AMPA Time Once Again in Taipei in May

The 20th Taipei Int'l Auto/Motorcycle Parts & Accessories Show 2004 (TAIPEI AMPA 2004), the largest auto/motorcycle parts and accessory show in Asia and considered among the top three in the world, will be held on May 24-27 in Taipei featuring a record number of exhibitors and booths.

The show's organizer is the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, formerly China External Trade Development Council--CETRA), with the Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers' Association (TTVMA) and Taiwan Rubber Industries Association (TRIA) as co-organizers. According to TAITRA, TAIPEI AMPA 2004 is expected to bring together about 800 exhibitors and feature about 2,100 booths, a 36% increase over the last event.

"TAIPEI AMPA has long been the largest auto/motorcycle parts show in the Asia-Pacific region and has been playing a key regional-hub role as an integrated transaction platform for buyers and exhibitors worldwide," says TAIPEI AMPA project manager Judy Lo. "Most exhibitors and industry professionals consider TAIPEI AMPA to be one of the world's top three fairs in the field," adds marketing manager Christie Huang, "especially in terms of its specialization in auto/motorcycle parts and accessories."

Growing Fast

While TAIPEI AMPA was cancelled in 2003 due to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the 2002 show attracted 588 exhibitors, up 2% from the previous year, and had 1,540 booths, a 5% gain from the 2001 event. About 3,900 registered foreign buyers visited the show during the 2002 event, up about 20% from the previous session, while general attendance reached about 20,000 people.

In order to accommodate its rapid growth, TAIPEI AMPA 2004 will expand its exhibition space from the main floor of the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) Exhibition Hall 1 to the newly expanded show floor on the second level ("Area H") at the venue as well as the entire Exhibition Hall 3 nearby.

Huang says TAIPEI AMPA 2004 will serve as one of the best available one-stop sourcing centers for automobile and motorcycle parts and accessories, joining both leading-edge and nuts-and-bolts items at one venue. Everything from complete engines, parts and accessories, power trains, tires and tubes and brakes to lights and signals, finished motorcycles, and auto/motorcycle frames will be found at the fair. Major trade-media groups will also have booths at the annual event.

At a time when other major trade shows in Taiwan are losing business to counterpart events in mainland China, Huang says that TAIPEI AMPA has been expanding rapidly in the past few years. "The growing number of pre-registered foreign buyers indicates how important TAIPEI AMPA has become as a sourcing hub in this line," Huang says. She predicts that about 5,000 buyers from around the world will attend TAIPEI AMPA 2004, up from about 4,000 in 2002.

According to TAITRA, the foreign buyers at the 2002 event came mostly from Asia (60%). The rest were from North America (15%), Europe (9%), the Middle East (6%), Oceania (5%), Latin America (3%), and Africa (2%). Japanese buyers topped the list, accounting for about 22% of the foreign buyer turnout.

According to feedback from foreign buyers, Huang says, TAIPEI AMPA's leading role in Asia will not be easily challenged by rival shows in mainland China or even Automechanika Asia in Thailand, which was launched two years ago.

TAIPEI AMPA 2004 is also attracting more and more big local makers with international brand reputations, says Lo. In the past, most of the leading companies in Taiwan were absent from the fair due to the limited exhibition space, she explains, but the expanded venue and rising prominence of the fair is drawing their attention.

Service First

TAITRA has been working hard to upgrade the services it provides to buyers and exhibitors at TAIPEI AMPA, says Lo. This year, the show manager claims, TAITRA will offer a NT$2,000 (US$58 at US$1:NT$34) hotel-discount coupon for the first 600 registered foreign buyers, redeemable at 19 hotels near the TWTC. It will also set up four new business centers at the show to provide free e-mail and facsimile services as well as drinks and desserts. Additional shuttle buses will run from TWTC Exhibition Hall to various Taipei Hotels.

Another important service is, according to Huang, the addition of a "make an appointment" function in the "Exhibitor Search" section of the official TAIPEI AMPA website (www.TaipeiTradeShows.com.tw/Ampa). This service will make it easy for foreign buyers to set up appointments with targeted exhibitors.


For further information on TAIPEI AMPA 2004, please contact the show organizer: Ms. Judy Lo, Project Manager, e-mail: ampa@cetra.org.tw; or Ms. Christie Huang, Marketing Manager, e-mail: christie@cetra.org.tw; Tel: 886-2-2725-1111 Ext: 612, 615

Fax: 886-2-27251959.