Durban hosts SA Auto Week as electric vehicle shift and supplier access top the agenda
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition joins Naamsa and the KwaZulu-Natal government at the International Convention Centre for the fifth annual session, with Minister Parks Tau due at a round table on supplier barriers.
Durban is hosting SA Auto Week at the International Convention Centre from 13 to 16 October 2026, the fifth annual session of a gathering that brings industry, government, investors and other critical players into one room for a dialogue on policy, sector trends, new energy vehicles, manufacturing and economic growth.
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition is joining Naamsa, the Automotive Business Council, and the KwaZulu-Natal government to commemorate the week.
This year’s theme is “Transforming Tomorrow Today. Resetting Policy. Advancing the Energy Transition. Driving Investment & Inclusive Growth.”
Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau will take part in various segments of the three-day programme. One of them is a round table discussion on barriers to supplier participation, where the aim is to agree on collaborative interventions to accelerate transformation.
A second thread running through the week is set out as “Investment and Industrial Competitiveness | Infrastructure, Energy and Logistics as Investment Enablers,” which brings together leaders from logistics, trade and investment and industrial development.
Naamsa is South Africa’s Automotive Business Council, representing manufacturers, importers and distributors across the automotive value chain.
The programme places the supplier question and the energy transition alongside each other, which is where the sector’s policy argument currently sits. The round table Tau is due to attend is framed around the barriers that keep suppliers out, and around what the parties in the room can agree to do about them.
This report is drawn from the government’s own summary of the event, published by SAnews (South African Government News Agency) at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/durban-hosts-sa-auto-week. It sets out the dates, the venue, the conveners, the theme and the sessions named above. It does not carry the outcomes of those sessions, and none are reported here.
