Ghana unveils VW Car from local Assembly Plant
Ghana has unveiled the first Volkswagen vehicle to be assembled in the West African Country. This comes on the heels of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed unveiling of a new Hyundai Ioniq EV from Marathon Motor Engineering. President Nana Akufo-Addo, said this was a result of an arrangement between German Chancellor Angela Merkel , Volkswagen and its Ghanaian partner, Universal Motors Limited for the assembling and ultimately the production of VW vehicles in the country. The German Chancellor visited Ghana in 2018.Thomas Schaefer, head for sub-Saharan Africa at Volkswagen said the facility targets a fully installed capacity of 5,000 cars a year.
Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Suzuki Motor Corp. and Renault SA are among automakers weighing the local assembly of vehicles in a country where used cars make up about 70% of vehicle imports. Ghana, which prohibited the importation of used cars older than 10 years old in May, wants to leverage a continental free-trade agreement to become West Africa’s manufacturing hub.
According to Wikipedia , Industry in Ghana accounts for about 25.3% of total GDP.However, Ghana’s industrial production is rising at a 7.8% rate, giving it the 38th fastest growing industrial production in the world due to government industrialization policies.
Ghana’s most important manufacturing industries include electronics manufacturing, car manufacturing, electric car manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, light manufacturing, aluminum smelting, food processing, cement, and small commercial ship building. A relatively small glass-making industry has also developed due to the high-quality sand available from the Tarkwa mining area. The foreign capital has increased in recent years. Most products are for local consumption and exportation.
Other industries include the production of food and beverages, textiles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and the processing of metals and wood products.
