By Victor Angula |
The Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade is eagerly awaiting for Government to enact appropriate laws which will help increase sales volume of the locally assembled Peugeot cars.
Two months ago Industrialisation and Trade Minister Lucia Iipumbu received six Peugeot cars for her ministry, signaling the beginning of car production in Namibia.
“The Ministry procured these cars as a gesture to support the initiative in walking the talk – the ‘Buy Local Grow Namibia’ campaign currently in motion, also representing the low-hanging fruit of the ingenuity to assemble Peugeot cars in the country,” said Industrialisation and Trade Ministry’s chief information officer Mr Elijah Mukubonda.
The Peugeot-Namibia plant, officially launched and unveiled by President Hage Geingob on 5 December 2018 at Walvis Bay, has so far sold 22 cars, with another 131 still in stock.
“The investment agreement facilitated the joint-venture contract between Groupe PSA (a French multinational automotive manufacturing company) and the Namibia Development Corporation (NDC then, NOW Namibia Industrial Development Agency – NIDA, an amalgamation with the former Offshore Development Corporation – ODC) to assemble OPEL and PEUGEOT vehicles at Walvis Bay,” Mukubonda explained.
“Moreover, the project seeks to bolster the diversification stratagem set out in our Growth at Home Strategy. Local small and medium enterprises are expected to incur benefits from this investment, enabling Namibia to realize the positive externalities and spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
“To date, the plant has sold 22 cars with 131 units still in stock. Additionally, the manufacturing plant has employed 20 local people so far and it targets to employ at least 50 workers. However, due to low sales of the manufactured goods, under employment is evident.
“We positively await for favorable Government laws and regulations to catalyze and propel sales to realize the particular objective of growth at home.”
The Peugeots come in three series with the price ranging from N$500 000 to N$680 000. The 2008, which is the smallest one costs N$500 000, and the next in line is the 3008 costing N$580 000.
“So far, the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade, the Namibia Industrial Development Agency and Walvis Bay Municipality acquired the Peugeot brand.
“To those who love specifics – the cars purchased by the Ministry are PEUGEOT 3008.
“The clarion call implores citizens to ‘Buy Local and Grow Namibia’ echoing sentiments expressed by the #GoLocal and GrowNamibia# campaign,” Mukubonda said.
In the photo: Elijah Mukubonda, with the Peugeot 2008 on the left which costs N$500,000.
