The industry came together at long, long last at the Collision Repair Expo in Melbourne between 7-9 April after a three year hiatus.
It was awesome to see so many repairers from all over the country attend the Expo. The show started off well in terms of attendance but was very quiet on Thursday afternoon. Friday and Saturday were much busier.
There was a robust program of seminars which took place on the exhibition floor for the first time. They weren’t very well attended which was a shame as there was some great information to be mined from them. Crashzone held a breakfast on Friday morning which focussed on recruitment and staff retention.
The line between the AAAA show and CRE becomes more and more blurred as so much of the equipment displayed in AAAA finds its way into the collision repair world such as diagnostics, wheel alignment and ADAS calibration to name but a few.
Melbourne’s Crown Palladium provided the incredible venue for an epic finale to the opening day of the Auto Aftermarket Expo and Collision Repair Expo.
A major highlight of the Expo for many: the AAAA Awards banquet evening, saw an all-time record of 880 industry guests come to celebrate and recognise excellence in the automotive aftermarket industry across a wide range of award categories.
“I am so incredibly proud of the resilience of our industry to achieve success through unprecedented times including the pandemic and recent floods. To see so many individuals and companies awarded for their manufacturing, marketing success and industry contributions with these coveted awards was a sight to behold,” said Stuart Charity, CEO of the Australian Auto Aftermarket Association.
“I’d like to congratulate all of the award winners. I’d like to particularly acknowledge our two Hall of Fame inductees, David Fraser – Group CEO of Capricorn Society, and Anthony Kittel - Managing Director of REDARC for their distinguished and successful careers in the industry.”
There were plenty of parties being hosted by industry suppliers (the Paint & Panel team selflessly went to as many as possible) with everyone agreeing how great it feels that we are nearly ‘back to normal’.
The jury was out as to whether the Grand Prix, which was on at the same time as the show, boosted numbers or inhibited them. The organisers hadn’t released visitor numbers at the time of posting this story but they were obviously impacted by COVID with many people having to isolate.
In terms of equipment there was a smorgasbord on offer with CRE sponsors SAPE putting on a stunning exhibit across multiple stands. As well as many equipment suppliers it was good to catch up with the crews at Car Craft and Fix Auto.
The Paint & Panel photographer and videographer is preparing a number of video reports which we will release over the coming weeks online.