DETERAMINED to make Kia the number one car brand in Nigeria, Kia Motors representative in Nigeria, Dana Motors, has vowed to utilise over 90 percent locally- sourced content in its car production in Nigeria, says the company’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Sandeep Malhotra.

Kia’s gritty and unwavering commitment in the production of made-in-Nigeria cars has continuously been at the fore front of the management of Kia Motors Nigeria. The ultra-high-tech and state-of-the-art plant in Lagos has produced over 4500 units of cars since its launch in the first half of 2015.

The trajectory growth of the locally-assembled KIA cars and its top-notch quality built to the exacting standard of the global brand has galvanised the company to explore local content in its assembling chain and influenced its plan to reach a 90% local content utilisation in the production of its cars. The plant produces all 9 models in its plant, worthy of note within its array of made in Nigeria Kia cars is the 2016 Kia Sorento.

Outside Korea, the birth country of Kia, the automobile company has a long history of building locally to meet the specific needs of local customers with assembly operations using ‘car kits’ sourced locally and other parts of the world. Aligning with this practice and geared towards advancing Nigeria’s economy to compete favourably among the comity of nations, Kia Motors Nigeria plans to have over 90% local content utilisation in Nigeria in its assembling process.

According to Mr. Malhotra, “Nigeria remains an emerging and growing economy in the world with vast potentials for growth despite it is myriad of challenges, the country promises a large economy of scale, hence it’s incumbent upon us as a local investor to help her realise its goals. As a company with an unswerving interest on the advancement of the nation’s economy, we have a plan to utilise 90% local content in our assembly process to help strengthen the economy. Buoyed by our increased acceptability among our valued customers in the last decade, we are now looking at further strengthening our foothold and expanding our reach in the localisation of our assembly plant.”

With its built-from-scratch assembly chain firmly in place and over a year of SKD production phase under its belt, Kia Motors Nigeria is now focused on local content utilisation in its made in Nigeria Kia cars.

The plant in Lagos is progressing on schedule for the utilisation of local contents in its assembling process and currently sourced some of its parts including refrigerant, lubricant, and workshop consumables amongst others locally. The plant has a capacity to build up to 27,000 vehicles annually on flexible assembly lines that can manufacture several different models simultaneously to adapt to changes in buying trends.