Chinese Car Company to Launch New Multi-Million Dollar Plant
By Hiwot Seyoum
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Yangfan Motors Plc is launching a new 4.5 million dollar plant on May 7, 2014, at the Eastern Industrial Zone in Dukem town, where it says it will be able to assemble one car in 30 minutes.
The Chinese company concluded the deal for the new facility in an agreement signed on June 27, 2013. The new facility would enable the company to transition from semi-knockdown to complete knockdown assembly, Liu Jiang, general manager of Lifan Motors Ethiopia, said at the time. Although the plant will now continue with a semi-knockdown process.
The company has spent 4.5 million dollars for the customised building and 800,000 dollars for the machinery, said Daniel Tamerat, the company’s market section head.
The plant has 10,780 sqm of space, an assembly system, computerised wheel alignment, test lines and a professional test drive road, according to Semere’ab Sereke berhan, plant manager.
The new plant will increase the production capacity of the company from six to 16 cars a day, at an average of one every 30 minutes, Semere’ab says, pushing annual capacity up from 1,000 cars to 5,000 cars.
The Company started operations in Ethiopia in 2009, and has assembled a total of 3,000 cars, in eight different models, through the Semi-Knock Down (SKD) process. Yangfan’s initial investment, according to the Company’s official website, was 1.5 million dollars.
The company first came to Ethiopia in 2007 and started working with Holland Cars Plc, until they broke apart in 2009. When the company joined the industry, there were three other companies in the same business – Holland Car Plc, BH Trading & Manufacturing Plc and Belayab Motors Enterprise.
Source: Addis Fortune
