Volkswagen has opened a new vehicle assembly facility in Accra, reiterating its commitment to the growth of the automotive industry in Ghana.
With this step, VW also assumes control of the new car assembly from Universal Motors Ltd (UML), its authorized importer in Ghana.
When VW formally created Volkswagen Ghana as a 100% Volkswagen subsidiary in August 2020, UML was given the assembly contract. On behalf of VW, UML put together models such the Tiguan, Teramont, Passat, Polo, Amarok, and T-Cross utilizing Semi-Knocked Down (SKD) assembly kits supplied from South Africa.
The brand-new 5 000m² automobile assembly factory is situated in Accra not far from the Tema Port. It is currently able to assemble 5,000 units annually. The T-Cross, Tiguan, Amarok, and Virtus will be assembled at this plant. About 80 jobs, including those for local third party service providers, would initially be created by the new assembly factory.
With this new investment, Volkswagen, which was the first automaker registered under the Ghana Automotive Development Programme (GADP), further establishes its regional and national presence.
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“Ghana is an important market for our Sub-Saharan Africa expansion plans especially in West Africa, where we have identified opportunities of developing a collaborative automotive industry hub amongst the countries in the region. The hub concept will ensure that each country with an automotive development policy or economic interest in the automotive industry has an important role to play in the supply value chain. We believe AfCFTA will be the catalyst which will unlock trade barriers and promote regional collaboration amongst the countries,” said Martina Biene, Chairperson and Managing Director of Volkswagen Group South Africa.
Biene added: “Volkswagen is fully committed to Ghana and in supporting its industrial transformation agenda despite the current economic challenges facing the country. We are here for the long haul. Our company believes in long term investments which are nurtured through mutual relationships with like-minded partners. Ghana’s commitment to the development of its automotive industry is evident in the GADP, which is still the blueprint automotive policy in the region in terms of creating an enabling environment for the establishment of an automotive industry in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
The fourth Volkswagen assembly plant in Sub-Saharan Africa is in Ghana. The other locations are in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, where VW has been producing automobiles for more than 72 years.
Volkswagen distributes passenger and commercial vehicles through authorized importers in 17 countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
“As the last frontier for the global development of the automotive industry, Sub-Saharan Africa has become very important for the sustainability of Volkswagen. We are therefore accelerating our growth strategy on the continent by playing a pioneering and leading role in the development of the automotive industry,” commented Biene.
Source: CITINEWS
