The National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM) has announced the fourth iteration of the NAACAM Show to take place in Gqeberha in the third quarter of 2025 in partnership with the Automotive Industry Development Centre Eastern Cape (AIDC-EC).
As a member-driven organisation, NAACAM is recognised as the voice of the South African automotive component industry, both domestically and internationally. It is at the forefront of industry leadership, representation and stakeholder engagement for automotive component manufacturers. Anchoring NAACAM’s membership base are component suppliers to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for assembly in South Africa, as well to OEM export markets and the domestic and global aftermarket.
Discussing the NAACAM Show, Renai Moothilal, NAACAM CEO, commented: “The NAACAM Show is the auto components sector’s premier event and offers an opportunity to network and showcase the world-class capability of South Africa’s value chain. We are glad to be bringing the Show to the Eastern Cape for the first time, a province where a significant share of our members and sector employment is located.”
Event partner, AIDC-EC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) with its strategic objectives enshrined in SAAM 2035, an industry standard that ensures key priority outputs that align to National Development Plan 2030 of the Country. The plan includes transformation of the automotive industry, informing future skills, bolstering logistics and infrastructure, and supporting job creation through the growth of the industry.
AIDC-EC CEO, Thabo Shenxane, said: “The Eastern Cape is at the heart of South Africa’s automotive industry, with the first vehicle assembly in South Africa taking place here in 1923. Over the past 100 years, the Eastern Cape has become home to close on 50% of the industry’s component manufacturers and four out of the seven Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).”
Speaking about today’s announcement, Shenxane commented: “Our role is to grow and sustain the automotive sector in the Eastern Cape to become more globally competitive. We look forward to this opportunity to work with NAACAM to further our strategies in order to meet these goals and showcase the Province. Over the years, we have developed a strong relationship with NAACAM, and hosting the NAACAM Show 2025 is a great next chapter in this partnership.”
“The NAACAM Show was the ‘first of its kind’ when it launched in 2017 and convened key stakeholders in the South African automotive manufacturing sector in an events platform with a dedicated focus on facilitating localisation, trade and transformation in South Africa’s highly diverse OEM value chains,” Moothilal said.
He added: “The previous NAACAM Show, held in 2023 in Tshwane, was an outstanding success and delivered on its mandate with strong exhibition representation from over 130 brands, all of which were local automotive component manufacturers, original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs), industry service providers and key public and private sector stakeholders.”
At last year’s Show there was an investment pledge of R4.86 billion from 16 exhibiting component manufacturers together with 10,700 maintained and new jobs. Fifty-six speakers spoke on topics largely encapsulating current trends in the sector, including a transition to new energy vehicles (NEVs) and wider carbon regulations, as well as digitisation and automation in factories.
“Next year we are expecting the Show to build on the successes of last year and highlight the ongoing importance of supporting the automotive component manufacturing sector. This at a time when there are significant constraints needed to be overcome to fully unlock the domestic sector potential. The reality is that it’s the component sector, which hosts the true economic potential from having a state-supported automotive manufacturing sector through programmes such as APDP and the SA Autos Masterplan,” Moothilal said.
The NAACAM Show 2025 will include a two-day exhibition and thought leadership conference. Participants can look forward to exciting parallel events and activities during the week of the Show. Venue, dates and other information will be released in the coming weeks. For more information, please contact [email protected]
