Why we’re launching Keke production in Nigeria — Innoson

 Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing company (IVM) says it is diversifying into the production of tricycles, in the company’s latest effort to expand its portfolio as it pushes for growth.

The company said it plans to start the production of IVM-branded tricycles in Nigeria later this year and its main goal is to help crash the current price of tricycles in the domestic market.

“We are probably launching this year and we are going to produce something that is eco-friendly,” Cornel Osigwe, Innoson’s head of corporate communications, told NE on Friday.”We are going to produce something much cheaper and more affordable that an average Nigerian can buy.”

Innoson, based in Nnewi, Anambra State, was founded by Innocent Chukwuma. The company, reputed as Nigeria’s biggest automobile firm, says it produces 70 per cent of its car parts locally while the rest is sourced from Japan, China and Germany.

The firm has indicated it is taking steps to branch out of its core business as it pushes growth. Last week, the Innoson Oil & Gas Limited announced it was on the verge of discovering a huge deposit of 8.2 trillion cubic feet of gas and 234 MMbbl of condensate in Sierra Leone.

Mr Osigwe said the firm has already produced a prototype tricycle, widely known in Nigeria as Keke, and the model is being tested already in the Nigerian market.

“We produced about 100 prototypes that we gave out to different people to test run and give us feedback on it,” he said.

“Right now, we don’t have them in stock for sale, the ones we produce are just samples to collate information.

“We are testing it and we are getting different recommendations. One of the recommendations we got is to make the engine biofuel which we are going to do.

“So it will have the ability to use both gas and petrol,” he added.

He said after gathering information from the people that have tested it, the company will release the final product later in the year.

“We just did a few samples, the main equipment that we will be using to mass-produce is still on the way,” he said.