
Indian automaker Tata Motors will reportedly invest as much as USD8 million in a new vehicle plant in Nigeria, according to Aminu Jalah, the director general at the country's National Automotive Council (NAC), and as reported by local publication The Sun. Kshitij Verma, the regional manager at Tata's North and West African unit and Subhajit Som, the assistant area manager at the Nigerian unit, recently visited Nigeria and held meetings with the NAC. The automaker will reportedly partner with local firm Iron Products Industries Limited (IPI), to locally assemble and sell the vehicles. The report further suggests that Tata has acquired a plot in the state of Ogun to build the new plant.
Significance: Tata was linked with new assembly operations in Nigeria following the Nigerian government's approval for the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) in 2013. Through the NAIDP, the government aims to encourage investment from global automakers in Nigeria. Furthermore, the plan's objective is to support the development of local component suppliers by expanding local capacity for automakers manufacturing affordable vehicles in large quantities. Africa seems a logical choice since the company already has a commercial vehicle (CV) assembly plant in South Africa. While Tata's plans for Nigeria are still in a nascent stage, as many as 32 global automakers including Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot and Sino Trucks, have already begun assembly operations in the country, according to the NAC. IPI is a local automotive component manufacturer including steel and aluminium. The company operates a plant in Lagos, Nigeria.