Affordable Made in Nigeria Car: Ford Gives Condition to Come

Ford Motor Corporation says it has not foreclosed the establishment of an automobile assembly plant in Nigeria, but insists that the conditions must be right before it would do so. One of the conditions, according to the firm, is for the country to have a free-trade agreement with its neighbouring nations to ensure free movement and unhindered market for all locally produced vehicles and other goods within the West African region. The President and Chief Executive Officer, Ford Motor Company (South Africa), Mr. Jeff Nemeth, who dropped the hint, said the American automaker would not risk having a vehicle assembly plant in Nigeria unless the government is serious enough to put infrastructures in place. He said: “You don’t want to import parts for ever. All the support structures have to be in place such as the IT, road, rail and power. That, I have not seen [in Nigeria]. “What are the sales opportunities in Nigeria right now? You are just selling about 100,000 new vehicles annually. That is rather too small for all the industry players to share and break even if they must assemble the vehicles in your country.” Mr. Jeff Nemeth spoke to some journalists at a forum facilitated by Coscharis Motors, one of the two representatives of Ford in Nigeria. He said Ford already had vibrant assembly plants in South Africa supplying vehicles to different parts of Africa, including Nigeria, the firm was still studying the new auto policy of the FG and the business environment to determine the viability of a local assembly plant. While Nissan and Hyundai have rolled out the first set of locally assembled vehicles to join existing local auto firms such as the Pan Nigeria, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing of Nnewi and the National Trucks Manufacturer of Kano, Kia and some Chinese automakers are warming up to start assembling. But Mr. Nemeth said Ford would not be rushed into setting up an assembly plant in Nigeria without the fully developed and functional support service system such as road, railway and electricity.