Pan Leads Race For First Nigerian Car

That Pan Nigeria Limited, the local assembler and promoter of the Peugeot brand of vehicles in the country, is under pressure is not in doubt. But the pressure is neither coming from scores of new car dealers dotting the nation’s landscape nor is it about getting a ready market for its high volume of vehicles coming from its recently rejuvenated Kaduna factory. It is all about producing a vehicle that is accepted by all and qualifies as a truly Nigerian car.

Pan is not alone in the race. There are other contenders. Since the introduction of a new automotive policy in September, 2013, at least 23 firms have shown interest in setting up vehicle assembly plants in Nigeria. Some have commenced operations and rolled out a number of vehicles from the local plants. Prominent among them are the Stallion Auto Group (assembling the Nissan brand of vehicles), Dana/Kia Motors of Nigeria, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited and the ANAMMCO-ABC Transport partnership producing Shamac trucks.

The decision to introduce the automotive policy, according to the government, is to encourage the establishment of automobile factories in Nigeria and speed up the revival of the steel industry as well as tyre manufacturing firms.

The idea of producing truly Nigerian cars has continued to agitate the minds industry stakeholders. The Director-General, National Automotive Council, Mr. Aminu Jalal, gave a hint about features that would guide the public in taking the decision.

With a zero tariff on completely knocked down vehicles imported by local assembly plants and about 70 per cent tariff imposed on imported fully-built cars (old and new), many automobile firms are encouraged to set up production firms in Nigeria.

According to Jalal, it is not enough to assemble a vehicle in Nigeria; it must have a reasonable percentage of local content. And it must be affordable and acceptable by most Nigerians.

And after many years of suspending vehicle assembling operation, Pan returned to vehicle production July last year with the inauguration of Peugeot 301 production at its Kaduna factory.

The resuscitation of the moribund vehicle production line was done along with the inauguration of a site for auto components’ cluster park.

Pan Nigeria said it was starting with the 301 saloon car on a semi-knocked down 2 and plans to graduate into the Completely Knocked Down model this year.

The firm also said its plant had been modified to simultaneously carry out the SKD11, SKD1 and CKD operations, adding that the plant had the capacity to churn out 250 vehicles daily.

Pan said the new 301 had been produced to adapt to the Nigerian environment in terms of road conditions, climate and fuel.

The Chairman, Pan Nigeria, Alhaji Munir Ja’afar, said, “Factors such as our road conditions, climate, geography, motoring attitudes and performance are highly considered in packaging the car with the sole aim of satisfying our esteemed customers.”

The Managing Director, Pan Nigeria, Ibrahim Boyi said the migration into the 301 CKD programme would offer greater opportunities for local content development, skills acquisition and technology transfer. The new Peugeot 301 has three variants with Allure as the top of the range. Is the company positioning the 301 to breast the tape in the first Nigerian car contest?

Formerly known as Peugeot Automobile Nigeria, the firm may have changed its name to Pan Nigeria to reflect its current transformation.

Under the old name, the firm made many of its products household names. Notably among them were 504, 404, 505, 406, 307 and 508. It has switched over to a new generation of vehicles in line with global competitiveness and has commenced the production of new generation vehicles such as 301, 3008 and 4008.

The firm said the new 3008 and 4008 which took its inspiration from the sport utility vehicle, also rose to the challenges of the future with technological equipment to enhance both safety and driving pleasure.

The company recently organised a nationwide test drive for some motoring journalists to feel its new generation vehicles.

The team took off from Lagos, driving on smooth and rough village roads across Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Kogi states. The journey continued through Abuja, the nation’s capital and finally ending on Monday in Kaduna, the home of Pan.

Boyi said the test drive was to give the media team a firsthand experience about the products and expose the auto writers to pan’s quality production processes.

He said that the objective of the test drive was to restate the values of Peugeot vehicles through the unbiased driving experience of motoring editors and other experts and to inform the public about the evolution of Peugeot vehicles.

According to him, Peugeot vehicles still maintain old attributes of durability, luxury and ruggedness, with new attributes of style and fuel efficiency to position the brand as one of the leading automobiles in sub Saharan Africa.

He also said the launch of a site for the automotive cluster pack and local production of Peugeot vehicles in Kaduna last year was to ensure that the automotive policy would not only be implemented but sustained.

The Stallion Auto Group, led by its Chairman, Mr. Sunil Vaswani, presented three Nigeria-made models of Nissan vehicles to President Goodluck Jonathan last year.

The vehicles, produced at the Stallion Nissan Motors plant in Lagos, are Nissan Patrol (SUV), Nissan Almera (Sunny) saloon car and a Nissan NP 300 (pick-up).

Vaswani said the vehicles were of global standards and produced in Nigeria, in accordance with the Federal Government’s new automotive policy.

He said the plant was established, following the signing of the agreement between Nissan Motor Company and West African conglomerate of the Stallion Auto Group on October 9, 2013.

“The current population of Nigeria can convincingly support more than half a million vehicles annually, which is more than sufficient to sustain an emerging automotive industry,” he said.

Since the President inaugurated the Nnewi-based Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company last year, the factory has produced and sold a number of vehicles.

In one fell swoop, it rolled out 500 new cars. It’s SUV and trucks are also said to be doing well.

The Chairman of Innoson Group, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, said, “Our vehicles are well accepted in the market, the dealers, the end users and Nige¬rians are happy with our range of vehicles. We are amazed by the demand and level of patronage of our vehicles by Nigerians. In¬dividuals, corporate organisations, institu¬tions, governments and other Nigerians are demanding our vehicles.

“A good number of states in Nigeria are already using the various types of our vehicles: buses, SUVs, trucks and cars and they have found them very efficient and durable. They are very happy to use our products. Our trucks are doing well in the states that are using them. Remember that we manufacture these trucks on specification and order.”

Kia also recently unveiled its made in Nigeria vehicles such as Kia Rio, Cerato, Optima, Sorento and Soul, with a promise to start producing other Kia models, including sedans, SUVs and pickups before the end of the year.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jacky Hathiramani, said, “We are committed to making Nigeria a leading auto manufacturing country in Africa and to contribute immensely to the development of the nation through this multi-billion naira investment.”

The Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company Limited and a subsidiary of ABC Transport Plc, Transit Support Services Limited, also rolled out a new brand of locally assembled trucks, the Shamac trucks, being assembled at the revived ANAMMCO plant in Enugu.

The Chairman, Transit Support Service, Mr. Frank Nneji, also confirmed that the Shacman operations would lead to “the revival of local component manufacturers in diverse areas such as automotive lubricants, batteries, windshields, clutch-cables, mudguards, wiper blades, brake pads, paints and tyre components.”

He expressed confidence that the new auto policy had the potential of creating 700,000 jobs.