Stuttgart, 28.04.2010

TROST-SCHAU 2010: A great success despite of the flight ban

You’ll never walk alone – was the motto of the 13thTROST-SCHAU that took place in Stuttgart from 17th to 18th April - underlining the spirit of the upcoming World Soccer Championship in South Africa.

The motto also went well with the first common fair by TROST and TROST-KSM. After the merger in 2009, the former KSM ServiceTechnik had changed its company name effective as of 01 April 2010 and joined the TROST-SCHAU as a co-organiser for the first time. It was only the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull and the entailed flight ban that prevented even more TROST-KSM customers from Northern Germany to visit the fair.

The flight ban also affected some TROST companies in Eastern Europe, but not everybody got stopped by it. Without hesitation, the TROST staff from the Ukraine for instance took their cars and travelled the distance of about 2,000 kilometres from Kiev to Stuttgart.

On the more than 26,000 m2 space dedicated to the TROST-SCHAU, more than 252 exhibitors presented their range in the field of spare parts for passenger cars and commercial vehicles, tools, workshop equipment and services - and were more than ready to answer any question raised by the interested visitors. The personal and practical guidance and consultation focusing on the product or technical device in question was certainly in the foreground. Both, exhibitors and workshop owners were more than satisfied with the results.

TROST presented not less than three highlights on the fair:

repQ - Together with the DEKRA, TROST have worked hard to establish the ISO Certification for workshops according to DIN 9001:2008. Joachim Trost(Member of the Board, TROST AUTO SERVICE TECHNIK SE) and Jörg Mannsperger (DEKRA AG Board Member) handed out the ISO certificates to the owners of the first workshops succeeding in the certification process.

autoservice.com – The unique online marketplace for workshops and drivers brings together workshop services and customer queries. On autoservice.com, workshops can present themselves to the customer, offer and promote their services individually and react to customer queries directly.

repdoc App – repdoc Catalogue for iPhone™ is the mobile variant of TROST's repdoc catalogue for Windows®. The iPhone™ App is ideally suited to access millions of entries referring to article and vehicle data, to check a spare part's availability and to place orders. In the Windows® version, the electronic information system repdoc covers all needs that occur during the daily business routine -not only as a parts and technology catalogue, but also as a modern workshop management software.

The highlight of the fair certainly was the TROST-SCHAU PARTY 2010 with almost 7,000 guests (in a separate trade fair hall). The mood was terrific and nothing could spoil the party, not even the missing top act, i. e. the performance of "Kool & the Gang". The band was stuck in the USA - due to cancelled flights. But, the musicians of DJ Vince could save the day delivering an entertaining and excellent performance. In line with this year's motto, the outstanding buffet got a touch of South Africa. All in all, it was an evening to remember.

Also during the day, fun for children of all ages did not miss out in the year of the World Soccer Championship. Champions were nominated everywhere - let it be for playing foosball against real world champions or just colleagues, let it be the goal wall shooting or soccer rodeo.

The TROST AUTO SERVICE TECHNIK SE Board is utterly satisfied with the result of the fair. "We are very proud that - also this year - we achieved to gather the industry under one umbrella. We would like to thank all business partners and customers for their confidence."