Dana Motors unveils Made-in-Nigeria Kia, DFM

Dana Motors, a leading auto company, paraded the 2020 Kia and DFM made-in-Nigeria models at an event organised by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) in Abuja.

The event was a prelude to the Argungu Motor rally.

The event was aimed at demonstrating the feats recorded by the auto policy for the past years.

The made-in-Nigeria vehicles are testaments to the success recorded in the industry over the years to make Nigeria a self-sustaining industrialised nation with locally produced vehicles.

Minister of State for Industry, Trade, and Investment Ambassador Mariam Katagum urged the auto companies to do more in the area of local content and have faith in the Federal Government’s commitment to economic diversification.

Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo from the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, said the vehicles and brands unveiled were a testament to the zeal and commitment of the automotive industrial sector to government’s efforts towards diversification and development of the non-oil sector of the economy.

“The role of the NADDC in reviving and sustaining the automotive sector has greatly helped in stimulating growth and development in the Nigerian automotive industry,” he said.

NADDC Director-General Jelani Aliyu, said Nigerians spent over $8 billion on vehicle importation yearly.

This, he said, was hurting the local automotive industry that was established in 2013. He said the National Automotive Industry Development Plan established about six years ago has attracted about $1 billion into the Nigerian economy despite Nigerians preference for imported cars.

According to him, about 4,700 people were directly employed in the sector.

He, however, lamented the lack of patronage of the locally produced cars.

This, he said, is hurting the growth of the industry.

To make the cars affordable to all, Jelani added that it set aside N5 billion towards a single-digit vehicle finance scheme and was talking with banks such as Zenith, Wema and Jaiz to provide the financing for vehicles made in Nigeria.

Keying into the Federal government’s economic diversification, Dana Motors Limited has been at the vanguard of the production of locally produced vehicles. Having established an assembly plant in Lagos, the auto company has produced technologically advanced vehicles for both the Kia and DFM brands.

The plant prides itself on the production of over 13 models and their respective trims cutting across two multinational brands – Kia and DFM – with thousands of units rolled out since its launch in April 2014.