Event
Truckstar Festival — Assen, Netherlands.
Truckstar Festival at the TT Circuit Assen is the largest truck event in the Benelux and one of the biggest in Europe. Organised annually in late July by Truckstar magazine, it's part show, part trade meet, part social — and a dependable source of lighting inspiration from operators who spend every spare weekend tuning, polishing and fine-tuning their trucks.
Laatst bijgewerkt 24 april 2026
When and where
Truckstar Festival runs every year on the last full weekend of July. Two full days (Saturday and Sunday), typically 60,000+ attendees per day.
Location: TT Circuit Assen, 9401 KV Assen, Netherlands. Easy access from the A28; dedicated truck parking and pit lanes open from Friday midday for exhibitor setup.
Entry is paid for the public but free for registered show-trucks. Information and registration at truckstarfestival.nl well ahead of the event — slot allocation for show-truck parking closes in May.
What to see
The event splits into a few distinct zones:
- **The show-truck paddock** — two paddocks full of owner-modified trucks, competing for best-in-class prizes across dozens of categories (best paintwork, best interior, best airbrush, best lighting) - **The circuit parade** — show-trucks cruise the TT track in convoys; spectacle with hundreds of trucks moving slowly past the main grandstand, lighting all lit. - **Manufacturer display** — MAN, Scania, Volvo, DAF, Mercedes-Benz, Iveco and Renault Trucks all bring factory show-trucks, new model launches, and customer-meeting areas. - **Supplier stands** — brake, suspension, tyre, lighting, interior and paint-shop suppliers. Trade-focused in the morning, open to enthusiasts in the afternoon.
Why it matters to our industry
For a vehicle-lighting supplier, Truckstar is where you see the ambition of the end-user. The operators who polish a 5-year-old truck every Sunday and add a bar of amber markers above the sun-visor because it looked right — those are the people who drive aftermarket lighting as a category.
It's also where you see trends before they hit the mass-fleet: whatever lighting choices dominate the show-truck paddock this July tend to show up on distribution-fleet retrofits two to three years later.
Every year the event confirms the same thing: commercial-vehicle lighting is craft as much as it is function. The fleet manager buys tail lamps for compliance; the operator buys side-markers and work-lights because they look good on a truck.
A Dutch tipper driver will spend three hundred euros on an amber bar because the truck 'needed' it. Don't assume lighting is only about compliance — the aftermarket wouldn't exist on compliance alone.