Motor show in Geneva

MOTOR SHOW GENEVA – Sleek design, sparkling rims and a carefully applied car polish: This year again, the pimped luxury car models from the international manufacturers fascinated thousands of exhibition visitors that have petrol in their veins. STILL played a major role in allowing the powerful show to start at all. 

The Geneva motor show is traditionally the first European motor show of the year and by now is one of the most important shows to present the international car models. This year alone, the Palexbo exhibition centre in Geneva exhibited around 900 car models and more than 130 world and European premieres.

In addition, the traditional brand Borgward and the sonorous body version Pullman by Mercedes celebrated their comeback. Over 1 000 heavily loaded lorries were to be unloaded in advance of the mega event. At the forefront: Rental trucks from STILL. A STILL expert team from Germany coordinated the delivery as well as the service for trucks, pedestrian trucks and working platforms.

Reliable construction assistants

There is a lot of construction work to be done in Geneva: The overall hall area of the exhibition grounds extends over ten soccer fields. Noisy knocking and hammering can be heard everywhere. 40 lorries will be supplied by DB Schenker for the Porsche exhibition stand alone. On the platform the orange of the STILL pedestrian trucks shines up everywhere. These manoeuvrable EGV pedestrian high lift trucks are valuable as they overcome the chaos of blocked surfaces and are indispensable when transporting pressboard or mounting platform steel beams. 

Take a look around and you see the diesel-electric RX 70 trucks from STILL everywhere. The manoeuvrable and powerful trucks are not only used to load and unload lorries, but also for steel installation and other exhibition jobs due to their precise mast behaviour. Placing the luxury car models on the rotating stages and platforms of the exhibition stands, requires a lot of power and absolute precision – exactly the right job for the powerful diesel-electric STILL RX 70-50 trucks. Matthias Kaufmann, Team Leader DHL Trade Fairs & Events, appears to be satisfied: "We rented 33 industrial trucks from STILL for the motor show in Geneva. By means of the good collaboration with the STILL expert team in the international rental business so far, we allowed the STILL contract partner, Manutention & Chariots, to also carry out the maintenance and service." 

Kühne & Nagel Expo & Event Logistics Project Manager, Andrej Volcic, confirms this statement and emphasises: "With the manoeuvrable STILL trucks we have unloaded around 300 lorries: almost 15 000 cubic metres! Although we rent the trucks directly from the freight forwarder Pelichet on site, the STILL rental and service team takes over the truck maintenance and service. If a truck suddenly breaks down, Markus Altenhövel or Oliver Hoffmann are only one call away."

Fewer interfaces, less problems

With the STILL rental fleet of over 24 000 units in 18 countries and the corresponding working platforms, almost every truck with every attachment is available at short notice in each location. For the Head of DB Schenker Corporate Fairs & Exhibitions, Rolf Brosius, this is a crucial benefit: "No matter whether Detroit, Geneva, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing or Frankfurt: We take part in every big motor show. The bureaucratic burden for international truck rental was simply too high for us in the past. Now, in times of full service rental, STILL takes care of all papers, procedures and the maintenance of the trucks."

In addition to the trucks and pedestrian trucks, it is also possible to rent working platforms when they are required. "Only one point of contact for all units, who arranges anything, that means fewer interfaces and thus less problems. This service is indispensable, especially abroad", Brosius concludes.

Internationally customised

The rental offers for trucks abroad are customised in cooperation with the subsidiaries to match the specific requirements on the spot. STILL Key Account Manager Markus Altenhövel: "At the Mondial de l‘Automobile in Paris we have deployed 25 of our own trucks in cooperation with STILL France. For the construction alone, 159 working platforms and five material lifts were additionally rented from French rental branches." In case of technical problems at the Geneva motor show, the respective service is provided by the local Geneva partner and STILL dealer Manutention & Chariots. "The Otelfinger STILL branch near Zurich is just too far away in case of an emergency", says Altenhövel.

Customers appreciate that Altenhövel leaves nothing to chance. At the start of the fair, he visited all rental customers on the exhibition grounds in person, together with the Directeur of Manutention & Chariots, Didier van Leemput, and a technician to make sure everything runs smooth.

Everything from one source

The reliable truck technology and transparent costs are certainly strong arguments for the full service truck rental. However, not less important from the international customer's point of view: Everything from one source with only a single point of contact! Matthias Kaufmann from DHL appreciates this very much, he emphasises: "In the last year, we already gained very good experience with STILL on the Mondial de l‘Automobile in Paris and here, on the Geneva motor show, we continue this successful cooperation. On the biggest motor show, the IAA in Frankfurt, we would like to extend this partnership."