Indian-based bus manufacturer Azad Coach Builders Private Limited and Chinese bus manufacturer Zhengzhou Yutong Group Company Limited, along with GAC Gonow – a joint venture (JV) between Guangzhou Automobile and Zhejiang Gonow Holdings Group, are setting up a vehicle assembly plant in Cameroon, reports Dow Jones. The new company will be known as the Cameroon Automobile Industry Company (CAIC). The plant will be located in Cameroon's largest city, Douala, and will involve an investment of USD158 million, according to the report. Manoj Khiyani, the general manager of CAIC, said, "The first cars should be on the markets in six months." According to Emmanuel Bonde, Cameroon's mines, industries, and technological development minister, the new JV plant is expected to create 4,620 direct jobs and will be exempted from taxes and customs duties for the first 5-10 years of its operations.
Significance: The report describes the new facility as a "car plant", but since two of the JV partners are bus-makers, it is actually expected to be a "vehicle" plant, with buses among the models produced there. Cameroon's nondescript automotive industry is dominated by used-car imports. However, many Chinese automakers are eyeing Africa as a target for overseas operations. Cameroon currently does not have a fully fledged vehicle production sector or the infrastructure to support one, so the JV will be breaking new ground in the country, with all of the risks that this entails. The Indian-based Azad Group is a manufacturer of city and executive buses, among others, while it also undertakes the development and supply of semi-knocked down and completely knocked down bus body kits. The company operates a plant in Jaipur City, Rajasthan, with a production capacity of 1,500 units per annum (upa). Yutong focuses on bus manufacturing as its core business and operates a plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province (China), with a production capacity of more than 60,000 upa. GAC Gonow is a Chinese manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles and markets its products under the brand name GAC Gonow in China and as Gonow in other global markets. The automaker operates three plants in China, in Taizhou, Xiaoshan and Dongying.
