President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday (June 29, 2021), commissioned a Toyota and Suzuki vehicle assembly plant in Ghana.
The launch of a Toyota assembly plant in Ghana which is the second auto assembly plant in the country in less than a year, will help reduce imports of secondhand vehicles and boost export earnings, President Nana Akuffo-Addo said on Tuesday, June 29.
The assembly unit, a $7-million investment with annual production capacity of around 1,330 units, follows the launch by Volkswagen of a 5,000-unit-per-year-capacity assembly facility in August 2020.
The plants are the result of global automakers such as Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and Peugeot waking up to the potential of the African market, traditionally dominated by used-car sales.
At the commission, President Akufo-Addo said the Government’s vision is to make Ghana a fully integrated and competitive industrial hub for the automotive industry in West Africa. The President added that “we are very much on course” to achieving this vision.
President Akufo-Addo added that Ghanaians will now be able to purchase new vehicles at more affordable prices since the cars will be locally assembled.
Akuffo-Addo said Ghana aims to boost its auto sector and attract automakers with generous fiscal incentives to assemble and produce cars in the country.
Akuffo-Addo noted that”The use of foreign exchange to import cars in Ghana will be reduced, at the same time, the export of made in Ghana cars to other African markets will earn our nation much needed foreign exchange,”
Ghana passed a law to ban the import of secondhand cars older than 10 years old from October last year but suspended the decision indefinitely after pressure from importers who feared job losses
He said the Minister of Trade and Industry is working with other state institutions such as the Ghana Integrated Aluminum Development Corporation (GIADEC) and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Developing Corporation to develop the required raw material value chains locally to free the manufacturing sector of the automobile industry.
The plant will assemble Toyota Hilux pick-up truck and other sedans.