Globe Motors Rolls Out Hyundai, Others

Globe Motors, a homegrown auto company is set to roll out the first line of vehicles it amassed in its new automobile assembly plant in Lagos, next month.

Chairman of Globe Motors Holdings (Nig.) Limited, Mr. William Anumudu, dropped the hint yesterday, adding that three brands, Higer, Hyundai and Globe, would be on the first train from the assembly plant that they expect would cost over $150 million on completion.

“We are going to roll out our first set of vehicles in July 2016 and we will produce Hyundai, Higer vehicles and Globe brand. We have made a lot of investments and we believe on completion of the project, it will be worth over $150 million.”

He said the plant would produce, in its first phase, 6,000 vehicles per annum and that on completion, it would produce a minimum of 40,000 vehicles per annum.

The vehicles from the plant would be in various segments like commercial, passenger vehicles, low, medium and high capacity vehicles, SUV and Pickups. There will also be light and heavy duty trucks.

Anumudu said some of the SKDs were already in the country and that they had made a lot of progress, adding that the facility would create 3,500 direct jobs for both local and expatriate workers. He said that there would be a lot of indirect jobs on account of this.

On funding, he said they have gotten a lot of assistance from Nigerian banks and that they have also keyed into the Real Sector Support Fund of the Federal Government of Nigeria, an intervention fund that is administered by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Anumudu however said he has have received good response to their request for funding.

In February, last year, the federal government issued Globe Motors recognized status as vehicle assemblers and they proceeded to sign agreements with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in South Korea and China.

The plant, he said, would begin with the assembly of semi knocked down (SKD) parts before moving on to completely knock down (CKD) parts.