Last week was IAA in Munich, Germany – the biggest auto show in Europe. That same week was the DVN USA event near Detroit.
At IAA, never before have I seen such emphasis on the exterior lighting of new vehicles, premium and mass-market alike. Technology, innovation, design, and appearance seem to be high on the agenda of all European automakers, to make cars that can compete with the sexy ones from Chinese makers.
Exterior lighting is used as a marketing element by brands all up and down the scale. The Mercedes booth, pictured above, was a copy of their new lit grille, illuminated with its 912 pixels. First lighting was safety, then lighting was design, and now lighting is marketing.
At DVN Detroit last week, 150 engineers gathered for our glare session the afternoon before the main event, where 460 lighting experts attended and participated. That’s up by 50 compared to last year. Feedback was positive, with great open discussion, lectures, forums, and exhibitions.
This really shows that more and more people are thinking about lighting – and increasingly, they want to connect, network, and exchange. That’s what we’re for at DVN!
Today we publish a detailed report about IAA and the new 2025 vehicles. Coming up next: a detailed report about the DVN conference in Michigan.
The European lighting community is now preparing ISAL, including me. I will have the honour to chair an interesting round with the ISAL steering board “Steering Board Insights: Innovation and Global Perspectives in Vehicle Lighting”. I must work on it!
In order to prepare for ISAL, and also for the 100th anniversary of ams OSRAM’s vehicle lighting operations, we are publishing a super interesting interview with Wolfgang Lex and his successor Joerg Strauss. Without ams Osram, The European lighting community would not be what it is today.
Sincerely yours,
