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GAC Motors Plans To Establish A Vehicle Assembly Plant In Lagos
Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Motors) will be visiting Lagos State to study the viability of establishing a Vehicle Assembly Plant.
The development followed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s visit to the Chinese automobile firm’s headquarters in Guangzhou, where the Lagos helmsman held a business meeting with GAC’s management team.
The Governor, who is on a working visit to China, inspected the automobile manufacturing company’s factories, research and development centres as well as its training facilities.
Moved by the huge jobs potential of a similar facility in Lagos, Sanwo-Olu advised the company to consider building an assembly plant in Lagos.
“On the government side, I think now is the right time for you to come to Lagos because we will support you. There is a free trade zone you can locate your factories and Lagos has a pool of highly talented and innovative people that can provide a steady workforce supply for your operations in our State.”
Sanwo-Olu said his administration’s commitment to business innovation and process review was acknowledged by the World Bank as major drivers of Nigeria’s 15 places upward movement in the Ease of Doing Business Index.
GAC Group chairman Mr. Zeng Qihong, at a meeting, said the Group was considering expanding its business in international markets.
He said: “With the Governor’s invitation, we are quite confident and encouraged that coming to Lagos would be exciting. We will look into the process of establishing an operation base in Lagos after our international business department has visited to carry out a visibility study of the market. We are optimistic about coming to Lagos because of the market size and the significance of the economy to Africa.”
Lagos State Governor, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu presenting the business case for GAC Motors Group to locate a factory in Lagos to the management of the company in Guangzhou, China yesterday.
At the meeting were top management members of GAC Motors, including the President of the company, Mr. Feng Xingya, General Director Zhang Yuesai, Director for International Business Mr. Yu Jun and Regional Sales Director for African Region Kamel Zheng.
It is anticipated that GAC Motors operations in Lagos will contribute to the development of the State’s economy and encourage technology transfer between China and Lagos.
GAC Group is ranked 189 on the list of Fortune 500 companies. The company’s total revenue for 2018 was $53bn and profit $10bn. In 2018, the GAC brand passenger car exports accounted for 70% of China’s passenger car exports to Nigeria. It has a national brand store and service centre in Nigeria, and recently completed its first SKD factory in the country.