Car maker resumes assembly in Nigeria after 25 years

After a 25 year hiatus, Volkswagen AG, is set to resume building vehicles in Nigeria in a bid to foster sales growth in Africa.

The assembly plant which will be in Lagos, will have models like the Passat, Jetta and CC Sedans as well as the Amarok pickup truck, rolled out soon, Volkswagen's manufacturing partner, Stallion Group said.

Wolfsburg, Germany-based VW, Europe’s biggest car maker, confirmed the start of production without specifying planned volumes.

VW started producing its iconic Beetle in Lagos in 1975 through a partnership and later added other cars and light commercial vehicles before ceasing the operations in 1990 amid weak demand and quality woes.

Dubai-based Stallion, which is the official distributor of the German car maker’s VW, Audi, Skoda and Porsche brands in Nigeria, acquired the Lagos plant at the time.

Stallion also assembles vehicles in Nigeria for Nissan Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co., Ashok Leyland Ltd. and CNH Industrial NV’s Iveco truck division.