Automechanika Academy, the conference held in the recently concluded Automechanika Middle East trade fair (May 31 to June 2), has opened up the channel for discussions on car modifications in the UAE through a number of presentations.

“The area of car modification and the restrictions governing it need to be made more transparent in this region, and the car owners should be trained and made well aware of the repercussions of any alteration they do to their car,” said Michael Dehn, senior show manager of Automechanika Middle East.

The subject gains in importance as the number of private car owners keeps burgeoning in the UAE, the trend of car modification - adding 'performance parts' and 'styling', has also  been catching up with the needs of young car owners.

Altering or making modifications to your car could make it illegal for you to drive it and put you at risk of a fine and penalty points. Using tinting windows beyond the allowed legal limit or adding a noisy exhaust can be a safety hazard and cause trouble to other road users.

“Since we are facing many problems in the field of car modifications in the UAE, specially with the authorities, it was extremely important to bring together the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA), the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) of the US, and the car modifiers in the region in order to try to find a common language that would facilitate the task of everybody, while at the same time the modifiers business would flourish, the end users would enjoy their modifications, and the local authorities will be happy to have everybody under the law,” explained Zlatko Mulabegovic, editor, Top Performance magazine.

“The Automechanika Academy’s initiative was successful in doing all the above, and we hope it served as a springboard towards further development,” commented Farid A Semaan, managing director, Ramy Trading.

“We came to Dubai for the second time this year with our chairman and CEO,” said Linda Spencer, SEMA director of international relations.

“The discussions we had at and around Automechanika Middle East went beyond our expectations and we believe that in the near future the dialogue that was initiated here will lead to an ex-change of experiences and ideas.”

From modernisation of wheels and undercarriages to a revamp of the interiors, anything from big exhausts to large sound systems is used to craft a modified look. But car customisation is an expensive business and before any modifications are made, it is necessary to cross check whether what’s being planned is legal. – TradeArabia News Service