For more than 20 years, TECHNO-CLASSICA is the world's largest classic car dealership during the days of the show: there is no other vintage car show with more collectors' vehicles, vintage cars, young classic cars and prestige automobiles offered for sale under one umbrella than the world classic show in Essen. Also this year, more than 2,500 vehicles are on sale at TECHNO-CLASSICA. Renowned dealers from all over the world, just as private vendors, offer an unsurpassed range of historic automobiles for discerning enthusiasts - from world top-class to everyday classic cars.

At TECHNO-CLASSICA, the share of international automobile vendors has continuously and strongly increased in the last years. In particular the professionals from the BeNeLux countries and Great Britain value the German market as the territory with the strongest growth - and in the recent past, more and more dealers from North and South America came along. They have registered with attention that there is no other classic show in the world with more cars being sold; that there is no other classic show in the world with a higher sales rate; and that they are in a good environment, because there is no other world classic show with a more international range of dealers.

The internationality and the appearance of a large part of the most renowned classic dealers have strongly positive side effects. Classic dealers who are exclusively offering top automobiles, such as for example Lukas Hüni from Switzerland, Hall & Hall from Great Britain, Axel Schütte from Germany, RM Classics from Canada and the USA as well as La Galerie des Damiers from France* - to mention only a few of them - give proof of the high class of automobile offering. "There is no need to bring second-class cars to TECHNO-CLASSICA, they have no chance there", writes a renowned classic dealer in an Internet chat. With his assessment, he hits the nail on the head.

* Please find an extract of the dealership list in the annex to this chapter

Competition stimulates business - and encourages dealers to show the treasures which otherwise are offered to special customers only.

Next to the expected success for sales, S.I.H.A., the organiser of TECHNO-CLASSICA, provides another incentive to show top quality: the best automobile will be chosen from among the professional selection: Each year, S.I.H.A. awards a trophy - "Best of Show" - sponsored by Apollo-Vredestein, for the overall most beautiful, noble and rare classic car of the entire dealership selection.

An international jury of experts, competent journalists and designers - chooses along with the overall winner also some category winners, such as the most beautiful convertible at TECHNO-CLASSICA. A win is not combined with prize money, however, money cannot buy the ultimate value of the trophy and the gain in image for the dealer.

Quality and quantity both are at home at TECHNO-CLASSICA: where in the world can classic enthusiasts inspect classic cars of daily use, such as Porsche 356, Jaguar XK type, Mercedes-Benz "Pagoda" or exclusive collector's cars such as Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, 540 K, Ferrari 250 GT, Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 or Lamborghini Miura with several examples - quasi-sorted according to colour - at one single location? The answer: Nowhere else except for TECHNO-CLASSICA. The international classic world market is gathered here in close proximity.

Also large international classic auction houses have found out that TECHNO-CLASSICA with its demanding visitors is a good platform for the presentation of their programmes, services, stock and their auctions. Therefore, renowned auction houses present themselves at TECHNO-CLASSICA, such as Coys from Great Britain, RM Auctions from Canada, Artcurial from France, Osenat also from France, and Lankes from Stuttgart and Seidel & Friedrich from Ladenburg.

After the four successful auctions in 2008 to 2011, the renowned British classic dealer and auctioneer Coys will again organise a spectacular auction with 50 to 60 high-quality collectors' automobilia this year. The date is Saturday, 24th March 2012. The preview and bidder registration will be from the opening hours of the show at the big Coys stand in hall 12, and a date for a night sale is planned for TECHNO-CLASSICA Sunday. The auction catalogue, which is available at the Coys stand, will serve as a ticket for preview, auction and after-sales.

Due to the large selection and to the performance of all important dealers, TECHNO-CLASSICA, along with its function as the globally most important classic trade centre, also has the effect of a business indicator: market fluctuations are immediately sensed here. The trend for this year is clearly seen: unimpressed by any economic and financial crises, the global classic market shows a distinct upwards trend. Constantly increasing sales prices - in particular for exquisite collector's items - signal a stable boom. Extreme example this year: at the Gooding auction in Scottsdale on 20th/21st January, one of only 29 Mercedes-Benz 300SL with aluminium body built, achieved 4.6 million Dollars, equalling about 3.5 million Euro - a world record. Therefore, the rarity surpassed the estimated price of the auction house of 2.5 to 3.5 million Dollars by more than one million Dollars!