Nigeria’s drive to sell more locally-made cars
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2024
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For decades, Nigeria has struggled to grow its domestic automotive industry while vehicles made by manufacturers from Japan, Korea, Europe and the US have dominated. But critics say many of those cars are not suitable for Nigeria’s roads.
Lately, there has been a surge of “made in Nigeria” brands, of vehicles manufactured and assembled locally, which have been designed with the country’s challenging road conditions in mind.
But as Nigerians are gearing up to the idea of replacing their trusted foreign brands with local alternatives, China has introduced a range of vehicles tailored to the Nigerian market - but cheaper.
(Image: A Nord Tank SUV. Credit: Tobi Ajayi)
Presented and produced by Peter Macjob
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service with me, Peter MacJoe. |
| 0:07.6 | Today, I realize that a lot of the vehicles made for Nigeria were not really made with Nigerians in mind. |
| 0:13.6 | After decades of dominance by foreign brands, is Nigeria's local automotive industry finally on the move? |
| 0:20.4 | If you are buying a new vehicle, you are supporting Nigeria, you are supporting the economy. |
| 0:24.5 | And is China about to crash the party? |
| 0:27.8 | We are seeing considerable overcapacity in China now they are targeting overseas markets, particularly developing countries. |
| 0:33.3 | So I think we will see considerable numbers of exports coming from China in the future, |
| 0:37.7 | in part because they can make cars very cheaply now. |
| 0:40.1 | So fasting your seatbelt, this could be a bumpy ride. |
| 0:58.9 | I am in the campus of the University of Lagos, |
| 1:03.4 | where one of the factories of Nord Automobiles Limited is located, |
| 1:08.3 | and just approaching the building, it's quite impressive with glazed exterior, |
| 1:12.4 | and that gives you the opportunity to see some of the vehicles on display. |
| 1:14.2 | Hi. |
| 1:17.3 | Hi. Toby. |
| 1:17.9 | Yes. |
| 1:19.4 | Thanks for having me. Peter. |
| 1:23.5 | Nord Automobiles is one of the country's leading manufacturers with the fleet of locally made vehicles specifically tailored for Nigerian use. |
| 1:28.3 | With the valuation of $34 million US dollars and over 100 employees across two factories in Lagos, |
| 1:35.3 | Nigeria's economic capital, it's one of only a couple of Nigerian companies trying to get a hold on this market. |
| 1:42.3 | Ted 1 year old Toby Ajay is the CEO. |
| 1:46.1 | It's an interesting place you have here, |
... |
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