Made in Nigeria Nord Automobile Scores 5-Star Euro NCAP Rating

He disclosed that Nord Automobile has a vehicle that is 5-Star Euro NCAP Rated.

According to its website, Euro NCAP has created the five-star safety rating system to help consumers, their families and businesses compare vehicles more easily and to help them identify the safest choice for their needs. The safety rating is determined from a series of vehicle tests, designed and carried out by Euro NCAP.  These tests represent, in a simplified way, important real-life accident scenarios that could result in injured or killed car occupants or other road users.

Speaking in an interview recently, Oluwatobi disclosed that: “The quality of Made Nigerian Vehicles, for my brand, is as good as the vehicles from anywhere in the world. We even have a vehicle that has the 5-Star Euro NCAP Rating, which means it’s the safest vehicle, as safe as any vehicle because the five-star is the highest rating in the world.”

Oluwatobi emphasized that the vehicles are not only elegant but also highly secure. “We decided to do this testing and bring these vehicles in and assemble them in Nigeria so Nigerians can drive not just elegant vehicles. You can ask around for those who know our vehicles; they’re really elegant, and they’re also very safe.”

Oluwatobi underlined the importance of quality in vehicle manufacturing, explaining, “When you make cars, it’s an aggregate of the components, the skill of the people, and the production process. We get our components from some of the biggest and best OEMs in the world. The same places that manufacture the chips of the engines of the transmission of your most trusted brands in Japan are the same places we get our vehicle parts from. So, you can understand the same quality.”

This ensures that the Made in Nigeria Vehicles (vehicles produced in Nigeria) meet the high standards set by the global automobile industry.

Addressing the significant gap between the supply capacity and the demand for locally manufactured vehicles, Oluwatobi noted that the demand is considerably low. “Yes, we have a demand for just 19,000, I think, the last time, from a country. We Nigerians buy 500,000 vehicles a year, but vehicles or 500,000, new, used, everything, vehicles and motorcycles, actually, and tricycles, everything combined together. And I think for brand new, not made in Nigeria, just the total brand new, is just 19,000.”

He emphasized the need to increase the acceptance of Nigerian-made vehicles among the populace.

“From a quality perspective, we have a lot of customers and they can attest to the fact that the quality is really good. I think what we need to solve is how Nigerians can understand and make it normal to drive vehicles made in their own country because I think that people who have purchased our vehicles know they are good enough so I don’t think that’s a really big problem,” he said.

Discussing the expansion efforts of Nord Motors, Oluwatobi dislosed, “I’ll talk about my factory; we have two factories, both in Lagos, one inside the University of Osun, another one in Epe. In one shift, normally, most factories do two, even three shifts, just one shift in two factories, we can do about 10,000 units in one shift. But we really need to produce and sell more than 100,000 units a year, maybe 150 a year.”

On the issue of how local car manufactures in Nigeria can step up and help steer the attention of Nigerians towards purchasing made-in-Nigerian cars, Oluwatobi stated that Nigerian car manufacturers are already doing their bits by making quality things, and ensuring vehicles are durable and safe. But what the company needs now is for the market to respond. Using America, China, and Europe as an instance, he equally noted that the Nigerian government has a part to play in initiating interest in these vehicles.

He states: “A country is usually the business environment and industry’s biggest supporters, investors, and customers in their early stages. A lot of these big companies in America are a result of the government pumping money into these companies, winning government contracts worth billions of US dollars. These revenues and demands allowed them to grow and become what we see today.”

On the matter of the popularity of used cars in Nigeria, their increased demand, and the decline in the purchasing power of many Nigerians due to the Naira devaluation, Oluwatobi noted that made-in-Nigeria cars can help reduce the rate at which Nigerians buy used vehicles of any kind because there’s a huge advantage in buying new cars. He notes that the price of an average 5-year used vehicle in Nigeria is the same price of brand-new NORD vehicles. He notes that it will be challenging for car manufacturers in Nigeria to sell new cars at the same price as 20-year-old used cars. However, NORD vehicles offer the same quality as brand-new foreign vehicles, and while most Nigerians cannot afford to purchase even 5-year used vehicles, we have to build our economy to the point where there are good jobs so that people can afford to buy cars in Nigeria.

He explains this saying: “When you buy cars abroad, what you are doing is creating job opportunities over there. But, when you buy cars in Nigeria, you create even more job opportunities for Nigerians. The more you buy things made in Nigeria, the more you create a middle class that will be able to buy cars that are decent and affordable.”

Sharing the price range of the cheapest cars NORD Motors offers, Oluwatobi Ajayi noted that the brand has brand new vehicles that are sold from N12 million upwards. Speaking on how Nigerian automakers can manage the intense competition they face with used cars, he notes that it’s not as a result of Nigerian-made cars being more expensive, but rather because many Nigerians are unable to afford decent livelihood. If many Nigerians can afford decent living, many will prefer rather purchase brand-new Nigerian cars instead of their 17-year-old counterparts.