From sustainable innovation and artificial intelligence to robotics, motorsport and the next generation of automotive talent, Automechanika Frankfurt 2026 offers a glimpse into the future of mobility.
Automechanika Frankfurt 2026 brings together almost every part of the automotive world. Manufacturers, suppliers, workshops, refinishing specialists, technology companies and young professionals meet in Frankfurt to exchange ideas, present new solutions and discuss the challenges facing the industry. From 8 to 12 September, around 4,400 exhibitors from more than 80 countries are presenting their products and technologies across approximately 300,000 square metres of exhibition space.
CARS
However, the size of the exhibition tells only part of the story. Automechanika has become a place where visitors can see how quickly the automotive industry is changing. Artificial intelligence is entering workshops, automation is changing production and repair processes, and software now plays a central role in vehicle development. At the same time, sustainability continues to influence business strategies across the automotive sector.
Yet technology does not tell the whole story. Design, craftsmanship, motorsport and the emotional connection between people and cars remain just as important. Automechanika Frankfurt 2026 brings these different worlds together and creates a fascinating picture of where mobility could go next.
Bertrand Piccard: Thinking Beyond the Possible
The future-focused approach began with the third edition of the Automechanika CEO Breakfast. International leaders from the automotive and supplier industries gathered for an event designed to encourage discussion about innovation, transformation and the future of mobility. This year’s keynote speaker, Dr. Bertrand Piccard, brought a unique perspective to that conversation.
Piccard has built his career around challenging conventional thinking. He became internationally famous after completing the first nonstop circumnavigation of the world in a hot-air balloon. Years later, he helped lead the Solar Impulse project, which achieved the first round-the-world flight in a solar-powered aircraft. Both achievements required new ideas, technological development and the determination to continue when the outcome remained uncertain.
His latest project, Climate Impulse, follows the same philosophy. The ambitious project aims to achieve the first nonstop, zero-emission flight around the world using liquid hydrogen. For Piccard, sustainable technology does not simply represent an environmental necessity. It also creates opportunities for innovation and economic development.
That message fits naturally into the automotive industry. Manufacturers, suppliers and aftermarket companies face enormous pressure to adapt. Electrification, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and changing customer expectations are transforming established business models. Companies therefore need more than technical solutions. They also need the courage to rethink familiar processes and explore new opportunities.
The CEO Talk continued this discussion with representatives from Aumovio, Castrol, Continental, MANN+HUMMEL, Schaeffler and ZF. The participants examined sustainable mobility, technological transformation and new business models within the international automotive and supplier industries. Together, the discussions highlighted a simple reality: companies that want to remain competitive must learn to adapt as quickly as the technology around them changes.
BMW and Jeff Koons: When Cars Become Art
Technology may dominate many conversations about the future of mobility, but cars still have a powerful emotional and cultural side. BMW’s presence at Automechanika demonstrates this connection particularly well. Alongside its focus on aftersales solutions, BMW is presenting selected vehicles and exhibits from BMW Motorsport and the BMW Art Car Collection in the Galeria.
The BMW Art Car tradition has connected automotive engineering with contemporary art for decades. BMW has invited internationally recognised artists to reinterpret its vehicles and create completely new perspectives on the automobile. Jeff Koons became part of that tradition with his BMW Art Car based on the BMW M3 GT2, created for competition at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Koons’ design turns a racing machine into something more than a competition vehicle. Its vivid colours and dynamic graphics communicate speed, energy and movement even when the car stands still. The project also demonstrates how automotive design can move beyond conventional boundaries and enter the world of contemporary culture.
That connection feels especially relevant at Automechanika 2026. The automotive industry now talks constantly about software, data, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. However, people still connect with cars through design, sound, performance and emotion. The BMW Art Car reminds us that innovation does not always have to solve a technical problem. Sometimes it can simply change the way we see the automobile.
Robotics Enters the Paint Booth
One of the clearest examples of practical automation at Automechanika comes from automotive refinishing. Professional painters have traditionally relied on years of experience to achieve the right finish. They control spray distance, movement, material flow and application technique almost instinctively. At the same time, body shops now face skilled-worker shortages, rising costs and increasingly complex repair processes.
SATA Automation approaches these challenges with jetstream, an automated painting system designed specifically for automotive refinishing. The system can carry out the painting process from basecoat to clearcoat after the painter positions the vehicle, prepares the materials and starts the operation.
According to SATA Automation, jetstream can currently handle up to 35 percent of automotive refinish painting tasks. This does not mean that the system removes the professional painter from the process. Instead, it allows skilled employees to spend more time on tasks that require experience and judgement. They can prepare the next repair, perform spot repairs, check results or manage other workshop activities while the automated system handles repetitive painting work.
This approach offers an important perspective on automation. A robot does not necessarily have to replace a skilled worker. In many cases, it can help that worker use their time more effectively.
AI and Precision Change the Paint Process
The technology behind jetstream also shows how data can improve the quality and efficiency of automotive refinishing. The system uses vehicle scan models and a database containing thousands of vehicle geometries, contours and edge profiles. It can use this information to plan the painting process for a specific vehicle.
Its jet X automatic technology adds another layer of precision. The advanced X-nozzle system creates a consistent spray pattern and fine atomisation. This helps distribute paint evenly and reduces the risk of imperfections such as mottling. The result is a more repeatable process and greater consistency between individual repairs.
Material efficiency also plays an important role. jetstream calculates the amount of paint required for each job and works with a much smaller safety margin than many conventional processes. SATA states that the system can use a buffer of around two to three percent, compared with a safety margin of approximately ten percent in conventional refinishing.
That difference can have a direct impact on operating costs and material consumption. Precise movement also helps the system reach difficult areas of a vehicle. It can pre-coat edges, paint entire vehicle sides in a continuous pass and reach roofs up to two metres high without repositioning the vehicle.
The bigger story, however, goes beyond one automated paint system. Automotive refinishing provides a good example of how AI, robotics and human expertise can work together. Machines can repeat movements with remarkable consistency and use large amounts of vehicle data. Professionals bring experience, judgement and the ability to deal with unexpected situations.
The future paint booth may therefore look less like a competition between humans and robots and more like a collaboration between the two.
Automechanika Pit Lane: Motorsport Up Close
After exploring robotics and automation, visitors can experience a very different side of the automotive industry at the new Automechanika Pit Lane. The approximately 200-metre-long motorsport area beneath the arcades of Hall 4 brings racing technology, vehicles and automotive culture closer to the exhibition audience.
Motorsport has always pushed automotive technology to its limits. Racing teams constantly search for improvements in tyres, braking systems, suspension, aerodynamics, materials and vehicle performance. Engineers test these technologies under extreme conditions and use the resulting knowledge to improve future products.
Pirelli represents an important part of this relationship between motorsport and the wider automotive industry. Tyres form the only physical connection between a vehicle and the road, making their performance critical both on the racetrack and on everyday vehicles. Motorsport allows tyre manufacturers to explore performance under conditions that ordinary road driving cannot reproduce.
The Pit Lane also adds something that technical presentations cannot provide on their own: atmosphere. Visitors can experience racing cars and motorsport technology at close range while meeting the people and companies behind them. The result creates a direct connection between engineering and emotion.
That combination remains important even as the automotive industry becomes increasingly digital. Software and artificial intelligence may shape the vehicles of tomorrow, but the excitement of motorsport continues to demonstrate why people remain passionate about cars.
AMBITION: The People Behind the Future
Technology alone cannot transform the automotive industry. People need to develop it, operate it, repair it and improve it. Automechanika addresses this challenge through AMBITION, a programme designed to connect young people with the automotive industry and introduce them to the opportunities available in the sector.
The programme’s move into the Festhalle reflects the industry’s growing need for new talent. Automotive careers continue to evolve as technology changes. Today’s technician may need knowledge of electronics, software and high-voltage systems. Body repair specialists increasingly work with advanced driver-assistance systems, while refinishing professionals can now work alongside robotics and scanning technology.
The aftermarket therefore needs to communicate a new message to the next generation. Automotive careers no longer revolve only around mechanical work. They increasingly combine engineering, software, digitalisation, data and advanced manufacturing with traditional practical skills.
AMBITION gives young visitors an opportunity to experience that changing industry directly. Interactive activities, technology and opportunities to meet companies can help demonstrate that the automotive sector offers careers far beyond the traditional image of the workshop.
The programme also complements HighTech4Mobility, which explores technologies such as software-defined vehicles, connected cars, artificial intelligence, ADAS, autonomous driving, cybersecurity and digital services. Together, the two formats create a useful connection between the technologies shaping future mobility and the people who will make those technologies work.
A New Chapter for the Automotive Aftermarket
Automechanika Frankfurt 2026 presents a future that does not follow a single path. Bertrand Piccard represents the courage to challenge established limits and develop sustainable technologies. BMW and Jeff Koons demonstrate that the automobile can remain a powerful form of artistic and cultural expression. SATA Automation shows how robotics and data can transform even highly skilled processes such as automotive refinishing.
Meanwhile, the Automechanika Pit Lane keeps the emotional side of the automotive world alive. Motorsport continues to push technology forward while reminding visitors why performance and engineering still inspire such strong passion. AMBITION then brings the focus back to people and the young professionals who will shape the next generation of mobility.
These different elements may appear unrelated at first. In reality, they share a common theme: the automotive industry is learning how to combine human expertise with new technology.
Artificial intelligence will not remove the need for skilled professionals. Robotics will not eliminate craftsmanship. Digitalisation will not make the emotional side of the automobile disappear. Instead, these technologies will change how people work and create new opportunities for those willing to adapt.
That may be the most important message from Automechanika Frankfurt 2026. The future of the automotive aftermarket will not belong to technology alone. It will belong to companies and professionals who know how to combine innovation with experience, efficiency with craftsmanship and new ideas with the knowledge accumulated over generations.
Frankfurt offers a glimpse of that future, but it also makes one thing clear: the next chapter of mobility is already being written.
