It just so happens that Innoson Vehicle is not the only local vehicle assembling company operating in the country.
Another company was already in existence before Innosson. It is called the National Truck Manufacturers Ltd.
About National Truck Manufacturers Ltd
Widely referred to as Kano Cars, National Truck Manufacturers Limited is a car assembling company that came into production in 1970. The company is located in Kano, and boomed during the 1970s.
During this period, Nigeria also witnessed the establishment of many other assembling plants such as Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Limited (PAN), Kaduna, Volkswagen of Nigeria Limited (VON), Lagos, Anambra Motor Manufacturing Limited (ANAMMCO), Emene, Enugu, and Steyr Nigeria Limited, Bauchi.
But virtually all these companies later went out of business, except for National Truck Manufacturers Limited. The company has mainly been assembling trucks. And even though it is not as popular as Innoson vehicle, it remains one of Nigeria’s only indigenous car production companies.
In 2010, it was reported that the NTM will start producing over 60,000 trucks in Nigeria.
Does the NTM threaten the presence of Innoson vehicle
Since NTM focuses more on the production of trucks, it may not exactly be a threat to Innoson Vehicle.
Moreover, many Nigerians on Twitter have opined that the company itself isn’t even known. According to them, they were just hearing about it for the first time, thanks to a tweet by a Nigerian lady identified as @ovieali.
We do Yusuf in Kano . It is the most profitable vehicle company by a Nigerian. Just like Innoson, they buy their engines from abroad. They are called NTM, National truck manufacturers LTd , Kano. Along Kano-Zaria road. pic.twitter.com/VROV00X9si
— ᴏᴠɪᴇ ™🇳🇬 (@OvieAli) March 28, 2019
What’s KanoCars? 1st time I’m hearing about it
— Yusuf_Yoshka (@YusufYoshka) March 28, 2019
Wow very impressive how come i never heard of this 🤔
— Malam_Naseer (@naseer_gk) March 28, 2019
Me too I'm shocked… I've never heard of them 🤔
— Nazir (@Nazirdanhajiya) March 29, 2019
Yeah this kind of things should be known publicly, it’s something to be proud of.
— Malam_Naseer (@naseer_gk) March 29, 2019
Things might change soon
Since Innoson Vehicle is not limiting its motor production to just cars, SUV’s, buses, and vans alone, NTM might become a competition in the future. Innoson recently introduced its newest trucks earlier this March.
#IVM Garbage Trucks. Keep Nigeria Clean.#MadeInNigeria #InnosonVehicles #ProudlyNigeria pic.twitter.com/yBNRQ3H5SJ
— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 19, 2019
But both companies’ vehicles aren’t really “wholly made in Nigeria”
Both National Trucks Manufacturers Ltd and Innoson Vehicle are still just assembling cars, as they do not wholly produce their vehicles.
70% of Innoson’s car parts are produced locally while the rest are imported from Japan, China, and Germany.
Regardless, the good thing is that Nigeria has its own indigenous vehicle manufacturing companies. And with the right support from the Government, these companies can become the ideal providers of vehicles for Nigerians; thereby putting an end to vehicle importation.