This year we will definitely organize a similar event again together with the largest end-users. I have no doubt about the success of the exhibition and believe that the online can hardly replace the offline in the future. Where there is an opportunity for live communication and a place for live discussions, it is priceless. I wish there are no more such challenges in our country…”
Maksim Kadakov, the Chief Editor of ‘Za rulem’ magazine:
The ‘Za rulem’ Publishing this year opens a new page in its history. We announce the Grand Prix for the commercial vehicles. The award ceremony will take place at COMTRANS 2021. The contest has a number of categories – we will distinguish winners in light, mid-range, heavy trucks, large and small buses, trailers and semi-trailers, special and utility vehicles. Unlike our passenger car Grand Prix where all our subscribers and readers vote as potential consumers, this contest will involve only professionals – those who sell commercial vehicles and the end-users. This will exactly match the current situation in the Russian commercial automotive market. I believe most market participants are interested – for small and large fleet owners and operators, the award will become another marker, another signal of what to purchase, why this model, and why the winner’s vehicle is better than others’ who have not won the Prix… The power of ‘Za rulem’ Publishing with our ‘Za rulem’ and ‘Reis’ magazines subscription base allows communicating the contest to the whole country. Moreover, we will deploy all our digital resources which are huge – we involve not only premium vehicle range audience but also plenty of those interested in low-end and mid-range segments. The whole Russian automotive community will be covered, which, to my opinion, gives us an advantage over what has been available in previous years. This is why the OEMs should be interested and we will do our best to make it large-scale, beautiful, and interesting.”
Dmitry Potseluevsky, the Chief Editor of ‘Reis’ magazine:
“In our archive, we have a unique first issue of ‘Za rulem’ magazine from 1928. You can believe it or not, but the whole magazine is about trucks! Since that time, we never weakened our interest in the commercial vehicle market. In 2007 we have launched the business magazine ‘Reis’ focused on those who forward freight and serve passengers. We trust the feedback from these professionals and believe they are competent in using and assessing the vehicles. Thanks to these 14 years we have become friends with many of those. Our joint experience includes, for example, test drives where we test components, units, tires, lubricants with their real vehicles. The whole these 14 we have been thinking to make this experience available for all our communication channels and, moreover, to create a rating system out of it. Probably we missed a strong single platform attracting the fleet owners, while our country is large, and they are spread over a huge territory. Cooperation with COMTRANS gives an opportunity not only to award the winners but immediately continue live communications between the nominees and end-users right at the exhibition. That is why I believe most Russian fleet owners will benefit from the cooperation of the largest publisher and the largest trade show.”
About the exhibition
COMTRANS is the largest in Russia and Eastern Europe commercial vehicle show, included in the official calendar of the accredited events by the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA). COMTRANS is traditionally supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, the Department of Transport and Development of Road and Transport Infrastructure of Moscow City, the Transport Association of the Moscow Agglomeration (TAMA), the Association of European Businesses (AEB). COMTRANS features a 4-day intensive program on the COMTRANS Arena including panel discussions, industrial award ceremony, and other professional content. Speakers and moderators are leading automotive and transport industry experts, top executives of Russian and International manufacturers, representatives of the Russian federal ministries, the Moscow city government, other regulatory bodies, and industry associations. Admission to the COMTRANS Arena is free for all COMTRANS visitors and exhibitors.
Organizers
