Hyundai Motor Co, the South Korean automaker, opened a vehicle capacity assembly plant in Addis Ababa. This plant, which has the capacity to produce ten thousand vehicles a year, is Hyundai’s first factory in East Africa.

Hyundai hopes to take advantage of the rise of the Ethiopian middle class, and the fact that locally-assembled cars could prove attractive to buyers as cost of imports are sky-high due to taxes.

Haile Gebreselassie, the former world-renowned Olympian-turned businessman, who partners with Hyundai, said vehicles the new assembly line will put in to the market include passenger hatchback cars and trucks. Some of the cars will be exported to the region, he added.

“This plant is big enough (to assemble) for Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Sudan,” Haile further noted.

Ethiopia produces around 10,000 commercial and other vehicles a year for its home market. It imported more than 40,000 cars in 2017, automobile traders say.

Assemblers in the country include Chinese brands Geely, FAW and BYD, as well as Lifan.

Won Hee Lee, Hyundai Chief Executive, said his firm was drawn by Ethiopia’s growth, one of Africa’s fastest for more than a decade.

“We have good opportunities in Ethiopia. We believe the economic growth in Ethiopia will be faster than any other country in middle Africa,” he said at the inauguration ceremony.

It is to be recalled that Volkswagen, the German automaker, has also recently made a move to open an assembly plant in Ethiopia.

Source: Reuters