…Plans to Advance from SKD to CKD Within 12 Months
By: ROTIMI ASHER (Lagos, Nigeria)
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]o ensure unhindered production process, Perfection Motor Limited, operators of Nigeria’s FAW Auto Assembly plant, which opened recently in Lagos, has started generating its own electricity, rather than rely on the nation’s epileptic power supply, Motoring World International has discovered.
The company’s General Manager, Mr. Adrian Fourie, made the disclosure in his office, during an exclusive chat with our correspondents last week.
According to him, Perfection Motors Limited is generating its own power, water and other infrastructure required to operate successfully in Nigeria.
The company, which inaugurated its Nigeria’s first plant and showroom this month (January), has put in place, necessary infrastructure required to ensure smooth and unimpeded operations of the FAW truck making plant.
“Before we set up here,” Mr. Fourie emphasised, “we were aware of inadequate infrastructure in the country, especially power supply, which is highly required for effective operations of an auto assembly plant.
“And so, we took all that into cognisance before taking off . We thought ‘if you discover that you are having problem with infrastructure in terms of power, the solution is to create yours, which is what we have done.
“We generate our own power, water and other infrastructure we need. We are self sufficient. We don’t have to run on government’s infrastructure.”
Mr. Fourie said his company had to go extra mile to pump additional investment into infrastructural, because “we believe that Nigeria has a huge market for truck vehicles.”
“And since FAW is an original brand,” he noted out, “the organization has come to establish itself in Nigeria.
“We just want to see our vehicles on the road. We want people to see our vehicles. We want to start developing a good name for ourselves. Once we have that, we will start shooting for certain market share.’’
The auto assembly plant, said Mr Fourie, plans to, within the next one year, transit from assembly with Semi Knocked Down(SKD) parts to Completely Knocked Down (CKD). While its locally assembled trucks are targeted at oil and gas, construction and other relevant market segments, Perfection Motors Limited plans to spread its opoerations to Kano, Abuja, Kaduna and PortHacourt within the next six years.
Meanwhile, the Lagos-based FAW Assembly plant has capacity to assemble up to 1000 vehicles per year.
[tabs type=”horizontal”][tabs_head][tab_title][/tab_title][/tabs_head][tab] “We generate our own power, water and other infrastructure we need. We are self sufficient. We don’t have to run on government infrastructure.” – Adrian Fourie, GM, Perfection Motor Ltd[/tab][/tabs]
