Boyi stated this at the just concluded 9th Lagos Motor Fair and 3rd Autoparts Expo, Nigeria held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to him, “By 2015 we will start full CKD assembly, and this will generate the most local content.”
He said they were already looking at the local auto component manufacturers and were ready to work with any serious investor in that sector. “So, it is a great opportunity for people that want to ride on the back of this policy.”
PAN, he said was already working with the association of auto component manufacturers to create clusters and that the Minister of Transport has been informed that “We are ready to work with auto component manufacturers that show enough seriousness in our cluster in Kaduna.”
He said the company would need to employ more people and expand its distribution and sales network.
He said the PAN would work hard to regain its customer-base that was lost when the company went under, adding “All of these will bring opportunities for more people.”
PAN was established in 1972, he said as a joint venture between the Automobile Company of France and the Federal Government of Nigeria and that when it was in operation, produced more than 500,000 cars, adding that it produced up to 90,000 cars in a single year and employed over 4,000 people.
He said the story has changed, unfortunately, explaining that “as at last year, the company had 300 staff and our projection last year was under a thousand cars and if you quantify that against the current tax, you see the amount of loss that the Nigerian economy has suffered.”
He said the workers that lost their jobs have suffered a great deal and that the company’s dealership across the nation also suffered.
Stating what was ahead in the plans of PAN with the auto policy, he said, “It will start to bring those benefits back to Nigeria. The objective of the new policy is to encourage local production; local development of skill and manpower; for employment and create local opportunity. So, we are fully in support of the policy and we want to assure everybody, including those who may not like the policy, that the policy will only do one thing, naturally help improve the Nigerian people. Despite all the opposition and the fear that the policy will generate, we will be able to create more opportunities for our people and all will translate into better and cheaper products.”
Another crucial issue Boyi discussed was the proliferation of fake spare parts. He urged auto companies in the country to provide genuine spare parts to discourage the use of substandard parts.
He said the Lagos Auto Fair was an opportunity to meet with PAN’s critical stakeholders and, praised the orgnisers, BKG Exhibition Limited for putting up a good show.
Stressing the need for genuine spare parts and good after sales services, he said, “We as industry players must rise against the proliferation of substandard parts. Personally, I will take up the challenge and our organisation will also take up the challenge. We will speak with the regulators and the enforcers and ensure that we minimise the incidence of fake parts in Nigeria.”
He said, “We are very much concerned that those customers, who buy PAN vehicles, get full value from the vehicles. Strategically as an organisation, we are concerned about the provision of spares. A lot of companies suffer this problem. Cost of ownership of vehicles has been so much mainly because of the incidences of fake spare parts in the market. By our estimate, there are about 70 per cent to 80 per cent fake spares in the market. So, the chance of you buying spares and getting original spares is only 20 or 30 per cent.”
This, he said was a major concern for PAN and that it has led to their ensuring that, as part of their new development plan, “we manage and ensure the integrity of after sales, because Peugeot brand is known as vehicles that anyone everywhere can maintain. We will like to bring that back into our system.”
The company, he said intended to expand its after sales network and spread it to all nooks and crannies of the country and that since there is new sophistication in the production of the vehicles, people’s skills would be upgraded to enable them provide adequate services. “We will have skilled and very well-trained manpower and to also ensure that whatever parts that is used for your cars are genuine spare parts.
The chief executive officer promised that PAN customers would enjoy the use of their vehicles at cheaper running and maintenance costs, because “with genuine spare parts, you are given peace of mind, comfort and lasting use of the vehicles.”
Boyi said another important thing happening in the country was the auto development plan of the federal government.
According to him, the nation embraced the policy in the seventies but that, “unfortunately, when the industry was just at the verge of exploding in its full potentials, such policy initiative was reversed and the industry suffered a major setback in terms of its own development.”
Present at the event were; PAN’s technical partners, France Automobile Company, represented by Mr. Erik, Technical Assistant to the Managing Director, and other top management staff of the company.
This Day.
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