Ford stops exportation of vehicles to Nigeria

There are indications that Ford Motor Company has suspended its planned exportation of 500 units of vehicles meant for the Nigerian market owing to the current economic recession.

The United States automaker was said to have assembled the vehicles in its South African factory and completed all arrangements to ship them to Nigeria before halting the decision.

Prof. Okey Iheduru of the Arizona State University, United States, hinted at a forum in Lagos that Ford had dismantled over 500 units of vehicles meant for the Nigerian market because the Coscharis Group, its local representative, could not accommodate them.

The General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Services, Coscharis Group, Mr. Abiona Babarinde, who confirmed this in an emailed response to Punch’s enquiry, attributed the development to “forex-related issues.”

He said the vehicles were “to be imported as SKD (semi-knocked down) kits for (auto) assembly but got stuck in South Africa because of slow sale of what we already have in stock in Nigeria.”

Ford recently discontinued its business relationship with one of its two partners in Nigeria, RT Briscoe, leaving only Coscharis Motors as its sole representative in the country.

A statement from Ford Motor Company of Sub-Saharan Africa sent via email said tough economic climate arising from the fall in oil prices, foreign exchange shortages and rapid devaluation of the naira was adversely affecting its operation in the region, including Nigeria.