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NATRE
Latin Expo Group Puts NATRE Plans on Hold
The North American Tire and Retread Expo opened its doors between April 19-21 at the
Ernest N Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the third
successive year that the show was held in the city they call the Big Easy, but in the light of dwindling exhibitor support, exhibition organiser Gustavo Lima has now decided it is time to re-evaluate the format for the event. Lima had announced
during the exhibition, that in 2018 the show would be held in Nashville, Tennessee, but these plans have now been put on hold.
In a discussion with this magazine at the show, Lima explained the thinking behind the initial decision to relocate to Nashville; “Our vision is of a stand-alone tyre and retread show for the North American market, where professionals can come to have discussions and to do business. We have been supported in this endeavour by Crains who have put together a fantastic educational conference. However, unfortunately the show has not really received the support of the industry at large. Our thinking is that a move to Nashville will be beneficial because there are a lot of tyre manufacturers in that area and we are hoping that we will get more support from dealers.” Indeed, one of the key benefits of running a tyre show in a location such as Nashville is that is driveable for a very large proportion of tyre dealers and retreaders in the US. Interestingly, Lima’s other show in Panama attracts widespread support from the Chinese tyre industry, and whatever the retread sector thinks of the Chinese, it has been proven time and time again throughout the world that good support from the Chinese is essential if a show is going to work in terms of financial viability and in terms of footfall. There were only a few tyre companies from China supporting the show this year, a fact which Lima put down to the threat of impending anti-dumping legislation against the Chinese. Says Lima; “The retread industry and the Chinese tyre