The German automaker, Volkswagen, is staging a return to Nigeria, more than 20 years after its departure from the country due to inactivity.
This follows the signing of an agreement between Volkswagen Group and Stallion Group to establish a vehicle assembly plant in Nigeria next year.
The collapse of the joint venture between the German company and the Federal Government had led to the closure of their manufacturing facility in Lagos and the subsequent sale of government shares to the Stallion Group.
Stallion said in a statement on Sunday that its collaboration with the Volkswagen Group would result in the establishment of a local assembly for Volkswagen brands in Nigeria.
It said the development was the fallout of the new automotive policy introduced in by the Federal Government to encourage local production of vehicles.
It described the Volkswagen Group as one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest automaker in Europe.
The Chairman of Stallion, Mr. Sunil Vaswani, was quoted as saying, “This is a proud moment for Stallion in partnering a world-leading global brand like Volkswagen.”
According to him, the Stallion is fully committed to achieving the objectives of establishing assembly operations in Nigeria, and expanding into other aspects of the automotive industry value chain.
Sunil reaffirmed his commitment to working with the Nigerian government to create jobs and attracting foreign investment as a means of growing the economy.
The statement also quoted the Executive Director of Sales, Middle East and Africa at Volkswagen, Dr. Jan Utermarck, as saying, “Volkswagen is on a constant global search for market and sales potential. Nigeria is the largest automotive market in the Sub-Saharan region; hence, we appreciate the fact that we have found a professional partner in Stallion to launch a local vehicle assembly in Lagos starting in 2015.”
Stallion said it would assemble the Jetta, Volkswagen CC, and Amarok models during the initial phase, followed by the Passat, Tiguan and other models in subsequent phases.
