S’Africa Support For Nigeria’s Auto Industry, Shrewd – Nisssan Boss

 NIGERIA will have its own motor industry whether SA likes it or not, says Nissan SA MD Mike Whitfield. Failure by SA to support it will simply open the door for other countries to benefit from the billions of rand of business that will ensue.

 
Whitfield was responding to doubts about the wisdom of SA actively helping Nigeria to create an industry that could become a rival, according to BusinessDay, South Africa. Former SA trade and industry minister Alec Erwin has been advising Nigeria on setting up an industry, using his previous experience in helping to modernise SA’s motor sector.
 
Nigeria’s automotive policy is based on SA’s 1995-2012 motor industry development programme, which Erwin implemented. In an interview on Monday, he said the industries would complement each other, not compete.
 
Several multinationals have begun building vehicles in Nigeria and others are waiting in the wings. The companies are all assembling imported kits. Nigerian officials say they hope the industry will begin producing its own components within two years but motor company executives say it is likely to be at least 10 years before the industry starts to become self-sufficient.
 
Nissan SA is sending kits to Nigeria. NP300 one-ton bakkies are crated in pieces at the Rosslyn plant near Pretoria then shipped to Nigeria, where they are put together.  Whitfield said that this year, Nissan SA expected to send “rather more” than the 3,000 vehicles it shipped to Nigeria last year.
 
Rosslyn, which also produces the NP200 half-ton bakkie, will build about 40,000 vehicles this year — just more than a third of its 110,000 capacity. Whitfield is expected to announce a plan before year-end to close the gap, possibly with an additional vehicle range.
 
However, he said the Nigerian operation would not diminish Nissan SA’s activities. The African new-vehicle market was expected to grow from 1.4-million vehicles in 2014, to 2.2-million by 2020. If that happened, there would be plenty of opportunity for two Nissan plants.
 
Source : http://dailytimes.com.ng/

Posted on : 16 May,2024 | News Source : ABNews

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