Nigeria Poised to Become to Africa’s Automotive Hub by 2050

Robot machines weld car bodies at Kia Motors Slovakia plant in Zilina, Slovakia. Photographer: Vladimir Weiss/Bloomberg News

A report by PwC Nigeria has revealed that Nigeria is set to become Africa’s next automotive hub even as the federal government’s automotive policy takes shape and purchasing power increases.

The report, which highlighted three possible growth scenarios, projected average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.6 per cent through to 2020, 5.1 per cent to 2030 and 5.4 per cent to 2050.

In the report, growth in new car sales was assumed to run at twice GDP expansion on the basis of other large emerging markets such as Indonesia.

The report predicted a production of 4.16 million locally manufactured vehicles in 2050, 463,000 new vehicle imports and no second-hand imports (tokunbo). It also predicted a park of 40.4 million cars in 2050 including 18.3 million Nigerian used.

PwC’s estimates for 2015 have a park of 14.5 million vehicles, tokunbo imports of 335,000, new vehicle imports of 91,000 including the grey cross-border market and just 30,000 locally manufactured cars. In addition, the report identifies required backing in several areas, the first being the cost of vehicle purchases.

The report cited a survey showing that 63 per cent of Nigerians could not afford a car without some support.
The report highlighted porous borders, and noted that cars are the most smuggled items after rice and other foodstuffs.

 

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