AUTOMART AFRICA - AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY DIRECTORY | KENYA | TANZANIA | ETHIOPIA

As from the first quarter of next year, prospective buyers of vehicles made in Nigeria will have structured financing arrangement to enable them purchase them.
The Director General of the National Automotive Council (NAC), Engr. Aminu Jalal stated this at a stakeholders’ forum NAC organised to sensitise dealers of used vehicles on the need for them to be part of the new automotive policy of the federal government.
Jalal said a memorandum of understanding has been signed with a South African financial company with expertise in financing vehicle purchase at very low interest rate in addition to long-term payment structure.

He said the MoU was signed in October this year in South Africa, “which means they will allocate resources and people to the project and apply for banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria and once they get it they will start. We hope that early next year they will start. We are expecting them this month.”
He said there are financing schemes for vehicle purchase in the country but that the interest rate was not pocket-friendly.
According to him, the reason for the policy is to bring back automotive assembly operations and to develop a lot of local content in the process.

He said it is hoped that “in the future there would be enough vehicles at affordable prices with the vehicle financing scheme so that Nigerians will be weaned away from the use of used vehicles.”
He recalled that in the past Nigerians who had jobs bought new cars through financing schemes and that in the future Nigerians will be able to purchase new vehicles.
The dealers in used vehicles, he said were being sensitised to be part of the new policy and to gradually move away from the sale of used vehicles to new ones.

“They will be dealing in new vehicles and they can sell used vehicles that are brought in by their owners who want to buy new ones.”
On the number of assembly plants on stream, he said the old assembly plants in the country were already working, listing VW, Peugeot, Layland, Anamco is partnering with a local company to assemble trucks, Dana Motors is assembling KIA vehicles.
He said other companies like Toyota, Ford, Honda, Mitsubishi already have partners in Nigeria and they have done studies, saying that maybe their intentions will be clearer next year.

Posted on : 21 Nov,2024 | News Source : ABNews