Stephan Buurma (center), member of the Extended Board of Management, Messe Frankfurt GmbH in Germany, with representatives of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the CCPIT Sichuan branch launch CAPAS on Thursday. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/chinadaily.com.cn]

The three-day 3rd annual Chengdu International Trade Fair for Automotive Parts and Aftermarket Services (CAPAS), one of Southwest China's leading automotive trading platforms, kicked off in the Sichuan provincial capital on Thursday.

Occupying 35,000 square meters of exhibition space, the fair is playing host to 728 worldwide exhibitors, an increase of 9 percent over last year, and is expected to draw more than 16,000 global buyers, an increase of 20 percent over 2015, organizers said.

"The auto industry in China is experiencing huge growth and Southwest China has especially seen a jump in production numbers. Sichuan alone enjoyed a 9.1 percent vehicle production increase year-on-year in 2015," said Stephan Buurma, member of the Extended Board of Management, Messe Frankfurt GmbH in Germany.

The Shanghai branch of Messe Frankfurt GmbH co-organizers CAPAS 2016 with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Automotive Sub-Council and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Sichuan Council.

"Spanning the three primary automotive sectors of parts and components, accessories and tuning, and repair and maintenance, CAPAS is also growing exponentially each year as a reflection of the growing region and its marketability," Buurma said.

"The growth continues with the addition of new product zones for new energy, accessories and tuning as well as commercial vehicles this year."

Showing the newest innovations within the field of new energy this year will be the newly launched new energy zone at CAPAS.

The zone is co-organizer by the Group Office of Sichuan New Energy Automotive Industry Development. The latest models in the "Made in Sichuan" new energy fleet have been launched in the show this year.

These models include new energy vehicles from acclaimed passenger and commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Brilliance, Chengdu Ace, Inmax, Li Jue, Shudu and Yema.