The 60th IAA Frankfurt Motor show opened to the public on the 13th at Messegelaende, Frankfurt am Main, a downtown exhibition space. There were two press days and two trade days before public viewing began. The opening ceremony of the last Frankfurt show was canceled due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on United States, which also caused foreign exhibition staff and viewers alike to scramble for flights home. This time, the show went off without a hitch, attracting 360,000 visitors in the first four days.

The exhibition hall in Frankfurt has 215,000 square meters of exhibition space, roughly triple that of Makuhari Messe, the home of the Tokyo Motor Show. Its theme, "Cars: Pure Fascination," attracted exhibits from more than 1,000 companies from 42 countries, including 125 world premieres (60 finished automobiles), 13 European premiers and 35 German premiers.

Japanese automakers were on hand with new models scheduled for launch in the upcoming months. Environment was a big theme, and many had high fuel economy, low CO2 "eco-cars" and diesel vehicles on display.

Toyota showed off its new "Prius" and "CS&S" hybrid cars; Honda had an "Accord" with the company's first diesel engine, the "CTD-1;"Nissan had its main line "March;" Mazda focused on diesel with the "Kusabi" concept car carrying its "MZ-CD" engine; Mitsubishi displayed the "i" concept car, which got the 5-star result at the FIA/ADAC test for both CO2 emissions and fuel economy; Subaru unveiled its "3.0R" series of 3 liter, horizontal 6-cylinder engines for the first time ever.

In the mini car segment, Daihatsu had its "ai" concept car on hand. Billed as a "city commuter car," it used to a futuristic 2 cycle, 2 cylinder "TOPAZ 2CDDI" engine. Suzuki unveiled its new strategy with the "Concept-S2," a lightweight, high-powered compact.

European automakers highlighted sports cars: Mercedes-Benz the SLR McLaren super sports car; Volkswagen, the "Concept R;" Porsche, the "GT3RS;" and Jaguar, the "R-D6" with its top-opening doors.