THE Chief Commer-cial Officer of Kia Motors Nigeria, Mr. Sundeep Malhotra, has reiterated the company’s commitment to the development of the country’s automobile industry. Mr. Malhotra, who was speaking during a facility tour of Kia multi-billion assembly plant in Lagos by the journalist, said that the company remains committed to the long term investment in the auto industry despite the short term challenges currently facing the sector.

•Kia Sorento, assembled in Nigeria, assembled in Nigeria

According to him, “for the industry to be revolutionalised and contribute immensely to the country’s internally generated revenue, government needs to stay true to the new auto policy and clamp down on the unchecked influx of imported used cars.

The Chief Commercial Officer, who disclosed that the company is currently producing nine new Kia models at its plant in Lagos, noted that the company was yet to break even with its investment as the demand for new cars in Nigeria was relatively low compared to pre-owned vehicles.

Prices ofused cars

He argued that if the policy holds sway, wherein 70 percent increase duty is implemented and prices of used cars soars higher, there is will be an attendant shift in demand and customer preference, which will directly impact on the supply of locally assembled new cars in the country. The Kia COO, however, explained that the new plant has since April 2014 rolled out over 2,500 new Kia cars of different models, adding that the plant has the capacity to produce 27,000 vehicles annually.

According to him, the plant also has the provision to increase production line depending on the demand. Some of the new Kia cars assembled at the new plant include the Picanto, Rio, Cerato, Optima, Sportage, Soul and Sorento, while the Cadenza and Quori will join before the end of the year. Meanwhile, Malhotra noted that the setting up of the assembly plant has started yielding fruits as prices of their cars have been reduced drastically to the benefit of customers.

Objectives

He said: “Against all odds and to make owning its vehicles affordable to all without compromising on the brand’s renowned quality standard across the globe, the company sells its best-in-class and widely accepted Rio for N1.98 million, a quantum leap by the auto company to present a new car for less than N2 million.”

Also speaking to the press during the tour of the plant, the COO in charge of the Kia assembly plant, Mr. Gitesh Yagnik, describe the plan as modern and comparable to most plants in advanced countries. He said: “The sprawling complex has been built to high standard of Kia corporation.

“Months of construction, installation of technologically advanced equipment and the training of staff have snowballed into its first assembly lines that assembles Kia models, such as its best-selling Kia Rio, Cerato, Optima, Sportage and the all-new 2015 Kia Sorento recently unveiled globally, among others, are all products from the plant.”

He explained that in tandem with all automobile assembling/manufacturing plants in new market practice globally, the plant kicked off with  semi-knocked down, where painted and trimmed bodies are shipped from an established plant in one box, mechanicals in another, join the two, add some locally sourced transmission fluids, air conditioner gas and a host of others.

With no prejudice and utmost transparency to help in alleviating the rate of unemployment in the country, over 85 percent of the employees are sourced locally from top Nigerian universities.

Speaking at the tour, the Chief Operation Officer, Gitesh Yagnik, pointed out that the plant houses over 100 engineers drawn from Nigerian universities and had undergone top-notch intensive training programme and capacity development before being employed into the plant. In his words: “We now have 150 trained and qualified engineers that can be compared to international standard and over 50 support staff running the operational and assembly process cycle of the plant.”

At the end of the tour, it’s apparently lucid that there was no compromise on the quality and the high standard of the plant and it remains one of the best in the country. It’s highly ventilated facility and its environmental worthiness bring the auto company to the fore of the Nigerian auto industry. The excitement emanating from the plant cannot be overemphasised as the employees are passionate about their work and are committed to producing made-in-Nigeria Kia vehicles the preferred choice in the country.