Ghana’s Automotive Industry promises to provide an opportune environment to investors across the value chain.

This development is seen after the official unveiling of the first locally assembled Volkswagen cars, valued at 10.5 million dollars.

Per information from the Minister of Trade and Industry, VW is expected to produce an average of ten to twenty thousand cars annually in the second phase of its manufacturing project.

According to reports, this is estimated to be worth 22 million dollars.

As part of the nation’s Ten-Point-Plan for industrial development, Vehicle Assemble and Automotive Components manufacturing has been identified as a strategic industry to be supported.

To this, the Volkswagen story as stated by President Nana Akufo-Addo, is the first of several other car manufacturers expected to launch into the business of locally assembled cars in the country, under the governments automotive industry hub.

His statement is verified by the CEO of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant, in recent engagements with the media.

He says the government is optimistic about more automobile manufacturers launching their operations in the country.

“Renault, Suzuki, Nissan and Toyota are some of the brands that have expressed interest to come in and start production. There’s also SinoTruck from China who’s already assembling here for the market, while discussions are ongoing with Honda to also begin production” he said.

This is in line with Mr. Alan Kyeremanten, the Trade Minister’s 2018 announcement that imported vehicles are among the top three import commodity items in the country.

Mr. Grant further explains that the basic objectives of the automotive industry hub concept are job creation, national economy development and industrial growth, contrary to agitations from second hand car dealers.

The government plans herein, to halve the high vehicle import by instigating local production of vehicles through the Automotive Policy and developing car financing schemes to facilitate the purchase of new cars.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry have recently developed an automotive development policy as a step to achieving this feat.

The initial scope of the policy is to provide the necessary framework to establish assembly manufacturing capacity in Ghana.

With time, domestic production and assembly of vehicles is expected to have substantial multiplier benefits for the country through a reduction in car prices.

This will to cause an increase in purchasing, as well as boosting employment opportunities, technology transfers, industrialization and export revenues for sustained economic growth.