Techno Classica in Essen will be easily defying the economic crisis with over 170,000 expected visitors.

The Techno Classica in Essen will be easily defying the economic crisis 7-11 April 2010. Over 170,000 visitors from 40+ countries are expected to visit this year’s show, which will be even more attractive and spectacular than past shows.

Over 1,000 exhibitors, from more than 30 countries, including Spain, Argentina, France, Sweden, Portugal, the USA and Italy are expected to cover 110,000 square meters of exhibition space, divided over 20 different halls.

More than 300 car dealers will offer no less than 2,500 vintage, classic, young timers and prestige automobiles for sale. This year, 200+ clubs will participate, transforming the Techno Classica Essen into the biggest classic car club forum in the world.

The manufacturers, a.o. Mercedes Benz,  BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Ford, Alfa Romeo, Seat, Citroën, Peugeot, Volvo, Ferrari, Bentley and Bugatti appreciate the drawing power of the Techno Classica Essen, too. Traditionally the Techno Classica Essen provides the world’s largest forum for the major carmakers to stage their – usually very spectacular and elaborate – presentations of their historic cars and relay their message to a global public. And despite the slowdown in the automobile industry, nothing has changed in 2010.

This year again, all the major carmakers are going all out to impress the public with their historic presentations, despite drastic belt-tightening in other areas – showing that they recognize the historic dimension as an important economic factor.

More and more people are discovering that classic cars are a sound investment. And, compared to securities and gold, they have one inestimable benefit, besides the promise of good profits – their owners can indulge in the sheer pleasure of driving them, secure in the knowledge that they have a crisis-proof investment stashed away in the garage. And this is borne out by figures recently published by the ‘Verband der Automobilindustrie’, Germany’s automobile industry association. According to the Deutsche Oldtimer Index (DOX) set up in cooperation with Classic Data, vintage and classic cars are a safe investment – with a 73% increase in value over ten years. And the trend shows no signs of slowing down.

Techno Classica Essen also attracts collectors of automotive art and paper memorabilia, paintings, posters, brochures and other kinds of literature. With some 30 art dealers, 40 professional suppliers of paper memorabilia, and many automobilia sellers, visitors will be able to entertain themselves with a range of products that exceeds those available at other shows in terms of both quantity and quality. Many dealers prefer to offer their classic products for sale via the classic sales channels rather than on the internet. Which gives the Techno Classica Essen the edge over on-line sales. Visitors who take the time to browse are likely to discover some rare gem that would never make it to the world wide web.