VW, Toyota to begin operations in April 2020 - Akufo-Addo

President Akufo Addo says global automobile giant, Volkswagen (VW), is due to start production by the end of April 2020 as its building an assembling plant in the North Industrial Area.

According to him, Sinotruk, which also expressed interest in Ghana, will also begin assembling a plant this year.

“Toyota is scheduled to start the assembly of vehicles in Tema in the last quarter of this year. We have high hopes for this new industry, which has come to join our Kantanka.”

“We launched the Ghana Automotive Development Policy in August last year, and it has, so far, attracted investments and commercial interests from very big players including Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Renault, Hyundai, Sinotruk and Suzuki,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo said this on the floor of parliament he delivered the State of the Nation Address in Accra on February 20.

Earlier, German Ambassador to Ghana, Christoph Retzlaff confirmed that the German car manufacturer, Volkswagen (VW) will from early 2020 commence the first phase for the establishment of an assembling car plant in Ghana.

According to him, the second phase of the assembling plant will also be established at new premises either in Tema or Takoradi in 2021.

Toyota's Vision for Ghana

Toyota’s Africa division Chief Executive Officer, Richard Bielle, earlier said that he wants the continent to provide up to 30% of the corporation’s total annual revenue, currently at $60 billion, within the next 20 years.

“I think you’re going to see movement into Ghana pretty quickly,” said Martyn Davies, Managing Director of Emerging Markets and Africa at Deloitte. “Ghana has a lot of work to do, and heavy lifting on the human resources front is required. But manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers have got the resources, and they can invest heavily. So, this is not insurmountable.”

The African auto parts market for passenger vehicles is emerging as one of the most important re-export markets, growing more than 11 percent year-on-year, and estimated to be worth US$7.68 billion in 2013 and based on the double-digit growth of demand in key Sub-Saharan countries, the value of Africa’s auto parts market is likely to double by 2020.

Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, have witnessed double-digit growth in demand for parts in the past five years.