By Theodore Opara

PAN Nigeria Ltd, assemblers of Peugeot brand in Nigeria has described as malicious a newspaper report saying that the company lacks the capacity to deliver cars requested by the National Assembly.

The leading Nigeria automobile assembler in a statement signed by it Corporate Communication Manager, Mr. Haroun Malami, said that the company is adequately equipped to meet local demand for its vehicles.

Peugeot 508

The report published in one of Nigeria’s national Newspapers tittle ‘Reps grumble as delivery of N6.1 billion exotic cars stalls’ was described as misleading, inaccurate and malicious.

It  reads: Our attention has been drawn to headline report captioned “Reps grumble as delivery of N6.1bn exotic car stalls”. The reporter remark “Peugeot lacks of capacity to deliver the cars because of the huge numbers” is misleading, inaccurate, malicious, and it undermine our capacity as a key stakeholder and active player in the Nigerian automotive industry.

We are pioneer car assembly plant in Nigeria with over four decades in vehicle assembly, our SKD production capacity at the moment is 30 vehicles per shift, we are the only assembly plant with a fully built CKD facility ready for deployment when demand arises.

With robust dealership network and after sales services, we are uniquely placed and committed to meet national, and our customers demand who are committed in meeting their financial obligation.

The choice of Peugeot 508 against all other brand was based on overall value offered by the vehicle in terms of price, performance and residual value. It is also a demonstration of the House of Reps to patronize made in Nigeria products in support of Government Auto Development Plan to promote local industrialization and generation of economic opportunities,”the statement said.

It should be recalled that Peugeot vehicle had in the recent year became the cars to beat across the globe. The Peugeot 301 was voted car of the year in Nigeria, in 2016 while the Peugeot 3008 is the reigning world car of the year.