Full house in the ‘car mecca of the south’: over the four days of the trade fair, around 77,000 fans of driving culture flocked to Stuttgart to see special shows of superlatives.
Around 77,000 visitors flocked to the 24th edition of RETRO CLASSICS® for the traditional kick-off to the 2025 driving culture season, bringing strong growth to the trade fair. All four days exceeded expectations in terms of both visitor attendance and commercial success. The numerous visitors were able to enjoy superlative special shows and presentations in seven halls. Over 2,200 vehicles were presented to visitors in the seven exhibition halls totalling 90,000 m². This year’s success has already encouraged a number of exhibitors to register for RETRO CLASSICS in Stuttgart from 19 – 22 February 2026.
Anniversaries and milestones
• Porsche Heritage & Museum celebrated the anniversaries of the Carrera GT, 959 and 911 Targa with the motto ‘25-40-60’ and offered a virtual museum tour.
• Mercedes-Benz Heritage attracted visitors with special classic cars and virtual races in ‘Silver Arrow rigs’.
• Aston Martin presented an impressive exhibition of the British ultra-luxury performance brand in the Atrium
• The American Way of Drive: US classics from Cadillac, Mustang and Pontiac GTO to elegant Oldsmobile convertibles.
• New format: RARE.SPHERE – For the first time, an innovative format was presented that unites the digital and real worlds.
• 50 years of Opel Manta B, 50 years of Ascona B & 60 years of Kadett B
• 70 years of Citroën DS: An extensive exhibition with all series variants
• 70 years of the BMW 507: presentation of four of the only 254 examples built
Quotes from our exhibitors about RETRO CLASSICS® 2025
‘Satisfied faces thank you‘ – in this sense, the exhibitors were also extremely positive about the great public response at RETRO CLASSICS 2025: “We are ”friends’ of RETRO CLASSICS® and long-standing partners, here in Stuttgart we meet the right clientele for our vehicles,’ says Andreas Flohr, owner of Andy’s Classic Cars from Viechtach.
Dirk Kiefer, owner of Delalic & Kiefer Automobile in Rodgau, also reported a great response: ‘RETRO CLASSICS® Stuttgart, with its large catchment area and knowledgeable audience, always brings us very good contacts and good sales.’
Justin Sauer from Scuderia Sauer in Filderstadt, also a long-standing exhibitor, was very impressed: ‘The great and, above all, serious interest shown by visitors in our vehicle and service range has brought us very good results’ – an experience that Christian Rühle from Rühle Motors in Schorndorf also shared: ‘Our F97 project has been very well received, we have been able to make concrete enquiries and new contacts – great!’
Laurenz Feierabend from Würzburg-based Feierabend GmbH, a specialist in classic sports cars with a focus on BMW, found RETRO CLASSICS® 2025 to be the ‘perfect stage’ for presenting his racing cars for sale.
‘Friday and Saturday in particular were really good, there’s always something going on here in Stuttgart, we love coming. This year, the atmosphere and people’s buying mood were very good,’ summarised Ralf Reller, owner and managing director of Reller Automobile from Paderborn.
‘We are very proud that we were able to present our attractive stand in Hall 1 as a permanent fixture at RETRO CLASSICS this year. We had many knowledgeable visitors who appreciated the excellent quality of our vehicles. We were able to sell well on this basis. We look forward to exhibiting in Hall 1 again next year,’ said Johannes Wolf from Kultwagenhalle in Freiberg am Neckar.
‘We are from the region and have been a RETRO CLASSICS® partner from the very beginning. On the one hand, we meet many of our regular customers here in Stuttgart, but we are also always able to make new, good contacts. It just fits here,’ says Christoph Schlagenhauf, Managing Director of Boxer Motor & Klassische Automobile from Dotternhausen.
‘We would like to thank all partners and exhibitors who contributed to the success of RETRO CLASSICS 2025 in Stuttgart. The rush of visitors has motivated us to further optimise our concepts in 2026. We look forward to welcoming you to the next RETRO CLASSICS events in Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Essen (NEW: 8 – 12 April 2026),’ said the two Managing Directors of organiser RETRO Messen GmbH, Henning and Thilo Könicke.
Further information: www.retro-classics.de
