BY THEODORE OPARA

Managing Director of VON Automobile Nigeria Limited, Mr. Tokunbo Aromolaran, has called on the Federal Government to look into the issue of tariff differentials between imported vehicles and locally assembled ones, if the Nigerian auto industry must develop.

Aromolaran, who was speaking while conducting Motoring Journalists round VON’s assembly lines along Lagos Badagry expressway, Ojo, Lagos, said a situation where the duty differential between imported and locally assembled units is just five per cent would not enable the nation’s auto industry to develop.

According to him, “a duty differential of between 30 to 40 per cent is what we need to support the industry and save it from collapsing again.”

He cited examples of the earlier assembly lines, which went down as a result of lack of support and protection, saying that the current duty differentials did not support their survival.

Vehicle assembling plant

The VON  boss, who commended the current administration for its support to the local auto industry said, “this government has created a stable polity and is developing policies aimed at supporting local production in the long term.”

Continuing he said “the signals given by the economic team prosecuting the transformation agenda of the Federal Government in the form of policy initiatives are positive and demonstrate the government’s determination to achieving the goals of local production as set out in the year 2020 document.”

Speaking on the VON plant, he said that  the newly revived plant, under a new investor, the Stallion Group of companies, started business less than a year ago after two decades of closure with the aim of developing a state of the art auto plant that would rival the best in its class and serve as a base for realizing the country’s dream of industrializing its economy.

He explained that the company commenced its trial run last November, adding that production had since stabilized as they now produce city buses of the Ashok Leyland brand.

Currently, VON produces three bus models including the Falcon (42-seater 100 capacity city bus), the Hawk (31-seater 85 capacity bus), and the Eagle (28-seater bus). The company currently has the capacity to produce 2,000 buses annually, according to the Managing Director.

He, however, disclosed that the second phase of their project would entail the production of commercial trucks and pickup vans with an annual capacity of 15,000 vehicles. This second phase, according to him, will include the production of Volkswagen, Hyundai and Foton brands of commercial vehicles in the third quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, Mr. Aromolaran has confirmed that their numerous customers especially those using the vehicles for BRT Mass Transit Scheme and new government fuel subsidy palliative had attested to the quality of their locally produced buses, adding that their dream was to raise the local content of their products by 50 per cent in a few years time.

“The company is taking great pains to increase value added and has plans to reaching over 50 per cent local value added by the third year of production,” he said “adding that training and development of local staff had produced phenomenal results in terms of the quality of finished products.