After recent legislation, Nigeria will no longer need to spend billions to import cars into the country.
Vehicle assembly will soon be launched in Nigeria, Nissan and West African conglomerate Stallion Group announced Wednesday.
"Our group is committed to invest in a fully integrated automobile industry that fosters the creation of several ancillary industries with associated socio-economic benefits," Sunil Vaswani, chairman of Stallion Group, said.
A joint effort between the two companies, the launch must first receive final approval from the Federal Government of the new Automobile Industrial Policy. The vehicle assembly will encourage development of the auto industry in Nigeria and make Nissan the first international manufacturer to launch vehicle assembly in the country following the new legislation, according to a press release.
A Lagos, Nigeria-based VON Automobile Ltd plant will be expanded to 45,000 units to assemble a range of cars, light duty trucks, pickups and vans, the press release said.
The first product will likely be the Nissan Patrol SUV in 2014.
"We welcome the proactive measures being taken by the government of Nigeria to encourage inward investment and job creation driven by local auto manufacturing," Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn said in the press release. "Together with our local partner, Nissan is preparing to make Nigeria a significant manufacturing hub in Africa. As the first-mover in Nigeria, we are positioned for the long-term growth of this market and across the broader continent."
Nissan hopes to double annual sales in Africa after jointly launching the auto assembly plant.
The Federal Executive Council of Nigeria has approved a new Automotive Industrial Policy Development Plan for the development of the Nigerian automotive industry. According to Daily Times Nigeria, the country spent a total of N550 billion ($3.4 billion) and N660 billion ($4.2 billion) in 2010 on the importation of cars, car importation taking the biggest share of the country's foreign reserves followed after machinery.
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