Apr 05, 2018 Cape Automotive Forum, Aftermarket, Workshop, Events, Automechanika,
According to the organisers of the first Cape Automotive Forum, which is supported by Automechanika, the event is attracting much interest from exhibitors and conference delegates. Set to take place at the Cape Town Convention Centre from 17-18 October, Joshua Low, Group Exhibitions Director of Messe Frankfurt's South African subsidiary, comments: "We, at Messe Frankfurt South Africa, visualise that this Forum, which is backed by our premium Automechanika brand, will serve the local motor industry between the biennial Automechanika Johannesburg trade fairs for the automotive aftermarket".
"There will be two aspects to our first Cape Automotive Forum: an exhibition and a very informative two-day conference, which caters to the automotive aftermarket and the commercial vehicle market in the Western Cape. The Forum will bring together key industry stakeholders as well as trade buyers and sellers with the opportunity to network and conduct business over two days."
"We selected the Western Cape as the venue for our first Automotive Forum supported by Automechanika, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Western Cape has the second highest number of registered motor vehicles, while Cape Town is the most populous city in South Africa with the biggest number of independent body repair shops. In addition, we decided to add a commercial vehicle exhibition to our offering as the Western Cape has several major truck body builders, besides being the largest agricultural market in the country for fruit with many wine farms in the area, all of which require trucks and trailers to transport goods."
The conference programme and the speakers are still being finalised, with a preliminary list of topics listed on the website https://capeautomotiveforum.co.za. These topics include the future of e-retailing in the automotive aftermarket, education and learning, the automotive revolution, the state of the SA economy and its effect on the automotive sector, changes in BBBEE codes and their implications as well as Doing Business in Africa.
Other Messe Frankfurt South Africa (MFSA) shows include: the SA Festival of Motoring at Kyalami, the Cape Town International Boat Show, Source Africa and ATF trade exhibitions for apparel, textiles and footwear in Cape Town, the Photo and Film Expo in Johannesburg and the Cape Automotive Forum.
"We are proud that Messe Frankfurt has agreed that this latter event can be supported by the world-renowned Automechanika brand, which arrived in South Africa in 2009. This year the premier, biennial Automechanika trade fair for the automotive aftermarket will be staged in Frankfurt, Germany, for the 25th time, while there are now 17 Automechanika events in 15 countries worldwide," commented the MFSA Group Exhibitions Director.
"Only recently we heard of the power of the brand working positively for a year-old start-up company in South Africa. Qwerty Tyre Services entered its locally developed, portable Str8-Lign wheel alignment system in the Innovation Awards contest at last year's Automechanika Johannesburg trade fair and the company was rewarded with a bronze award.
"According to the designer of the equipment, Sean Muller, of Durban, this award, and its link with the famous Automechanika brand, is opening doors locally and internationally for his innovative alignment system and Muller says that entering a competition of this nature on a major stage is proving a huge boost to his company and its future prospects," concludes Low.
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