AUTOFORUM

Day 1 of Automechanika Jhb 2025 – a positive response to the new venue at Gallagher Convention Centre

Oct 29, 2025 Automechanika Johannesburg 2025, 10th anniversary, Messe Frankfurt South Africa, Michael Dehn, Gallagher Convention Centre, 28–30 October.

Day 1 of Automechanika Jhb 2025 – a positive response to the new venue at Gallagher Convention Centre

As Automechanika Johannesburg 2025, celebrating its 10^th anniversary, opened on its first day at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, there has been an overwhelmingly positive response from invited guests at the CEO breakfast, as well as both exhibitors and visitors to the new venue.

The show kicked off with a full house of attendees to the CEO breakfast, with a number of short presentations, before being welcomed to the new venue by Michael Dehn, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt South Africa. At the conclusion of official proceedings Dehn invited his guests to join him in an official walk through of this year’s exhibition. As guests were guided through the exhibition stands, the common opinion and comments from exhibitors and visitors alike was how “well suited the new venue is to the show.”

Dehn said, "Automechanika Johannesburg 2025 is built around the real priorities of our market: skills, standards, digitalisation, sustainability and safety. By bringing the region's leading voices together through the CILT and CRA conferences, the Right to Repair SA Talk, the MIWA Spanner Torque Pavilion, the Alexandra Automotive Industrial Hub Showcase, and the MasterDrive Fleet Safety Awards, we're creating a practical platform for knowledge-sharing and partnership that accelerates progress across the automotive and logistics ecosystem.

In conversations with a number of exhibitors over the course of the day, excitement is high – with expectations of good visitor numbers high, and reports of quality enquiries, visits by current and potential customers already received on this opening day.

With expectations of a successful show at the new venue, and the current focus on identifying new potential markets within the African continent and our neighbouring countries in particular, Dehn invited exhibitors – both past, present and future - to take advantage of the ‘Automechanika African Roadshow’ which visited 5 countries in sub-Saharan Africa this year, and join the opportunity to meet and make contacts in these countries markets.

The organisers are encouraging the aftermarket to take advantage of the free registration, visit the show and see the products and innovation on display before the show closes on Thursday.