02.10.2019 / Comunicado de prensa
A fast start to the show: Three weeks before Automechanika Frankfurt 2026 opened its doors, the MAST 2.0 demo rides for the first three days were already fully booked. By the end of the event, MAHA had completed nearly 100 demo rides, hosted 30 live shows and celebrated a newly crowned Innovation Award winner. The strong response at the stand became apparent early on: By the second day alone, the number of leads generated had already exceeded the total achieved during the entire 2024 trade fair week.
Frankfurt am Main, 16th September 2026. Around 4,400 exhibitors from more than 80 countries turned Frankfurt into an international meeting place for the automotive aftermarket for five days. Right at the heart of it all: the largest stand in Hall 8. Across around 1,300 m² on two levels, MAHA presented vehicle testing and lifting technology, 14 innovations and a trade fair concept designed to be experienced, explored and joined from the passenger seat.
Climb in and experience it
This was particularly evident with MAST 2.0. Nearly 100 scheduled and additional demo rides allowed visitors to experience functional testing of advanced driver assistance systems directly from inside the vehicle. The regular slots for the first three days of the show had already been fully booked three weeks before the event began.
Just a few metres away, MAIA demonstrated its capabilities in action – on passenger cars and, for the first time, on trucks. The autonomous inspection assistant also started the show with an award: On the opening day, MAIA won the 2026 Automechanika Innovation Award in the “Smart Workshop & Service Solutions” category.
The two developments were by far the most discussed future-focused technologies at the stand – and at the same time much more than trade fair exhibits. Delivery of the first MAIA pilot series is scheduled for the end of 2027, followed by the regular market launch in mid-2028. MAST 2.0 is expected to reach series-production status for periodic vehicle inspection in 2029. For vehicle manufacturers as well as testing and development applications, the current version is already available as a custom-built special-purpose system and is in active use.
But the Innovation Boulevard went further. With the new hydraulic MA STAR H 4.5 two-post lift with wireless remote control, the OmniTread Scan system for full-surface tread-depth measurement, and ActiveBrake Pro for brake testing on vehicles with electronic parking brakes and all-wheel drive, MAHA presented further approaches for future workshop and inspection processes. Among the 14 innovations on display, these are some of the developments with particularly tangible market potential.
30 live shows take the stage
Seven times a day, moderator Tobias Witton joined MAHA experts to put products, applications and future technologies in the spotlight – a total of 30 live shows over five days. A large curved LED wall in the service area, two additional LED displays around MAST, along with numerous screens and digital product displays, extended the physical exhibits into the digital space.
A broad cross-section of the MAHA Group was also on site for direct exchange with visitors: the management team, sales staff, representatives from the 20 international subsidiaries, product management, research and development, service and marketing – complemented by numerous German and international dealers.
Two levels, one meeting place
While innovations, live demos and products took centre stage on the main floor, the upper level provided space for personal conversations. In the lounge and entertainment area, customers, partners and MAHA teams from around the world met over coffee, refreshments and food – with time for discussions away from the hustle and bustle of the trade fair.
The show day ends. The conversations don’t.
The stand remained lively even after the exhibition halls had closed. On all four evenings, discussions continued well beyond the official show hours. At the International Evening on Wednesday alone, MAHA welcomed more than 200 invited guests.
This kind of dialogue also plays a decisive role in the way MAHA develops new technologies. “In Frankfurt, we deliberately put concepts on the stand whose path has not yet been fully defined. We want to hear from the market what is genuinely needed before investing millions in industrialisation. MAIA and MAST 2.0 show how this kind of input can develop into concrete solutions. If you only present finished products, you learn very little about what the market will need five years from now,” says Dr Peter Geigle, CEO of the MAHA Group.
What MAHA takes away from five days in Frankfurt is therefore above all concrete feedback, new impulses and countless conversations about what the vehicle inspection of tomorrow will require.
