NISSAN Group of Africa has welcomed the Government of Ghana’s recent approval of the country’s Ghana Automotive Development Policy.
Alan Kyerematen, Ghana’s minister of trade and industry, announced on Wednesday 14 August that Cabinet had approved the automobile bill which not only creates a framework for manufacturers to establish assembly plants, but provides incentives for registered Semi Knocked Down (SKD) assemblers and legislates stringent controls on grey imports.
Nissan Group of Africa sales and operations director Jim Dando, who was in Accra, Ghana, for the announcement, said he was delighted.
“We pride ourselves on being the first movers in West Africa. We were the first to begin automotive assembly in Nigeria in 2013 and last year we decentralised our company, establishing our West African regional sales and marketing hub in Accra. This is the next step following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the President HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last November.”
Nissan is the market leader in Ghana. Nissan models accounted for 32.8% of vehicle sales in Ghana last year. The company’s cars, pickups and SUVs are sold through a national network of six sales and service outlets.
“Nissan is the most popular auto brand in Ghana because the quality of our products and services has won the trust of our customers,” Dando said. “We want to build on our leadership by supporting the government to create the environment for a successful automotive manufacturing industry in the country. This would enable us to further improve the products and services we offer to our customers here and will have significant, long-term benefits for the economy in terms of jobs and growth.”
Industrywide vehicle sales in Ghana have been growing steadily at an annual rate of about 10% and now stand at about 9,150 vehicles a year.
Working closely with the government of Ghana and with other members of the African Association of Automotive Manufacturers, Nissan will provide its global expertise to establish a sustainable auto manufacturing industry in the country.
Properly administered automotive development policies can bring about structural economic change in a short time. We’ve seen this happening with our plants in South Africa and Nigeria,” said Dando, “this bill will give international investors further confidence in the government of Ghana.”
