Honda Motor Co. has begun local
production at its first-ever African automobile plant. This plant located in Nigeria built to expand the autmobile market in West Africa. Honda established this
new automobile plant at an existing Honda motorcycle production plant,
installing automobile production facilities and equipment on the property,
the company said in a press release. For now, Honda Motor Co. specializes in the building of Honda Accord
sedans at Nigeria plant with a capacity for 1,000 units.
South Africa was the No. 1 country in Africa for motor vehicle production in 2014, followed by Morocco, Egypt, Kenya and Zimbabwe at No. 5, according to the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, or OICA (International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers.)
Actual production rates vary greatly
between countries.
In 2014, South Africa
produced 566,083 units; Morocco produced 231986 units; Egypt
produced 27,020 units; Kenya produced 3,080 units; and Zimbabwe produced 829
units, OICA reported. The OICA defines motor vehicles
as passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, minibuses, trucks, buses and
coaches.
“Our production volume is still
small,” said Yusuke Hori, head of Africa and the Middle
East for Honda in a statement. “However, we will strive to… expand
our business in Africa in the future.”
The new plant is Honda’s first
automobile production plant in Africa, MarketWatch reports.Honda considers Africa a new
growth market. The company established a local subsidiary in South Africa
in 2000 and an automobile sales office in Kenya in 2011, followed by
a motorcycle production and sales subsidiary in 2013.
“Establishment of the first Honda
automobile production plant in Africa is an epoch-making challenge for us,”
said Yoshi Yamane, director of Honda Motor Co. “I expect that this
initiative will lead to a great leap in our automobile business in Nigeria and
become a first step toward expansion to the entire African market.”
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