Stories by Femi Akinola
Owing to the surge in the price of petrol, the demand for electric vehicles in the country has increased tremendously.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, lnnoson Motors, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, stated this while speaking on a television program.
Commenting on the rising petrol prices, Chukwuma said the current economic condition was affecting everyone in the country, including business operations, hence, car owners are going for the cheapest means of running their cars.
“The petrol price hike is affecting business generally. The foreign exchange is going up, everything is going up and it’s affecting everything,” he said.
As a result of the current cost of petrol in the country, Chukwuma said the growing interest has motivated his company to develop electric vehicles locally.
His words: “People have so much interest in electric vehicles because of the high cost of fuel. Some people are buying it immediately. That’s why I am able to produce it.
“I produce the carcass and if people need electric vehicles, what I need is to bring electrical components and put them for you.
“If you need an engine, we will put an engine on it. If you need CNG, we will put CNG engine for you.”
The businessman said Nigeria can produce cars from scratch, noting that while the country’s automotive industry is equipped to produce cars from start to finish, low sales figures were hindering the localisation of some components, such as car engines.
“We have the capacity to do a car from beginning to end but because of some items, the producers in Nigeria cannot make good sales. They cannot be here producing it,” Chukwuma said.
He disclosed that Innoson Motors plans to localise the production of car engines and other parts once the company reaches an annual sales target of 10,000 vehicles.
Achieving this milestone, Chukwuma said, would pave the way for setting up an engine factory in Nigeria.
“If I can sell 10,000 motors in one year, I will localise the engine because localising the engine is my agreement with the overseas when I started. We plan to localise, but we must reach up to 10,000 vehicles in one year,” he said.
He said the engine is a major component that is not been produce in Nigeria as of now. He however expressed confidence that full localisation is attainable.
He added that the government was making efforts to set up component manufacturers near Innoson Motors to facilitate the sourcing of parts.
